Antelope, California

Episode 167 / 16 April 2020 / 155 min / full

You'll Have To Chop Off More than That...

"This is Antelope, north central California, about 20 minutes to the east of Sacramento, right on the edge of Sacramento and Placer counties." about 0:03:08

The case: Murder of Alicia Ernst (March 8, 2008). Read the case file.

The figures, as told in 2020

Population

47,728

Median age

a few years younger

Median household income

almost $71,000

Median home value

$352,300

Two-bedroom rent

$1,330 a month

Cost of living

123 out of 100

Religious

about 38.8%

Property crime

just about average

Violent crime

▼ maybe 20% under average

History, in brief

• In the late 1800s Antelope was the only settlement worth anything in the area outside Sacramento, built by temporary railroad workers who stayed on. about 0:04:55
• In 1880 the population of the whole town was only about 400 people. about 0:05:05
• By 1973 Antelope had a post office, a general store, about a half dozen homes and a school. about 0:05:30
• On April 28th, 1973, a rail car loaded with aircraft bombs exploded at the Southern Pacific Roseville yard, starting a chain reaction through the munitions supply of the north-western United States. about 0:05:38
• The chain reaction began at 7.52 a.m. when an employee in the yard tower spotted smoke in one car of a 103-unit train. about 0:07:10
• The train had 21 Department of Defense freight cars carrying 330 unfused Mark-81 bombs weighing 250 pounds each. about 0:07:39
• The explosions went on for five hours and could not be stopped; blasts were heard 40 miles away and windows were blown out five miles from the scene. about 0:08:03
• Fifty-two people were taken to hospital, the general store was destroyed, all the homes were damaged and Antelope was basically levelled; the interstate was closed. about 0:08:48
• The school was destroyed too, but it was a Saturday so no children were there. about 0:09:23
• Antelope was rebuilt in the 1980s as a planned community of mainly single-family homes and apartments. about 0:09:08
• The closure of McClellan Air Force Base between 1993 and 2001 slowed the area down because it had depended on the base. about 0:09:39

The reviews read out

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