EVANSVILLE, Ind. (WEHT) – The lot at 1717 Hercules Avenue sits empty, with no evidence of disaster. However, on a June morning in 2017, it was the site of another deadly home explosion. Resident Bryce Ellis lives across the road from that lot today. He did not occupy that home in 2017, but did live in Evansville at the time and recalls that devastating day.
“Utter chaos,” recalls Ellis. “I mean, I can’t imagine. I wish I could, just to be sympathetic towards those that were affected. But it’s just crazy to think about, really.”
Ellis says he knows the residents in his neighborhood still deal with the aftermath of that trauma, also saying he knows the difficulty of trying to move on from that experience.
“It’s such a traumatic experience that unfortunately I’ve never experienced something like that,” says Ellis. “And something like this, even though it was just down the street, it’s still something that kind of shakes you a little bit.”
Evansville resident Russ Shaw remembers that day as well. While Shaw was not close enough to experience any type of damage, he says the sound rolled through his neighborhood near Oak Hill Road and Hercules Avenue. As fate would have it, the recent deadly explosion on North Weinbach Avenue happened feet from his home, where this time Shaw did receive minor damage.
“The deja vu, not so much yesterday, but I tell you after yesterday, you know, we were sitting in the house watching tv, what do you think about,” says Shaw.