Murdock is an

unincorporated community An unincorporated area is a parcel of land that is not governed by a local general-purpose municipal corporation. (At p. 178.) They may be governed or serviced by an encompassing unit (such as a county) or another branch of the state (such as th ...

in Douglas County,

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. It borders on Lake Michigan to its northeast, the Mississippi River to its west, and the Wabash River, Wabash and Ohio River, Ohio rivers to its ...

, United States. Its elevation is 640 feet (195 m). Although Murdock is unincorporated, it has a

post office A post office is a public facility and a retailer that provides mail services, such as accepting letter (message), letters and parcel (package), parcels, providing post office boxes, and selling postage stamps, packaging, and stationery. Post o ...

, with the ZIP code of 61941. On September 2, 1983, a

Baltimore and Ohio Railroad The Baltimore and Ohio Railroad was the oldest railroads in North America, oldest railroad in the United States and the first steam engine, steam-operated common carrier. Construction of the line began in 1828, and it operated as B&O from 1830 ...

train derailed at about 3:30 p.m., starting a fire. The fire heated tanks filled with

liquefied petroleum gas Liquefied petroleum gas, also referred to as liquid petroleum gas (LPG or LP gas), is a fuel gas which contains a flammable mixture of hydrocarbon gases, specifically propane, Butane, ''n''-butane and isobutane. It can also contain some ...

, resulting in two large

boiling liquid expanding vapor explosion A boiling liquid expanding vapor explosion (BLEVE, ) is an explosion caused by the rupture of a Pressure vessel, vessel containing a Compressed fluid, pressurized liquid that has attained a temperature sufficiently higher than its boiling po ...

s. The force of the first explosion catapulted one of the tanker cars into the wilderness. As night fell, the fire continued to burn, and the second explosion created a blinding light as if it was daylight at night. Both of these incidents were caught on video and shown on television programs and news segments around the world.

References

Unincorporated communities in Douglas County, Illinois Unincorporated communities in Illinois {{DouglasCountyIL-geo-stub