The Day The Greatest Show on Earth Went Up in Flames

On July 6, 1944, thousands of people were packed into the big top to watch the Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey circus in Hartford, Connecticut. The temperature hovered around 90 degrees, and the tent was waterproofed with paraffin and gasoline, as was customary at the time. Access to the tent was strictly controlled by metal gates, and some were lined with animal cages and chutes. Just a few minutes into the matinee performance, a fire broke out near the main entrance. It took a few minutes for the audience to notice the fire, and some thought it was part of the show. Circus employees scrambled to extinguish the blaze, but the flames crawled up the fabric tent walls with amazing speed. 

Evacuation was hampered by the fire, the chutes and cages, and the lack of emergency exits. There were hundreds remaining in the tent when its roof collapsed, and 167 people died. Hundreds were rushed to hospitals with burns and injuries from falling debris, jumping from bleachers, and the stampeding crowd. Now 81 years later, some of those who attended the circus that day as children still have psychological scars from the trauma of that day. Read about the Hartford circus fire that became known as "the day the clowns cried" at Smithsonian. 


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