28. North Carolina Got Lucky

1961, The year North Carolina almost got a glow-up of the nuclear kind. It’s not every day a state dodges a bullet with a mushroom cloud. The Tar Heel State found itself one arming mechanism shy of a history reroute, courtesy of a sky-high mishap.

This little oopsie is a stark reminder of the fine line between a normal day and an alternate timeline where the Carolinas are a no-go zone. The parachute saved the day, and perhaps we can breathe a sigh of relief that the biggest boom North Carolina experienced was in real estate, not radioactive fallout.