#The Hartford Circus Fire

[thatwritererinoriordan]

July 6, 1944: A fire at the Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey Circus in Hartford, Connecticut, kills an estimated 167 people.

[thistaleisabloodyone]

Because I was homeschooled and occasionally very dumb, I sometimes forget that not everyone grows up with way too much knowledge of deadly fires in public spaces 😂

[disasterarea-podcast]

So given the writer’s strike, some people are concerned about their shows and movies being postponed or canceled, and aside from the fact networks have already BEEN canceling shows for no reason for years (I still maintain a healthy anger about what Netflix did to Sense8), I thought I would suggest some books on disasters you might want to read if you’re into that sort of history. Which you are if you’re here, I imagine.

Note: I’m suggesting these books because most books on disasters don’t get a huge audience, and so I recommend them because this sort of writing can be hard on the writer and requires a bunch of research. We throw so much money at true crime, we can spare a few bucks for the stories of people who died in disasters.

Also, please check with these with your local small bookstore or library. Amazon can be great, but let’s lend a hand to those who need us more.

Recommended books:

“The Circus Fire,” by Stewart O’Nan - This is one my favorite books on a disaster, because the whole thing creates a very vivid image of the circus prior to the fire in Hartford in July of 1944. There’s one specific line in the book which always makes me pause because it’s so affecting, about how everyone who escaped being able to hear the sounds of the animals screaming as they died - except all of the animals were out of the tent by then.

“The Only Plane in the Sky,” by Garrett Graff - This, I highly recommend you get on audiobook. It’s an oral history of the events of 9/11 with a full cast, and it’s incredibly affecting to listen to.

“Ada Blackjack: A True Story of Survival in the Arctic,” by Jennifer Niven - Ada Blackjack was a badass: flawed and weak at times, but hardy and steady when necessary. Half of her story is how she survived, but half is how she was exploited following her rescue. Both stories need to be known.

“Alive,” by Piers Paul Read - If you’re watching “Yellowjackets,” this should be required reading. If you’ve seen the movie adaptation from the 90s, there is WAY more you don’t know. The story of Uruguayan Air Force Flight 571 is a tough read, but a worthy one.

“A Night to Remember,” by Walter Lord - This is to disaster nonfiction what “In Cold Blood” is to true crime. It’s not a long read, but it’s a great one. Lord had the advantage of writing the book while many of the Titanic survivors were still alive and could give a very good description of what they went through.

“Dying to Cross,” by Jorge Ramos - I recommend this not just because it is good, but because it is timely. Nineteen people died in an un-air-conditioned truck as they were attempting to make their way into the states from over the Mexican border. It’s a horrific story, and one that humanizes an issue for whom some people need to be faced with the humans involved and what they go through.

“Bath Massacre: America’s First School Bombing,” by Arnie Bernstein - Harold Schecter also wrote a very good book on the Bath school massacre called “Maniac,” but I have a preference for this version. It’s a good reminder that schools in the U.S. didn’t just become targets in the last twenty years or so.

“Into Thin Air,” by Jon Krakauer - I feel like this is a gimme, but it’s a fantastic book from someone who was actually on Mount Everest during the 1996 disaster and knew those involved very well. I happen to like Krakauer’s work anyway - I even like “Into the Wild” despite my feelings about McCandless and his legacy - but it’s understandably my favorite.

“And the Band Played On,” by Randy Shilts - The one thing I will say is that Shilts’ treatment of Gaetan Dugas is *rough* to say the least and outright wrong on some points, God knows. But it’s still an amazing book, and if you come out of it not wanting to dig up Reagan and punch him a bunch I’m impressed at your restraint.

“Triangle: The Fire That Changed America,” by David von Drehle - The Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire is one of the disasters I am most interested in, and I would argue this is the definitive book on the subject. Also, if this book introduces you to both Clara Lemlich and Frances Perkins … I mean, talk about badass women.

“The Radium Girls,” by Kate Moore - Look, I’ll say this. If you know of the Radium Girls, this is a great book on their story. If you don’t know, go in blind and prepared to be horrified.

“Red Famine: Stalin’s War on Ukraine,” by Anne Applebaum - Ukraine has always been a target. During the Holodomor, they were victims of one of the worst genocides in history.

“Midnight in Chernobyl,” by Adam Higginbotham - Like the miniseries? This is a great source for more information for what happened at Chernobyl and all of the ass-covering involved.

"Boston Strong: A City's Triumph Over Tragedy," by Casey Sherman and Dave Wedge - If you’re interested in the Boston marathon bombing, I really thought this book did a good job of connecting the stories of the victims, the authorities searching for the killers, and the killers themselves.

“Show Me the Bodies: How We Let Grenfell Tower,” by Peter Apps - As I understand it, Apps did a lot of covering the Grenfell Tower fire for the British press, and it shows. He provides a mountain of information, and you will come out of reading this book absolutely LIVID about what authorities allowed to happen in Grenfell and so many other council estates in the UK.

“Dark Tide: The Great Molasses Flood of 1919,” by Stephen Puleo - I feel as though the molasses flood gets treated like a joke a lot of the time, but y’all, twenty people died. That area of Boston was *wrecked*. The photos of the devastation are terrifying. Puleo treats all of this with the proper respect it deserves.

“In the Heart of the Sea: The Tragedy of the Whaleship Essex,” by Nathaniel Philbrick - Forget the movie. Read the book.

“The Great Influenza,” by John M. Barry - Want to read about the 1918 flu epidemic? Want to be mad that a hundred years later we didn’t learn a damn thing?

Now, that’s just a start. If anyone wants, I can always post photos of my disaster book collection on Kindle and next to my recording desk. Or if there’s a specific disaster you’re interested in, I may know of a good book about it you can read.

But just remember if SAG and the directors’ guild joins the strike too - there is so much out there to occupy your time until they come back. Entertainment work is work, and it deserves to be supported financially and fairly as such. Rock on, WGA. ✊

[gwydpolls]

Time Travel Question : Murder and Disappearance Edition IV

Given that Judge Crater, Roanoke, and the Dyatlov Pass Incident are credibly solved, though not 100% provable, I'm leaving them out in favor of things ,ore mysterious. I almost left out Amelia Earhart, but the evidence there is sketchier.

This item is actually "I want to know the exact, actual sequence of events following the death of Cambyses, the ascension of Bardiya, and the conspiracy of Darius the Great. Like, was Gaumata even a real person?

[conradscrime]

The 1944 Hartford Circus Fire & Little Miss 1565

June 14, 2023

The Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey Circus was the biggest circus in the United States during the mid-20th century. Due to the country’s involvement in World War II, the circus began experiencing shortages of personnel and equipment. 

Because of this the circus dealt with frequent malfunctions, on August 4, 1942, a fire had begun and it killed a number of the circus’ animals. On July 5, 1944, the circus made it’s way to Hartford, Connecticut, however the trains were late that day so one out of two shows had been cancelled for the day. 

There is a common superstition among circus folk that when the circus misses a show, it’s bad luck, and because of this, many of the circus performers and employees were on edge during the one show that night. However, the show ran smoothly with no issues. 

The next day on July 6, 1944, the crowd for the 2:15 pm circus show was mostly filled with women and their children. The exact number of people at the circus that day is unknown, but there has been an estimate of about 7,000 people. 

The big top could seat 9,000 people around the three rings and it measured 200 feet wide by 450 feet long. The sidewalls were 15 feet high and the roof was 48 feet high. The tent’s canvas had been coated with 1,800 pounds of paraffin wax that was dissolved in 6,000 US gallons of gasoline. This was a common way for circus tents to remain waterproof at the time. 

There was a main entrance to exit the tent along with 8 other small exits. It was later said that during the fire many of these smaller exits were blocked by circus wagons or other things which made it impossible for people to escape. 

After the lions had performed a small flame had started on the southwest sidewall of the tent, during the Flying Wallendas performance. A bandleader named Merle Evans was believed to be the first person to notice the flames, and she directed the band to begin playing, “The Stars and Stripes Forever” which was a song that signaled distress to all circus personnel. 

A ringmaster named Fred Bradna tried to get the audience to not panic and to exit the tent in an orderly fashion, however the fire had shorted out power, no one could hear him. Fred and an usher tried to put out flames with big water jugs that were in the tent, but to no avail so they began to help evacuate the panicked crowd. 

There was almost no animals in the big top at the time the fire broke out, except for the big cats that were trained by May Kovar and Joseph Walsh. The cats were herded through the chutes to cage wagons and were unharmed, with some only experiencing a few minor burns. 

Most people were able to escape the fire, however there was lots of hysteria happening. Some people claimed individuals were just running around in circles trying to find their loved ones instead of trying to escape the fire. Others initially escaped the fire, but ran back into the tent to look for loved ones. Some stayed in their seats thinking the fire would have been put out quickly. Some of the exits were blocked by chutes to get animals out. 

The paraffin wax which had been used to waterproof the tent helped the flames spread extremely quickly, and the wind also did not help. Many people were burned from the melting paraffin wax which began to rain down from the roof. 

The tent collapsed in 8 minutes according to witnesses, which trapped hundreds of people underneath it. In many newspapers there was a photo of a clown named Emmett Kelly holding a water bucket, naming the event “the day the clowns cried.” 

Some burned to death while others died from the chaos. The true number of causalities is unknown but many believe it was between 167-169 people, with over 700 sustaining injuries. That is only the number of people who actually received or sought out treatment the day of, the number is believed to be higher as many people went home without seeing or doing anything about their injuries due to shock most likely. 

The number of people who died is also believed to be higher as there was not great residency records in rural areas and many smaller remains were never truly identified or claimed. Free tickets were also given out that day to drifters who would not likely have been reported as missing by their families or friends. 

Some people died from injuries they got from jumping from high areas to escape the bleachers, others were trampled to death in the crowds, some were asphyxiated under piles of people who fell over. Many dead bodies were found in piles by congested exits. Some people actually survived the fire by being underneath some of the piles of people.

Eunice Groark was among one of the survivors who later went on to be the first female lieutenant governor of Connecticut. 

One of the most known victims from the fire was a young blonde little girl who wore a white dress. She became famously known as “Little Miss 1565″ which was the number assigned to her body. She was known to be extremely well preserved. 

Little Miss 1565 was buried without a name in Hartford’s Northwood Cemetery and her identity has been a debate for many years. Despite her picture being displayed repeatedly in magazines she was never claimed. 

In 1981, one of the police officers who spent years trying to identify her, his widow publicly announced that he had identified her and contacted her family but they requested no publicity on the matter. 

In 1987, someone had left a note on the gravestone that read, “Sarah Graham is her name! 7-6-38 DOB, 6 years, Twin.” There were notes nearby on gravestones that said her twin brother and relatives were buried close. 

In 1991, an arson investigator named Rick Davey claimed the little girl’s name was Eleanor Emily Cook in a book he published, and that she was from Massachusetts. The book also claimed Eleanor’s brother Donald Cook contacted police in 1955, believing that the girl was his sister but nothing further happened.

Donald, the brother, believes family members were shown the wrong body in the morgue due to all the confusion that day with numerous bodies being brought there. Donald worked alongside Davey to identify Little Miss 1565, and in 1991 she was identified as 8 year old Eleanor Emily Cook. 

Eleanor’s aunt and uncle did not believe the body fit the description of Eleanor that they had provided after examining the body. Hair samples were compared and the consensus was that they had probably come from the same person. Her body was exhumed in 1991 and buried next to her brother, Edward, who had also died in the fire. 

Various people do not believe Little Miss 1565 is Eleanor Emily Cook. Writer Stewart O’Nan who also published a book about the fire, states the obvious that the deceased girl who had been found had blonde hair, Eleanor was brunette, the shape of their faces are different, their heights and ages don’t match and their dental features don’t match. 

Even Eleanor’s mother, Mildred Corintha Parsons Cook saw a photograph of Little Miss 1565 and did not believe that was her daughter. She believed it was not her daughter until her death in 1997. Mrs. Cook was unable to claim her two children and was so traumatized by the events she could not try to identify them later. 

She was told Eleanor had not been in any of the locations where bodies were kept for identification. Her mother believed she had been burnt beyond recognition and was one of the victims who would always remain unidentified. O’Nan believes Eleanor may be body number 1503. Many believe it is likely that Eleanor was wrongly identified by another family and is buried under another child’s name. 

What began the Hartford Circus fire in 1944 remains a mystery. Some investigators think it was started just from a flicked cigarette, while others believe someone purposely started it. In 1950, Robert Dale Segee, from Ohio, who was a 16 year old roustabout for the show from June 30 to July 14 confessed to starting the fire but was never tried and later recanted the confession. He claimed that he had a nightmare where an American Indian riding on a “flaming horse” told him to set fires. 

Segee also claimed his mind went blank after this and by the time he came to, the fire had already started. 

In November 1950, Segee was convicted in Ohio for unrelated arson charges and was sentenced to 44 years in prison. There were doubts over his confession as he had a history of mental illness and he could not be confirmed as being in Connecticut when the fire happened. 

On July 7, 1944, 5 officials and employees of Ringling Bros were charged with involuntary manslaughter. Out of the five, four had been charged and sentenced to prison, though shortly after being convicted they were pardoned. 

In 2002, the Hartford Circus Fire Memorial Foundation was established, and a permanent memorial to those killed in the fire was created. 

Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey did actually go to Hartford during their final tour, with the final performance occurring on April 30, 2017. 

[dreamsofalife]

"It's the 80th anniversary of the Hartford Circus Fire. 168 deaths, seven of whom are still unidentified, as well as three people who died in the following months and hundreds of injuries. They called it the Day the Clowns Cried, after the famous photo of Emmett Kelley standing by the wreckage. Nobody knows what caused it to this day, but the people of Hartford are still haunted by what happened. I hope the victims are resting in peace, and the clowns are finally smiling in that bigtop in the sky."

[prairiedeath]

the hartford circus fire, connecticut

[disasterarea-podcast]

Okay, so a couple of things:

1. This video is very good in terms of giving tips on how to survive this type of thing. I recently covered the Itaewon Halloween crush from two years ago and one of the survivors specifically cited being told to stand in a boxer’s stance as the thing that saved her life.

2. Please keep in mind that many times crushes have occurred due to people trying to escape a fire and piling up in the doorway (the Beverly Hills Supper Club in 1977, the Station club in 2003) or against an obstruction (the Hartford circus fire in 1944). When entering a new place, make sure to make a quick check of the closest exit that is not the main point of entrance specifically, but other lesser-used exits as well. People in crush situations often end up crushing in that place because it’s the way they came in, regardless of other exits (the Station, the Shiloh Baptist Church crush, Itaewon in part). Make sure you spot more than one exit, just in case one is blocked or locked. (You never know, it might be accidental, it might be intentional on the part of the owners. Better safe than sorry.)

Worst case scenario - go to the kitchen, if the club you’re in has one. Kitchen staff need to enter and exit through their own door in most places so there will be an exit there that not everyone thinks to look for.

3. Hillsborough is *incredibly* frustrating to learn about, in that it’s a genuine conspiracy by the police against Liverpool fans from almost literally minute one. It took around thirty years for the victims and the families to finally have the true version be told, and no one’s gone to jail for it. Which sucks, because you will wish David Duckenfield spent a good long while behind bars. (There’s also one incredibly punchable South Yorkshire police spokesperson you will want to kick in his teeth. He says the thing about horses. You’ll know it when you hear it.)

Also, fuck the Sun.

4. So God knows I can be terrible about self-promotion, but I have done a few episodes on crushes, if anyone wants to listen:

Episode 51: The Shiloh Baptist Church crush: In 1902, Booker T. Washington was speaking to a packed church when someone yelled “Fight!”. Everyone thought they yelled fire and ran for the front doors of the church, which went out onto a steep set of steps. People tumbled into a big piled like dominos.

Part one and part two of the Itaewon Halloween crush: People are out all dressed up for Halloween in the Seoul neighborhood after two years of pandemic. So many people, and very, very few cops to control the crowd. Hundreds of people ended up tumbling down in a narrow alley and being crushed to death only inches from safety.

Episode 229: The Collinwood school fire: A Cleveland-area school catches fire from the basement up in 1908. The exterior is brick and steel, but the interior is almost entirely made of wood. Kids rush to the two main exits, but one is blocked and the other is starting to become so - with other students.

Episode 176: The Italian Hall disaster: Calumet, Michigan, 1913. The families of copper miners who’ve been on strike are at the hall on the second floor to celebrate Christmas. Again, someone supposedly yells “Fire!”. The stairway down to the front is far too narrow, and when people go to escape down it, they fall one on top of the other.

Episode 163: The Colectiv nightclub fire: in Bucharest, Romania in 2015, people gathered at Colectiv for a Goodbye to Gravity concert. Then what’s happened a lot of this podcast happens - the band sets off pyro, the club’s soundproofing catches fire. The exits clogged with people and survivors struggled to climb over them. (There’s also a fantastic Oscar-nominated documentary on all the scandals that happened after/as a result of the fire called “Collective” that I can’t recommend enough.)

Episode 107: The Beverly Hills Supper Club fire: It’s May 1977, and hundreds of people are packed into the club just south of Cleveland, many to see John Davidson (singer to some, host of Hollywood Squares in the 80s for others of us) perform. A fire starts in a room behind a stairway up front. Those escaping through the most obvious exits crush and cannot get out.

Episode 98: The Hajj pilgrimage of 2015: The Hajj has been the site of multiple crushes over time - that many people at once, it’s going to happen. In 2015, there’d already been a crane collapse at the Great Mosque which killed 111 people. Twelve days later, a crush takes over two thousand lives.

Episode 20: The 2010 Love Parade disaster: A music festival is taking place in Duisburg, Germany, when far many people collide heading toward a tunnel intersection.

Episode 6: The Station night club fire: 2003, Rhode Island, little bar, band with pyro. There’s video of this one from a news cameraman. He walks out the open double doors at the front entrance, goes to the back by the stage door with his camera, then returns to the front. Within the thirty seconds he’s been, the exit has gone from clear and flowing to stuck full of people five heads high.

Episode 2: The Hillsborough disaster: Things have changed a lot since I first wrote and recorded this, not the least of which that when I recorded it, there were still only 96 victims. Note: If you look Hillsborough, you will inevitably see news photos of people pressed against the fencing. Some of those photos blurred faces; some did not. In the clear pictures, you may be able to spot people who’ve already lost their lives. Take care. There’s one woman in those photos whose face immediately pops into my head when I think of those images.

But, yes. Lots of crushes, lots of learning what saved other people.

How to protect yourself during stampede

[middlegradeeveryday]

Audrey Under The Big Top: A Hartford Circus Fire Survival Story by Jessica Gunderson

Summary: Twelve-year-old Audrey wants nothing more than to be a dance performer and aerialist, but that feels far from reality in 1944 Hartford, Connecticut. So when she learns the Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey Circus is coming to town, Audrey is determined to be there under the big top. It's her only chance to see the Flying Wallendas, a world-renowned highwire act, perform. Audrey convinces her mother to let her take her six-year-old twin sisters with her to the show. But disaster strikes when a fire breaks out under the big top. Can Audrey escape--and find her siblings--before the tent comes crashing down? Readers can learn the real story of the Hartford Circus Fire from the nonfiction backmatter, including a glossary, discussion questions, writing prompts, and more, in this Girls Survive story.

Book Type: Novel

Genre: Historical Fiction

[brookstonalmanac]

Events 7.6 (after 1900)

1917 – World War I: Arabian troops led by T. E. Lawrence ("Lawrence of Arabia") and Auda ibu Tayi capture Aqaba from the Ottoman Empire during the Arab Revolt. 1918 – The Left SR uprising in Russia starts with the assassination of German ambassador Wilhelm von Mirbach by Cheka members. 1919 – The British dirigible R34 lands in New York, completing the first crossing of the Atlantic Ocean by an airship. 1933 – The first Major League Baseball All-Star Game is played in Chicago's Comiskey Park. The American League defeated the National League 4–2. 1936 – A major breach of the Manchester Bolton & Bury Canal in England sends millions of gallons of water cascading 200 feet (61 m) into the River Irwell. 1937 – Spanish Civil War: Battle of Brunete: The battle begins with Spanish Republican troops going on the offensive against the Nationalists to relieve pressure on Madrid. 1939 – Anti-Jewish legislation in prewar Nazi Germany closes the last remaining Jewish enterprises. 1940 – Story Bridge, a major landmark in Brisbane, as well as Australia's longest cantilever bridge is formally opened. 1941 – World War II: The German army launches its offensive to encircle several Soviet armies near Smolensk. 1942 – Anne Frank and her family go into hiding in the "Secret Annexe" above her father's office in an Amsterdam warehouse. 1944 – Jackie Robinson refuses to move to the back of a bus, leading to a court-martial. 1944 – The Hartford circus fire, one of America's worst fire disasters, kills approximately 168 people and injures over 700 in Hartford, Connecticut. 1947 – Referendum held in Sylhet to decide its fate in the Partition of India. 1947 – The AK-47 goes into production in the Soviet Union. 1957 – Althea Gibson wins the Wimbledon championships, becoming the first black athlete to do so. 1957 – John Lennon and Paul McCartney meet for the first time, as teenagers at Woolton Fete, three years before forming the Beatles. 1962 – As a part of Operation Plowshare, the Sedan nuclear test takes place. 1962 – The Late Late Show, the world's longest-running chat show by the same broadcaster, airs on RT�� One for the first time. 1964 – Malawi declares its independence from the United Kingdom. 1966 – Malawi becomes a republic, with Hastings Banda as its first President. 1967 – Nigerian Civil War: Nigerian forces invade Biafra, beginning the war. 1975 – The Comoros declares independence from France. 1982 – While attempting to return to Sheremetyevo International Airport, Aeroflot Flight 411, an Ilyushin Il-62, crashes near Mendeleyevo, Moscow Oblast, killing all 90 people on board. 1988 – The Piper Alpha drilling platform in the North Sea is destroyed by explosions and fires. One hundred sixty-seven oil workers are killed, making it the world's worst offshore oil disaster in terms of direct loss of life. 1989 – The Tel Aviv–Jerusalem bus 405 suicide attack: Sixteen bus passengers are killed when a member of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad took control of the bus and drove it over a cliff. 1995 – In the Bosnian War, under the command of General Ratko Mladić, Serbia begins its attack on the Bosnian town of Srebrenica. 1996 – A McDonnell Douglas MD-88 operating as Delta Air Lines Flight 1288 experiences a turbine engine failure during takeoff from Pensacola International Airport, killing two and injuring five of the 147 people on board. 1997 – The Troubles: In response to the Drumcree dispute, five days of mass protests, riots and gun battles begin in Irish nationalist districts of Northern Ireland. 1998 – Hong Kong International Airport opens in Chek Lap Kok, Hong Kong, replacing Kai Tak Airport as the city's international airport. 2006 – The Nathu La pass between India and China, sealed during the Sino-Indian War, re-opens for trade after 44 years. 2013 – At least 42 people are killed in a shooting at a school in Yobe State, Nigeria. 2022 – The Georgia Guidestones, a monument in the United States, are heavily damaged in a bombing, and are dismantled later the same day.

[thatwritererinoriordan]

July 6, 1944: A fire at the Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey Circus in Hartford, Connecticut, kills an estimated 167 people.

[maximuswolf]

TIL the meaning behind a 35 year old Offspring lyric

TIL the meaning behind a 35 year old Offspring lyric The first time I heard the lyrics to Jennifer Lost the War on Offspring’s self-titled album released in 1989, I thought I was mishearing the phrase “Little Miss 1565”. And really, I’ve gone on assuming that I was mishearing it until basically today. It didn’t really make any sense to me, and I was left speculating that Dexter Holland was singing about an Elizabethan era peasant girl or a victim of the Spanish conquest of the Americas. Today I heard a podcast that admittedly didn’t fully click until about a half an hour later, but regardless, I learned about the Hartford Circus Fire Content warning here—there is a picture of Little Miss 1565, so don’t click if you’d rather not see a dead little girl today.Little Miss 1565 was an unidentified victim of this tragedy, so named for her morgue ID number. She was never claimed by her family, and apparently this really struck a chord (no pun intended) with the public. The full line about her from the song is Little Miss 1565, your soul remains unclaimedAnyway, thought it was neat to finally close that loop in my head, and that other people might not know about it as well. For the sake of discussion, what song lyrics have you found out had a deeper specific meaning? Submitted May 24, 2024 at 10:59AM by wittymcusername https://ift.tt/Re8TOW9 via /r/Music

[trollprincess]

The Triangle Shirtwaist factory fire. The Hillsborough disaster. The Tenerife disaster. Uruguayan Air Force Flight 571’s crash into the Andes and the subsequent survival story. The events of 9/11. The sinking of Titanic. The Beverly Hills Supper Club fire. The Hartford circus fire. The Cocoanut Grove fire. The Station club fire. The World Series earthquake. Pacific Southwest Flight 1771. The Johnstown flood. The Jonestown massacre. The Kansas City Hyatt skywalk collapse.

I mean, I could keep going, but you get my drift.

the spn drama could take a whole year to explain in the least so i’m good

[dreamsofalife]

[Vibrates like a chihuahua]

Let her infodump about the Hartford Circus Fire...you can trust her to be normal about it...

[kristipetersenschoonover]

IT’S RELEASE DAY!! 34 ORCHARD ISSUE 8 is here!

It’s release day for 34 Orchard Issue 8! You can head here to get the PDF: https://34orchard.com/issue-8/ (Issues are free, but donations are appreciated). A clown questions his actions during the Hartford Circus Fire, a woman spends hours calling for the missing, and a man’s unsettled conflict with his brother rents his world in two. A dog mommy may fail at making the ultimate choice and an…

[wausaupilot]

Today in History: July 6, England's Richard III is crowned

On this date: In 1886, Horlick's of Wisconsin offers 1st malted milk to public.

By The Associated Press Today in History Today is Thursday, July 6, the 187th day of 2023. There are 178 days left in the year. Today’s Highlight in History: On July 6, 1944, an estimated 168 people died in a fire that broke out during a performance in the main tent of the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus in Hartford, Connecticut. On this date: In 1483, England’s King Richard III…