The Hartford Circus Fire | A Short Documentary | Fascinating Horror
ฝัง
- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 13 มิ.ย. 2024
- "On the 6th of July, 1944, the circus came to Hartford, Connecticut. Excited residents crowded into the big top to watch a performance unrivalled in that day and age.."
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CHAPTERS:
00:00 - Intro
00:50 - History and Context
02:33 - The Day of the Fire
07:58 - "Little Miss 1565" and Emmett Kelly
09:34 - The Aftermath
MUSIC:
► "Glass Pond" by Public Memory
► "The Stars and Stripes Forever" by John Philip Sousa
#Documentary #History #TrueStories
Could you imagine being a soldier who landed at d-day and survived the gruesome warfare on the western front, only to find out that your wife and child died in a circus fire.
Made me weep
Seriously, I would changed jobs to avoid telling a returning Soldier who survived a whole war, their wife and kid/s were dead.
If it happened today the soldier would know about it instantly through "sorry for your loss" messages on Facebook and Twitter.
@@Ozymandias1 … and also all the “thoughts and prayers”
Weird I was thinking the same thing. My version was him getting the news while over seas.
A boy of 13 who had managed to be one of the first to get out saved dozens of lives by using his pocket knife to cut a vertical slot in the side wall. Thus giving an opportunity for many trapped people to escape.
I was just sitting here wondering if that would be an option but thought the sidewalls might be too much for a pocket knife. Quick thinking kid
@@AdNoctemMedia Willing to bet he was a Boy Scout, especially with having the pocket knife on hand, which the Scouts were encouraged to do. "Be Prepared," and all that!!
I was a Girl Guide myself and have always kept a small knife on my keychain for years and years; they're terribly handy. Shame that no authority seems to trust kids with even a short 1-1.5" blade anymore! I seem to remember another case from a couple decades ago now, where a little kid fell down getting off an escalator, and part of their windbreaker (perhaps the ties?) got sucked in. People around hit the emergency stop, I think; but it was still choking the child. Luckily, someone there had a pocket knife, and so the story ended up much more happily than it otherwise would have!
@@KryssLaBryn So true, I asked my dad how he learned how to shoot a few years ago. He said he learned in highschool. The kids used to learn gun safety and how to shoot in highschool. Now kids can be expelled for bringing a squirt gun to school. It's crazy how much the times have changed.
@@KryssLaBryn idk, a lot of kids back then carried a pocket knife regularly, even non boy scouts. A lot of that generation still do.
I'm a girl scout myself. I keep at least one multitool in my car at all times. Too many places won't let you bring one in, for me to put one in my purse
@@KryssLaBryn Sounds reasonable. I was never a scout but I live pretty rural and I'm in the habit of keeping a pocket knife on me and a backpack with some useful items like first aid kit, multitool, flashlight, battery packs for my phone etc.
Naturally I was doing that thing where you self-insert in a situation and think of what you would do. But then I realized many big events today have metal detectors and won't let you bring in a pocket knife or anything.
My grandma was in attendance that day as a little girl and when the fire broke out she was separated from my Great Grandmother and her siblings when everyone was trying to escape, luckily a man saw her and helped her escape from certain death by lifting her up over a wooden picket fence to people on the other side, and she was later reunited with her family. She said she never knew the man who saved her, and she never saw him again, and she doesn’t know if he even was able to make it out of there alive. Thank god for that Good Samaritan that day, I think about him sometimes and I hope he made it out of there and back to his own family.
Wish more stories like this would go viral. Showcasing the unconditional value of human kind.
What an amazing man. Heroes are a rare breed. If it hadn’t been for him, you wouldn’t exist.
I hope that he made it out
But what about your great grandmother and her siblings?
I remember reading about this years ago, and one line was so haunting - "It took six minutes. Witnesses spoke of ‘the awful sound of animals dying’, but no animals were hurt. The agony was human."
I’m sure the animals were still making noises? They were also scared of the fire and many still did get burned. I don’t think there are many instances where you can confuse a lion roar with a human scream
@@fart63 Lions don't roar when scared....Also the souns were coming from the burning tent.
@@loner1878 lions aren’t the only animals the circus carried
Karma in action 🎬
Humans are nevertheless animals .
wow...a case where the owners WEREN'T scumbags who dipped and refused to pay the victims...thats actually quite surprising all things considered, good on them
I think the circus staff being familiar and experienced with circus fires before this one helped. While panic isn’t an excuse to abandon people whose safety you are responsible for, it’s not difficult for people to use it as one.
Not to mention that the town was up to the fire code too. Planning for a circus tent isn't exactly the highest priority when it comes to town fire risk assessments
Circus people, like old school carnival people are human. They associate with each other, they live with each other, they take care of each other. Not something your average modern generation could understand at all.
That's because Circus Folk don't forget where they came from..
‘Twas a different time
A resident at my nursing home told me that her sister was babysitting a couple of kids and was supposed to bring them to this circus. Beforehand, she brought them to get ice cream and the little girl spilled chocolate ice cream all over her white dress. So the babysitter brought them home To change and went to see a movie instead, since it was too late to attend the circus. She didn't know until she brought the children back what had happened. That chocolate ice cream probably saved all of their lives.
Well I know that chocolate saves lives but that's definitely evidentiary! Thank you for sharing! The world does work in mysterious ways..
Fate can be fickle and little circumstances, or a change in routine, seem to have huge consequences sometimes.
For worse, or in this case, for better.
Now ya know... never get mad at kids for spilling ice cream.
Thanku for sharing this!
Now i know why i love chocolate ice cream. Thanks for posting that I wonder if the you children ever realised how lucky they were. 🇬🇧👍
My father was there with my grandmother, and they were both mentally scarred from it. I’ve actually never been to a circus in my life (I’m 46 now) due to my Dad being uncomfortable with it. He passed away just two days after Christmas in 2020 (so, not even 6 months ago), and it was still something that he’d talk about sometimes. Thanks for sharing this video-
🙏🏾🙏🏾🙏🏾🙏🏾🙏🏾
My condolences fam 🙏🏻
sorry for his trauma and for your loss. ❤️ Im 42 and the only circuses i've been to have been in arenas, so all of the safety precautions of a large concert. The idea of hay covered floors and pyrotechnics has always bothered me, however i like the romanticized idea of a circus.
@@megiab Thanks so much- and I agree, I think the idea of a circus is something that I can enjoy without physically being at one. They have an air of excitement and mystery that can be really appealing. Thanks for your kind words, and enjoy your weekend-
@Indy Borgnine Thank you- it’s very much appreciated 🙏🏻
My grandmother told me this story when I was a kid. I distinctly remember her saying “the smell was so putrid and horrible, I have no idea how at the same time in Germany soldiers smelled the odor of burning flesh and thought they were doing the right thing”
that's absolutely chilling, thank you for sharing
poor Emmett Kelly. known as a sad clown, this was the only event he was seen crying for, sobbing as he put out the flames.
It was put in the papers and the title of a book the day the clown cried
It's one of the few times he was seen out of makeup.
@@seanconlin8712 Members of the circus actually coined that title.
Unfortunately, as he rushed to the fire with a bucket of water, he tripped and emptied it over the head of a firefighter carrying a ladder, who turned and knocked over a man carrying a tray of custard pies.
he later went on to become a serial killer during the Baltimore Bucket murders of 1949
While this was indeed a horrific tragedy, there were also some very brave people -- both audience members and circus workers -- who put their lives on the line to try to help others get to safety. There was a 13-year-old boy who managed to make a slit in one of the side wells with his pocket knife, which enabled as many as 300 people to escape to safety. There were also circus workers who helped to lift children over the animal cages that were blocking the entrances, so that they could get out. Still other circus workers helped to direct people to unfamiliar entrances so they could make an escape. It's not known for sure exactly how many people were in the tent that day, probably around 3000 people, but the death toll was surprisingly low in comparison to the number of people who attended that day -- 168 -- the same number of people who died in the Oklahoma City bombing in 1999. Many of these people escaped in part thanks to the heroes who risked their lives to help others!
If I recall correctly, this was also one of the first moments where modern skin grafts/other advancements were used en masse in response to a fire disaster. There's a book on the fire that discusses how hospitals dealt with the influx of burn victims, and it's really incredible to read about.
@@morley364 - ooh, interesting! What’s the name of the book?
🤘🤙❤🤜🤛👏👏👏👏
One of the many reasons I carry a knife, a multitool, and a flashlight around with me at all times. You just never know.
@@goldiloks08 I believe it was the one by Stewart O'Nan, but it's been many years so I couldn't say for sure.
crazy how the actual disaster from beginning to collapse happened in a shorter amount of time than this video
Wow you’re right! Good spot. That really drives it home just how little time there was. It’s amazing more people weren’t killed. I have a lot of respect for the circus owners, who really put into place so many precautions - despite never having suffered a fatal fire incident - and then really went above and beyond to compensate their victims.
Even the circus top was fireproof. They probably assumed it couldn’t catch on fire, despite the waterproofing - and another commenter mentioned that it was actually the wax that did it, not the gasoline. The gasoline wouldn’t have been enough to sustain the fire but the wax acted like a candle wick.
I wouldn’t have expected that, personally. I can see how they made that mistake.
All in all, with only 10 minutes to escape and so many people on high rises with quite a massive drop to the ground, it’s astounding that more people weren’t killed.
@@AK-jt7kh I was listening carefully and didn't quite understand what would have made the roof fireproof. The camera zoomed in on the poster advertising "waterproof," and I suddenly wondered whether the narrator misspoke, meaning "waterproof" and said "fireproof" instead? Common sense dictates that if you use a flammable substance to treat fabric of any kind (in this case to create a waterproof roof), that fabric would become flammable in turn. I'm still puzzled, but my degree is in English, not chemistry! 😺💕🐾
Love this. But surprised you didn't mention that Kelly, the clown, drew a teardrop from his eye each time he put on his makeup after this. The fire is sometimes called the day the clowns cried.
This detail messed me up in a way I can't describe.
I love and hate knowing this
Pretty metal if you ask me. Dethklok parody levels.
I did not know that, Thanks for the info.
😭
Charles Nelson Reilly, at age 13, attended the circus that day. Although he escaped physical injury, for the rest of his life he avoided sitting in large crowds. He rarely attended any of the plays he directed as the terror of the Hartford fire haunted him. Charles Nelson was a comedic actor and director of plays and opera. Most people may remember him from the old “Match Game” tv show in the 70s and 80s.
TV Legend and what a personality. May he Rest in Peace.
I remember him from Sid and Marty Kroft saturday morning kid's shows. He was the villain in Lidsville, if I remember right. Also played the antagonist in the Ghost and Mrs. Muir reruns.
Don't forget he was The Dirty Bubble in Spongebob. He, as well as Brett Somers and Richard Dawson were my favorites when it comes to watching Match Game.
I remember him talking about that. I cannot blame him at all.
Wow I grew up watching Charles I had no idea he was there wow.
Fascinating Horror would do a great job of covering the Radium girls story.
Didn’t he?
He could cover Hillary 2,016, but future generations probably wouldn't believe that anyone could possibly be that incompetent.
@@beavercleaver7848 What was the point of your comment
@@beavercleaver7848 conservatives: STOP MAKING EVERYTHING POLITICAL IT TRIGGERS ME:(
also conservatives:
@@beavercleaver7848 Who even mentioned politics here? 🙄
Useful note for those in the UK: In the US, "paraffin" is a solid petroleum wax. The liquid fuel Brits call paraffin, we call kerosene.
Wax softened with some kind of solvent (although generally something less flammable than gasoline!) is still a pretty common way to waterproof canvas jackets.
I never knew this, thanks for the info! 👌🏻☺️
My mom used melted paraffin wax to seal jars of homemade jelly and jam. As kids we had those wax lips and moustaches we always ended up eating. Sometimes I wonder how I've lived to 71.
@@indy_go_blue6048 Fortunately paraffin wax goes pretty much straight through your digestive system without any effects. The molecules are too big to get through the pores in your intestines.
Merci pour info
Paraffin, while flammable burns very slowly and in a very predictable way, it's why it's also the material of choice for candles. Paraffin won't suddenly burst into flames or cause a flashover like some other materials would.
Traveled 2 decades with the circus. Many "back stage" Alarms are still played by the live band. The stars and stripes tune played at the wrong time still makes my hairs stand on end. Enter the gladiators tune at the wrong time means the world just changed for some people. The stories and legends from Hartford are still known in that life and not allowed to be forgotten.
How does it change for those people when Enter the Gladiators is played? What happened?
@@aewtx some just got paralyzed or killed.
@@cirquestar6618 WOW
When anything like that does happen, how do they handle it?? In other words, do they ask the audience to leave or do they try to find a way of distraction, so that the named, injured, or killed performer can be taken off??
@@chrisfitzchrisfitz5182 it depends on the circumstances. if it is a member of staff you actually send in the clowns to distract the kids while the mess is cleaned up house lights off and spotlights on the clowns. if a member of the public is injured the show goes still goes on but the clean up is more gentle and takes longer if they are killed the show is paused for the clean up until the cops decide if it can continue. in my 20 years on shows I only saw the show stop about 6 times, mostly blow downs, fires or bombs but one time a helicopter struck the tent.
The identification of Little Miss 1565 is still controversial. Mrs. Cook was initially shown a photo of the body and insisted that she was NOT her daughter Eleanor. In addition, her hair colour, height, and dental records did not match those of Eleanor Cook. So many still believe that her identification as Eleanor Cook is incorrect.
She was only burned on half her face, I would think the mother is correct.
I remember that as it happened, there was a scrap of clothing on the body that did not match what Eleanor Cook was wearing.
Mrs. Cooke believed that one of the children who was burned beyond recognition was her daughter until the day she died. 1565's whole family probably died that day.
If it were allowed, DNA might still be run.
I've never understood why a DNA test wasn't done in 1996 when Eleanor Cook was moved to her new plot. Then everyone would know for sure.
When something is soaked in gasoline it's probably not gonna end well.
It would have been the paraffin wax that caused the fire to spread so fast. In this kind of application, gasoline is a solvent and quickly evaporates leaving no flammable residue of its own. The entire circus tent acted like one big candle and the canvas was the wick.
What I don't get is why they didn't use asbestos fir the tent. That stuff use to be in everything.
@@ratrap1984 maybe war time rations?
@@nickyblue4866 r/woosh
@@ratrap1984 Then they stopped using it because it was linked to people getting mesothelioma. Steve McQueen died because of this stuff.
Since you're learning German, you might cover the 1971 Dahlerau train disaster. It's little known even in Germany, but the story is so tragic (41 school children died and a signalman knew that the disaster was bound to happen but had no means of reaching either of the drivers).
Yes please ❤️ It would be really great to have a video on it.
I live in Germany, too, and have never heard of it. I would love to hear more
That reminds me of another rail disaster. Google Eisenbahnunfall von Kuurila, there's an article on it in the German Wikipedia (nothing in English, sadly). It must be horrible to know that such a serious accident is about to happen, and there's nothing you can do to prevent it.
Just looked it up; yes, it would make a fascinating story!
@@VideoDotGoogleDotCom, it happened in Finland, therefore the Finnish Wikipedia has an article on it: fi.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kuurilan_junaturma I have no clue why the Germans have an article on it. Of the relevant places, Iittala is a town (do not mix up with Sittala), Kuurila is barely a village. The distance is about 4.3 miles (7 km). I tried to post a link to a map, but this would not let me to.
When I was 6 years old, my mother took me out of school early to see the circus. I remember thinking how special of a treat it was that I got to leave class. How excited I was to see all the acts. I can’t imagine what it must have been like to be one of those children there to go from being happy to suddenly fearing for your life.
How lovely to see animals being forced to do tricks for your viewing pleasure, then locked away in squalor.
@@susand9296 relax, it was a different time
@@susand9296 Get real, do you bitch about people riding horses too?...
Took my Dad to the Ringling Bros. Circus in the early 90's bc as a kid, he always wanted to go, but was too poor...my fondest memory...RIP Dad.
A precious memory for sure, I hope you both had the time of your lives.
Thank you for sharing.
I have a similar memory. I couldn't hear my 3-year-old self over the noise of the circus and had an episode. We left. It's not really a good memory. I'm sorry, Dad. He passed from a Pons ICH on April 22nd.
Good on you ,thats what it's all about.
@@jessetm7732 I don’t think they meant the day of the fire. They just meant a regular day later in history, that their dad wanted to go similar to the OP’s comment
@@BrottenGuy i totally read that comment wrong lmfaoo my bad
I'm from Connecticut and we remember this as "The Day the Clowns Cried ". My mom was a young girl living in Hartford. My grandfather had promised her he would take her to the circus that day, but my grandfather being my grandfather, got up early and decided to go fishing. My mom was so upset and angry with her dad. Then the bells and sirens began and it was total bedlam. Temporary morgues were set up and mom said the smell was awful!!! I guess she was safe because of my grandfather's selfishness. When I was a child in the 60's I remember going to the circus several times. By then they held the circus inside the Harford Armory. We have many of the newspaper clipping and photos from the fire that you used. It's always a solemn day for us remembering the tragedy 💔
Bless you :) 🎆
@@noboru7347 Thank you 💕 You're very sweet. Stay safe and well my friend 🙏
Its still so bizarre to me that the smallest selfish actions can cause a save of life. All respect goes out to you and your family ♥️
@@teddysoul85 I agree. That story and many other incidents that I have experienced and seen have taught me very often bad things happen for good reasons. Sometimes we're able to see it, but more often than not, we never know what good came of it.
Knowing that if my Grandfather hadn't gone fishing I might not be here, I have always tried to go with the flow and accept many smaller things that would upset a lot of people.
Thank you for your kind words 💕
Please stay safe and well my friend ❤🙏
I worked at a nursing home where one of the patients had actually been AT this disaster. Her description of the event, well known in this area, was horrifying. Thanks, FH, for a story close to home! Now, I will watch the vid;)
My mother was a nurse in training at a Hartford hospital when this happened. She said it was terrible to see so many severely burned children.
Imagine you have been fighting in the war going through all that thinking at least your family is safe at home, then this happens, so so terrible
This is like the scene in the terror
Little Miss breaks my heart. I can’t imagine sending my children to the circus, that they’d probably begged for, and not have either return. And not only that not even having a body to bury for one of those children. I don’t know how a parent goes on after this.
Why was she unidentified for so long?
@@B.H.56 I once read I believe, her Brother survived. But he had ptsd after the fire. I remember the 25th Anniversary of this on the Noon News in Beaumont, Texas. I was 7 and my Mom and Grandma told me about it.
@@B.H.56 Believe you can Google it and get the whole story. It is heartbreaking.
My thoughts exactly, little Miss, heart breaking
@@lindycorgey2743 Did she have two brothers? The video says she was buried next to her brother who also died in the fire. I hope she had two brothers.
The late, great, comedic actor Charles Nelson Reilly was in the audience when he was a young child. He was so traumatized from everything he witnessed, he never sat in an audience again. Even though he was a major theatrical actor.
Rest in peace Charles Nelson Riley
Wow thats interesting! I always liked Charles! I watch him almost daily on Match Game while I'm at work. ( i do home health care)
@@chab1rd155 He talked about it in his show "Life of Reilly" which was filmed and can be found on DVD.
@@gljm thank you!😊
Another person who escaped was Hal Blaine, who became the drummer for the legendary group of Los Angeles studio musicians known as "The Wrecking Crew"
I also recently read that actress Jan Miner who later became famous as Madge in the 1970's TV Palmolive commercials was in the circus tent audience in Hartford on July 6, 1944. She was a young woman in her 20's then. She later avoided talking about this publicly to anyone. She said it was so overwhelmingly hot and stuffy inside and outside the tent that day that she thought she was going to pass out. She then decided to leave and go home just before the show started as she had things she had to do at home. So she then had just missed the fire after she left which then killed eventually between 160 and 170 people.
My great grandmother and her brother were in the audience when this tragedy occurred. They only survived because someone cut a hole in the canvas and they managed to escape. Other than all the animal abuse that occurs, this is why my family has always been anti circus. So thanks to the boy who cut that hole, without you, my family wouldn’t exist.
Sounds like a lie to me
My grandfather was there, surreal seeing this. He lost his mother in the event, she realizing only he could make it out, on account of his small size as a child and ability to be pulled up and fit through narrow passages, she valiantly prioritized his life and gave him up to a heroic man who could pull him through the narrow exists in the tent the hysteric hoard of people created.
My Grandma knows the story in great detail despite my grandfather never talking about it to any of us. He was stronger than I believe I could ever be in that he led a life indicative of resiliency. His father was lost due to sickness about a year prior so he was orphaned before even being a teenager, on top of this, he was an only child. He went to live with his relatives in Lyme, they abused his wealthy inheritance and saved nearly nothing for him. After taking him, along with all the furniture from his old house that would act as a traumatic reminder, they upgraded their living situation for all of themselves. My grandpa didn't even know he was wealthy until he grew up and saw the court documents.
Terrible tragedy to have suffered through.
That is an absolutely terrible thing that was done to your Grandfather. Reading that made me 😢.
That is so awful, so sorry that happened to your Grandpa, he didn't deserve that. 😢😢😢😢😢😢
At least he’s happier now
But I see hes got a great family today!
Charles Nelson Reilly talked about this in his one man show, he was THERE and described what he saw. Anyone could tell this tragedy still affected him deeply. Thank you for posting this video!
It’s reported that he never again sat in an audience.
Who would have known that such a funny man had been through such unspeakable horror?
Ooh, I came here to talk about this! God, CNR is such an entertainment legend. Really miss him
I read about that. 😔
I was gonna ask if this was the fire that Charles Nelson Reilly survived. What a nightmare to experience .
I am so glad you covered this. As a lifelong Connecticut resident (I only live maybe a half hour from Hartford), I have read extensively on this tragedy. One of the factors that caused such a devastating fire is that they waterproofed the tents with paraffin.
It is also noteable that the final performance of Ringling Brothers/Barnum & Bailey took place in Hartford as well.
@Carbonated Water. Do you know if Ringling Bros./Barnum Bailey personal, placed their last performance in Hartford, on purpose for recognition or respect, of that tragedy, or was it just coincidence? I don't know, but I would rightfully assume, intentionally. If so, they deserve an honor, as they did not forget!!
@@rogerrendzak8055 I believe it was intentional, but I am actually not 100% positive on that.
My grandfather was at this as a kid. He was one of the people who managed to crawl under a side wall to get out.
Riiiight. Suddenly everyone knows someone who was involved in this.
@@RT-ib4ec 3000 people are speculated to have attended the event, many going on to have children and grandkids. it’s really not far fetched that a relative of a survivor would find this video and comment on it
It's true, my grandpa was there, he was the wall
@@gratefuldead4714 fr, people are just dumb
it is possible some are lying, though.
My grandpa was there, too, but I never asked him about it because I didn’t think it was appropriate to bring up something traumatic
Adding the short “stars and stripes” clip in there was a real master stroke of presentation, well done.
In Emmett Kelly’s retelling of the disaster, he said that right before the tent collapsed he saw a little girl who wanted to run back in to find her mother. He stopped her, probably saving her life.
this is all new to me...Remember that song Send in the clowns. Is there any Association?
It's really cool how they had an emergency song, pretty ahead of it's time. Kinda like a calming fire alarm. Without it keeping the people calmer many more life's would have probably been lost due to crushes and tramplings.
What if the fire started right in the area where the band was playing? For example, the tuba player discarded a cigarette and lands on a stack of musical notes. Are they expected to play while burning alive so they can warn others or do they run and play the instruments at the same time?
@@Sigmund1924 they had speakers?
@@Sigmund1924 thats a valid point. Similar to an ambulance being in a wreck while transporting car crash victims or something. Can't be absolutely prepared for every possibility I suppose.
is it really cool? did it matter? highly dubious.
“... fireproof canvas that had been soaked in a mixture of paraffin and gasoline...”
Alexa, run facepalm.exe
Can’t get more ironic than that
They probably filled the fire extinguishers with petrol too.
Seems idiotic now but back then it was standard procedure to waterproof a canvas tent
Them: .......but it's fireproof though...?
i thought it said water proof .....so i guess you either get water or fire in this case....
Until it closed down in 2017, the RB B&B circus still travelled across the country by train. They were the last circus to travel that way.
They stopped using the train in 1956 like everybody else and thought trucks were the future...
but then modern traffic happened and so they reverted back to the train to avoid getting stuck on the interstate.
I went to their final show. It was amazing, truly amazing, but so bittersweet. An institution lost. At least there are still smaller circuses in the US and many more around the globe, but Ringling Barnum was really on another level.
@@scoutz0rs Yep. I saw them several times when I was a kid, and remember driving past the train parked on a siding in 2016, kind of in awe looking at everyone just hanging out outside their cars with folding chairs and tables set up right on the RR right-of-way. I'd never actually seen the trains before as a kid, since they were usually parked a fair ways away from where the circus was set up. End of an era, indeed...
@@scoutz0rs Me too. I went there for my birthday. You could even sense that the imminent closing upset the cast, the way they moved and acted you could tell they were very sad but they were trying really hard to hide it.
I grew up in Hartford and my grandmother always tells me stories about this fire, she knew some of the dead. She’d asked to go that day but luckily her mother wouldn’t let her. Who knows what would’ve happened if her mom said yes.
I enjoy how you don't add any cheesy panicked screams or fire sound efects to your videos. I find that it's much scarier when you just have your voice calmly explaining the events and then using my own brain to fill in the gaps ;) love the vids keep it up
My grandmother was in this fire and managed to escape. She was one of the first to make it out and I remember her telling me she watched from a distance as the tent was engulfed. Truly horrifying
Hm. In industrial accidents they can't seem to find anyone responsible, but a fire in a circus and they can definitely find someone to jail within a bunch of transient performers.
Just an interesting dichotomy.
"...if you ain't got that do-re-me, boys..."
I wish that the video had included the reasons why those men were charged. Did the authorize the waterproofing of the tent? In charge of emergency planning?
@@franciscodanconia4324 I think it’s because especially at this time circus folk were seen as shady people
My mother and her friend had tickets to the circus that day, to take my brother and the friend's kids. It was hot so they decided not to go. My father was at work at Pratt & Whitney and the line to the pay phone was very long once news of the fire got out. Finally he got to the phone, and called through to the house. When my mother answered, he just hung up and cried.
🥺💚
I'm from Hartford. My grandfather and great grandmother were survivors of the fire. Great piece.
As soon as I see Fascinating Horror thumbnail, I click
one of the best on channel TH-cam by far
I love that you put perfect subtitles. English is my second language and subtitles often help understanding better especially if you use technical terms etc :)
My late grandfather was there with my great-grandmother. He would've only been about 4 at the time this happened, but he always loved to talk about it whenever he got the chance. Miss him a lot. Great job on the vid!
I'm 68 now. I still remember going to the circus every year when I was a kid. It was wondrous to me. I still miss it.
The animals don't..
As always, awesome video with facts clearly stated and respectfully presented. I’m tired of so many channels feeding off morbid curiosity without any consideration towards the victims. Please keep up the good work, I’ve already watched your whole channel.
You must be a patreon... Lucky you that You were able to see this three days earlier 🥰
Agreed, i am binge watching these this weekend!!
I don't want to think of myself as having "morbid curiosity" -- I watch these videos to learn facts about events which I'd never even heard of. Some happened during my lifetime, others well before I was born. Yes, sadly, people die in these tragedies, but sometimes I pick up on info that might prove life-saving to me or to those around me in the future. Info that might never come my way otherwise. I agree that these videos are presented very respectfully, and I have never been disappointed in the fact-based stories reported. 😺💕🐾
Also known as "the Day that clowns cried", Great video as always mate
No one knows it as that. Most people know "the Day the Clown Cried" as the Jerry Lewis movie. Google "the day that clowns cried" and the results will be the Jerry Lewis movie of a similar name.
@@WhatDoesMyChannelNameMean I was going off the top of my head, thanks for the correction
This story is just sad all around. Hearing everyone screaming and then silence after the tent collapse would make anyone sick to their stomach
The fact that Stars and Stripes Forever is the 'emergency signal' song creeps me out. :(
Charles Nelson Reilly snuck off with a friend to attend that day’s circus. His mother caught them and yelled after them “I hope it burns to the ground!”
Reilly went on to become a theater director, but never sat in an audience for the rest of his life, as it reminded him too much of that day.
I bet his mother regretted saying that!!!
That sounds like one of those things that gets made up (Reilly's mom's prophetic exclamation), and then gets repeated so many times that it becomes "fact".
The burn comment sounds terrible, & it is, but not surprised. As much as people enjoyed these shows, circus & carnival workers were not considered quality people. They were loathed & unwelcome in many "upstanding" communities. Hartford CT probably being one of them back then.
@@aspensulphate it is in Reilly’s autobiography
TyVul. in 1964 my father was building a hay barn and my mom tryed to stop him as she could see it burning down in the future. In 1968 it burned down.
I’d love to see Fascinating Horror do a video on the Black Saturday Fires in Australia in 2009. While the initial fire was sparked naturally, several others were started deliberately, and these all converged to be the absolute disaster that it was. A very interesting, yet morbid and heartbreaking event indeed.
In the led up to these fires it had been a long hot summer! I lived in Victoria at the time and remember it was horrific! That Saturday was another high 30s or 40s day. Most people were inside with the air con on and unaware of what was going on as the State burned. There were no warning system in place. You might have been reading a book or watching a movie. You might not have seen the tv news updates until it was too late.
I grew up in Windsor, Ct. My mother was in that tent when it went up she was there with her father and 3 sisters all made it out alive.
"evacuating all 7000 people seemed... Manageable" the music in the background made this line feel way more chilling
Going to show this to my grandma later, have yet to watch it myself. She has done a lot of research on the topic, written on it. My grandfather would never talk about being there, I don't blame him.
Nowadays: this drywall has to have at least a 1hr fire rating.
Early 1900s: yeah just fuckin build it out of wood and flammable wax
It was canvas not drywall. But I understand your point that things are made safer nowadays.
Don't forget to douse it in gasoline, too!
I have a whole new appreciation for safety procedures and regulations thanks to this channel. Each one is a memorial to all the people who had to die in order to put them in place.
In the early 1900s fire was a fact of life. Everything burned. Everything, so they didn't sweat that, they just prepared for it.
What they seemed to understand much less was crowd movement, especially a crowd in a hurry. RBBB thought plenty about how to keep their highly flammable tent from burning, but they severely underestimated just how darn hard it was going to be for people to get out when they inevitably failed.
@@dlbstl I believe the OP was just making a comparison between a present-day building material (drywall), and the canvas that was used back then.
Thank you for finally posting this. I’ve lived in or close to Hartford since 1999 and have visited the site every year alongside the fire brigade and Captain to honor those lost, for the last two years. I lay a single white rose on that memorial to honor the folks who just went to have some fun and release. There is also a gentleman who is one of the only local living survivors that shows up and speaks of his experience. Every year I go, the temperature is so hot and during the memorial, there is an uncanny cool wind that blows during the ceremony, which I believe is a sign that the victims are thanking us that they are being remembered and they are not lost.
I think what makes this channel so addicting is not only the skilled video editing or the objective sensitivity given to every topic, but the endlessly entertaining _storytelling_ that goes into every video. well done mate! keep it up.
To alleviate fears of the public, the Barlim and Bailey circus would have “tent less” open air circuses for a little bit.
Later they would abandon the tent tradition and only use permanent city colosseums (used today for monster truck rallies, hockey games, ext).
Barnum
All circuses gradually began phasing out big top tents after this fire. It was just easier to abide by fire safety codes to have the performance inside of huge buildings.
@@JCBro-yg8vd My understanding is that this wasn't about safety so much as cost. Transporting and setting up the tent at each place had to be very expensive. In the early days of circuses there weren't large public venues, so bringing their own was the only option, but as large permanent arenas became common they went with that instead. There are still traveling shows with tents though, Cirque du Soleil typically does it that way. I think those tents are a lot smaller than the old circus ones though, few hundred spectators rather than few thousand. And they'll typically stay in a given city for a month or more, so the setup costs are relatively less. I would imagine that safety requirements does increase the cost of doing this, but Cirque du Soleil would imply it's not insurmountable. Maybe for larger ones though, safety challenges grow with size.
@@quillmaurer6563 True, but this fire is said to have brought about the end of "The Age of the Big Top", at least for the major traveling circuses.
@@JCBro-yg8vd I could see it being a contributing factor to their decline, but that surely would have happened anyway. Sort of like the Hindenburg disaster, everyone always sees that as killing the giant Airships. But in reality airships were already becoming obsolete as airplanes were becoming more capable. More just a nail in the coffin of something that would have been abandoned anyway soon after, and if still relevant would have recovered from the tragedy and carried on. Or for that matter the 2001 Concorde crash as bringing about the end of the Concorde two years later. That was one crash in an otherwise perfect safety record, far better than most other airliners, but the old planes were overdue for retirement anyway, so the events were in reality hardly related.
How tragic! This must have been such a magical experience, for both children and adults, and it ends like this. The poor children must have been traumatized for the rest of their lives. 😥
Thank you for your fantastic work! I love this no bs approach, without morbid and emotional sensationalizing. Just pure facts told in an engaging way. It's rare these days, it seems. Thank you!
Sandra Gust-.- ''Did they get a refund for a show that flopped, - ?????
When I was in high school, I was in a play based on this event; it’s titled Silenced On Barbour Street by William Prenetta. We had the privilege of getting to meet a survivor of the circus fire, who had been a young girl when it took place.
oh wow... before I even watch this, I gotta say I have relatives that survived this and it is a pretty significant part of my family history. I'm glad to see it getting attention.
I heard of this fire when reading about Emmett Kelley (either on IMDB, wikipedia or TvTropes). According to the source, it the pictures from the incident were the only ones that showed Kelley actually crying.
It’s not often where I actually feel bad for the company where these things happen but it honestly sounds like they did everything one should expect them to given the circumstances 🤷🏻♂️
"Are our absolutely fire retardant material roofs waterproof?"
"No, but I have a solution. Make it flammable.."
Oh my god, brilliant choices here. Switching up the music to Stars and Stripes Forever while you described the chaos was chilling. Excellent telling. What a story.
That's the most beautiful memorial I've ever seen. Absolutely inspired.
I just started the video but can I say how much I appreciate that all of FH's videos are completely subtitled upon release? I have audio processing issues sometimes and having full subtitles every release is so nice!!! This is definitely one of my favorite channels! Thanks FH!!
@Riley Logan I also have Auditory Processing Disorder. His subtitles are great! :-D
I know many have stated this already, but I just wanted to thank you for the respectful and informative way you tell these stories. These are not random fictional scenarios but ones of real people who lived and tragically died, and how you present their stories is, in it's own way, a kind of memorial.
There's a great book on this subject by Stewart O'Nan called Circus Fire, told "without sensationalism" in the style Fascinating Horror does.
I'm in the states and wake up at 5:30AM for work. The only bright side to my early rise is always Tuesday morning FH time! Thanks!
Ironic that Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus closed down the same year as the film The Greatest Showman.
Wait it did? Although to be fair... circuses have started to die a tiny bit
‘With weakening attendance, many animal rights protests, and high operating costs, the circus performed its final show on May 21, 2017, at Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum and closed after 146 years’
My grandfather was there, he was one of the boys taking care of the elephants.
This is probably gonna get buried but one thing to note about the fire:
The circus brought with it a number of fire extinguishers in case of fire, but in the rush to set everything up in time for the 5th,
the extinguishers were left in their crates and never set up.
It's now believed an extinguisher would've taken care of the initial fire quite easily.
There is an excellent book on this disaster called "The Circus Fire" by Stewart O'Nan. Highly recommended!
Just wanted to recommend this but you beat me to it. One of the best books I've read
It is a fantastic book!
Third this comment, a phenomenal book.
I just want to say that I sincerely appreciate the amount of attention you put into your videos. You do a superb job covering these stories to give your viewers all the information while staying respectful of the victims and and communities affected by these disasters.
I remember back in 2004 when Ringling Brothers came to Grand Rapids Michigan, the fire marshal forbid them from using any fire or pyrotechnics. That was in a modern arena, great show!
Is it weird that I already knew exactly what the "circus emergency" song was from studying to try to be on Jeopardy in high school?
Wow, I live about an hour drive away from Hartford, and I had no idea this happened. Thanks for teaching me something today!
There are many, myself included, who dont think Eleanor was Little Miss 1565. If you look at Little Miss's post mortem photo vs a photo of Eleanor, they're doesnt seem to be a strong match between the girls' features, especially with her ears.
It's possible Eleanor was burned to where there was no body that could be identified, or went missing in the ensuing chaos. And it's possible Little Miss's mother or other guardian parished in the fire as well, and thus couldn't claim her body.
Actor Charles Nelson Reilly was in the audience as a teen. He said he would never sit in the audience areas of theaters because of the fire. This was even when he was directing productions.
I only found your channel in the past week but I've seen more than half of them already. I really appreciate the straightforward, non-sensationalized, yet sympathetic tone you take with all of these stories. Not every scenario has a silver lining, but I think it's commendably that you try to find lessons learned from each event.
I hope you continue this series for a long time to come. I'm sure there's no shortage of content, I could think of a few myself.
I agree 😊
Our lady of angels school fire in chicago in 1958 is a good one you may like to look at. it changed how schools dealt with things in safety as well.
Yes! Musician Johnathan Cain of the band Journey was a survivor of that tragedy, and references it in the song "Ask the Lonely"
My dad was working in his office on Michigan Ave. that day and saw the smoke. The news was so tragic that he didn't talk about it for years.
ahh the good old days: when Stars and Stripes was an alarm and gasoline soaked tents protected us from the rain
Gasoline wasn't the problem, it evaporates away quickly, it was just used as a solvent. Paraffin was the problem, basically made it into a giant candle.
To be fair, _Stars And Stripes Forever_ is still used to this day by circus bands as a low-key indicator for staff to begin evacuation procedures while keeping the crowd calm. Theatre and circus tradition states that outside of the 4th of July (and even then, it's a bit hazy), they are _only_ to play it during a major life-threatening emergency; to the point that it's outright nicknamed by them as _The Disaster March._
@@alexv3375 Now I know the secret code, if I hear that at a circus or other venue, that means it's time to loose my shit.
@@quillmaurer6563 Or rather, keep note of where the venue's exits are and quietly make your way to them. Regardless of what the situation may be, panicking only ever makes it worse.
@@alexv3375 I meant this as sarcasm. The idea that many people (not me, at least I hope) would panic if they knew what was really going on, if it was announced the place is on fire, so they use a "secret code." Joking that the "code" has been foiled.
i was born and raised in hartford, it’s crazy that they never taught us about this
I was born and raised near Hartford and it was almost never mentioned. In fact until less than 20 years ago , there was never even a book about it
I grew up 20 mins away, we got the Hartford Courant- I remember reading about this as a kid. I'm 41
@Chris Tombs okay easy now. Let's hand over the cocaine. Everything will be okay. The doctor's going to take good care of you.
I’m also from Hartford and I never heard about the fire until I saw the photos in the lobby of Hartford Hospital and looked it up myself out of curiosity
It was never mentioned because we as a Society/ Humans respond to trama by trying to forget
My dad grew up in West Hartford. He was born over a decade later, but his mom remembers it, and I wonder if her telling him about it led to his childhood fear of fire (that and the fact that his bedroom was located right above his house's ancient furnace).
"fire proof canvas"
[soaks it in gasoline]
What could possibly go wrong? 🤦🏻♀️
There was a newer method used at the time but because of war time restrictions it wasn't available,
so they resorted to the gasoline method because that had been used quite often up until that point
and they figured: "Well it worked before why wouldn't it work now? Water proofing is essential on hot, dry summer days!"
The gasoline and paraffin proofing was for water/weather not fire proofing. Fireproof canvas was underneath it.
Gasoline wasn't the problem, the paraffin was. Gasoline evaporates away quickly.
Waterproof. No such thing as fireproof. Even modern fire retardant fabrics burn until you break the fire triangle.
A Documentary Series called “Disasters of the Century” had a special on this event. That’s where I first heard of it.
As a little girl, I loved going to the circus as a child, but if I had seen that special first.....I would of not entered the big top so eagerly. You can find the episode on the Channel “Bad Day HQ”. They had some elderly survivors recall that day. That day changed circuses forever........
My late Mom (1931-2010) would have been in attendance of the circus that day, were it not for her very religious Mother, who attended church services on a daily basis. My Mom had very much wanted to go to the Hartford Circus event on that fateful day, but was forbade to do so, as it would have meant missing religious services, which was not an option.
The actor Charles Nelson Reilly was a survivor of this fire. It gave him a lifelong fear of being in a theater.
Even when he was directing a live performance, he always stayed near the back of the audience...near the exits.
Yay, HF uploaded! :)
"...claimed the lives of nearly 170 people"
:(
Emmett Kelly was known to have taken this tragedy very hard, he loved children. On another note, the circus had fire extinguishers available but due to the delay in getting set up, these hadn't been positioned and were still in crates. Had these been available at the start of the fire, it is likely that the tragedy would not have occurred.
It's good to hear that while they didn't accept responsibility for the fire, were still more than happy to pay whatever the city stated as appropriate with no hesitation whatsoever. It's shows that they did care about those who attended and just didn't want to take blame for something that wasn't their fault.
Your channel is the only one I have literally watched every single video on. Keep up the great work.
If you’re out of material, may I suggest MrBallen? He’s my favorite, like FH… you’ll like him
Man, could you imagine soldiers surviving the war only to come home to your family being killed in this fire. Damn. Very sad!!!
When I was 5 or 6, I saw the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey circus under canvas on Long Island. It was an incredible experience. It was one of the last seasons that the circus performed under canvas. After that, they performed only in indoor arenas.
Thank goodness we have come so far in being able to talk about mental health issues. 7,000 people, many of them children, had to cope with the most horrific event they would probably ever experience with no one having any real understanding of PTSD, then, add on top of that all the soldiers returning from war trying to cope with their own horrors. Just reading the stories below of survivors and the aftermath of alcohol, abusive relationships and drugs makes me realize that older generations weren't stronger, or made of tougher stuff... they suffered in silence with no where to turn but in on themselves and their families.
Too many soft and weak people in today's joke society.
Imagine being a soldier fighting a bloody war, surviving skirmish after skirmish, only to find out your wife/kids died in a fire back home.
Growing up in Hartford I would always hear this story. Met an old woman who was a survivor. Crazy.