The Bazar de la Charité Fire | A Short Documentary | Fascinating Horror

"On the 4th of May, 1897, a priest attended a charity bazaar in Paris. He met the organiser, blessed the event, and stayed a while to chat with the guest of honour: the Duchess d'Alençon..."
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CHAPTERS:
00:00 - Intro
00:47 - Background
04:40 - The Bazar de la Charité Fire
11:34 - The Aftermath
MUSIC:
► "Glass Pond" by Public Memory
► "Underworld" by Myuu
SOURCES:
► "Remembering a Belle Époque inferno in Paris" by Mary Blume, published by The New York Times, April 2008. Link: www.nytimes.com/2008/04/28/ar...
► "The Paris Bazaar Fire" published by The Evening Star, June 1897. Available via: paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/new...
► "The Fire at the Charity Bazaar" by Michel Winnock, published by L'Histoire, June 1978. Link: www.lhistoire.fr/lincendie-du...
► "Cowardice of Paris Men" published by The New York Times, May 1897. Available via: www.nytimes.com/1897/05/16/ar...
► "The Paris Disaster" published by St James's Gazette, May 1897.
► "Charity Bazaar Fire: Result of the Trial" published by Liverpool Mercury, August 1897.
CORRECTIONS:
► In this video I state that many women at the bazaar were wearing hoop skirts and other voluminous dresses that made it difficult to move. In fact, by this time, hoop skirts would largely have gone out of fashion. The main issues caused by clothing during the disaster related to the flammability of materials used rather than the space they took up.
​​​​​​​#Documentary​​​​ #History​​​​​​​​​ #TrueStories​

[@FascinatingHorror]

This disaster was followed just a few years later by the Iroquois Theater Fire in Chicago - another deadly fire that made headlines all over the world. Together, these two disasters really spurred some changes to the law in France. Here's the video I made some time ago about the Iroquois fire: kzbin.info/www/bejne/mJ3ScqmeatZ_jpY

[@Badgerhollis]

Waiting patiently (sort of) for you to do the Boyertown opera house fire I sent in a request for. Can't wait! Know it will still likely be a while cause you're really busy, lol

[@ramapage7538]

@FascinatingHorror very surprised to not see the Hillsborough Disaster in this list.

[@paulkurilecz4209]

Unfortunately, we have never really learned about fire and crowd safety along with other disastrous mishaps. It seems to me about every ten years or so, there is some sort of fire catastrophe or calamity at a mass gathering where the circumstances repeat what happened previously. I suppose that is at least the length of time for the collective consciousness of disasters passes away. For example, tramplings or crushings at concerts where there is no assigned seating or people try to exit in a stampede; fertilizer explosions such as the recent ones at West, Texas and the Port of Beirut, Lebanon. I am sure that there are more series of incidents like this where there is a common thread. Anyway, it seems to be an interesting hypothesis to evaluate. PS: I almost forget, ships hitting unprotected bridge piers, Sunshine Skyway Bridge over the entrance to Tampa Bay in Florida in about 1981; and the recent collision with the Francis Scott Key Bridge over the entrance to the Port of Baltimore. Granted that is closer to 40 years, but then there aren't that many ports with bridges over their entrances that have unprotected piers.

[@Badgerhollis]

@@paulkurilecz4209 greed

[@bold810]

Mizpah Hotel fire Reno, NV. 2002/2004.

[@bladergroen]

Let's cross off on the Fascinating Horror Bingo Card: - 100% flammable material - rotating doors - inward opening doors - highly flammable fluid used in large quantities out in the open - someone lighting a match for some reason - everybody being totally surprised by the disaster following I think that's a bingo

[@seonaelizabethcoster8465]

You forgot: A large crowd, mostly women and children

[@seonaelizabethcoster8465]

And maybe a bonus for: The people were wearing highly flammable clothing (?)

[@KathrynsWorldWildfireTracking]

Somebody high up being aware of the danger, but shrugging and saying "good enough for now."

[@Captain_Kremmen]

And of course the old chestnut 'Wealthy organiser of death trap let off with a fine'.

[@evanredmon3877]

Interesting side bits like the first incident of forensic dentistry.

[@ragnarok7976]

Hearing how flammable people of the past were, spontaneous human combustion is starting to seem like less of a mystery...

[@KathrynsWorldWildfireTracking]

Right? There's never been a case of spontaneous human combustion without an ignition source around. Nowadays, doesn't happen much, because people have no idea how much flame retardant is in everything. It's even peppered heavily into plastics. Probably your clothing you wear, your bed mattress, and the chair you're sitting on. Scary to think in the days before it, synthetics turned people into cigarettes themselves. Scary also, to know how much we've poisoned ourselves with these retardants and PFAS...

[@thatgreenslime9517]

You can't make me stay awake while smoking the entire cigarette

[@SkunkApe407]

@@thatgreenslime9517 maybe a little less Laudinum before bed, Jim?

[@thatgreenslime9517]

@@SkunkApe407 it's prescribed

[@Reticulating-Splines]

@@SkunkApe407 Only when the opium den is closed

[@markosmywords9202]

I audibly gasped multiple times hearing just how much of a death trap this building was. I’m astonished that, of the 1800+ people inside the building, _only_ 126 were killed. I assumed it would’ve been much worse.

[@ExplodingConsole]

Me too. I admit, I feel bad thinking that :(.

[@user-ox9ep9ki6h]

I remember reading about this some years back. The reason many escaped was that, yes, the other exits were with inwards opening doors but they were made of cheap materials and I think all of them were ripped off their hinges after enough people were pushed against them. Strange to think about. Had they used better doors, more than a thousand could have died easily.

[@Yosetime]

I have watched probably every single video on this channel over the years. Of course, all of them are tragic. But I too audibly gasped multiple times while watching this particular video. It just seemed like the chain of events kept piling up, each worse than the last, with such unimaginable devastation, that it really was a miracle that so many people did survive. I would assume that more people died in the following months due to the severity of their burns and the lack of medical knowledge at the time having not helped them at all. Even thinking about the physical pain those people were in and having few options to ease that pain, makes my heart hurt. This video is, by far, the most tragic of all the videos on this channel. And I just want to cry.

[@Weretyu7777]

Kudos to the Duchess for valuing other's lives more than her own.

[@TheSaneHatter]

Ideally, that's how people of her class were *supposed* to behave: nobly. ("Noblesse oblige," as they once said.) Another example is the behavior of the Countess of Rothes, during the Titanic disaster.

[@maryeckel9682]

She was a better person than her sister.

[@MikeVal1369]

Every so often nobility acts the part.

[@marvindebot3264]

@@TheSaneHatter Her and others yes. A multi-millionaire died releasing the dogs to give them a fighting chance. One of them (the dogs) did in fact make it. Back then the rich could still be villains but they had honour in such situations almost without exception.

[@antlerman7644]

What a horrifying incident. Lighting a match with a can of solvent in hand is so unbelievably stupid. What a horrifying way to die.

[@hellomark1]

As soon as he started talking about film, I thought the fire would have somehow started with the film itself, since old celluloid film is *highly* flammable, and will even self-ignite if it gets too hot. I was shocked to learn they were burning ether as a light source!

[@dennis2376]

Mistakes happen and the question is did they understand the danger that were in. We all do dumb things.

[@Jabarri74]

I'd add that using ether in any confined space is potentially lethal. They used to use it as anaesthesia for a reason

[@janosnagyj.9540]

@@hellomark1 Same here. As he listed flammable materials one after the other, I already knew where this street is heading to.... and I suspected the film itself as well, never knew about using actual FLAMES to illuminate highly flammable material...

[@johnopalko5223]

@@janosnagyj.9540 It's called limelight. A flame is directed at a cylinder of calcium oxide (quicklime), which glows with an intense white light.

[@Bintexas]

Papier maché, sawdust, canvas, drapery, voluminous clothing, petroleum products and matches. What could go wrong? The only thing missing is the “This is fine” dog meme.

[@MusicoftheDamned]

There is a cruel irony that the sole actual precaution of a smoking ban, which I was expecting to be the cause of the fire, seems to have actually worked...only for some overeager projectionists to fuck it up because they were trying to avoid briefly blinding people for a second. Good going, guys.

[@mountaineergirl255]

In Girl Scouts we made our firestarters out of sawdust, fabric scraps & petroleum products (usually old paraffin candle wax). Every time I hear about one of these fire disasters I remember how great those firestarters work and I wonder what the hell people were thinking.

[@SkunkApe407]

@@mountaineergirl255 my 11 year old is in the GSA. They don't teach that anymore. Her Troop looked at her like she was some sort of genius, because I had sent her with some that we made at home, for their camping trip last summer. We use paraffin for our main cooking fire, and we make smaller ones with citronella for starting smaller fires near our tents. If you position your campsite correctly, you can keep most bugs away with a ring of smaller fires in front of the tents.

[@zombiedoggie2732]

And ether, and idiots lighting matches around ether!

[@nadrewod999]

Don't forget the heat and potential electric sparks from the earliest film projectors...

[@ItsJustLisa]

The only correction that needs to be made is that women did not wear hooped skirts in 1897. At all. Skirts were gored, so yes, they swished, but they didn’t have hooped crinolines or petticoats. They didn’t even wear bustles anymore. They did, however, wear fashionably puffed sleeves, but the size of them had been diminishing from the peak of poofiness in 1895. There were no “Gone With the Wind” giant skirts anywhere inhibiting movement. So let’s not blame hooped skirts for people’s inability to move around or escape the fire.

[@gray_mara]

Just found your comment after I said the same thing! It's socially ingrained in us to mock women's clothing choices, even without realising it. I know the presenter didn't intend it that way, but it's so deeply ingrained in how we see the past that it's difficult to interpret it another way.

[@teaxandxcupcakes]

I was about to comment the same thing. As a historic fashion enthusiast hearing "hoop skirt" to describe the dresses of the time hurt my soul...Love this channel but I do wish that he had done a bit more research for that part.

[@maryeckel9682]

​@@teaxandxcupcakesplus hoops were collapsible.

[@annemarieanderson4824]

@@maryeckel9682came here to say this. Women are not helpless or stupid! Crinolines were flexible and collapsible. If they were even wearing them, which most likely they were not.

[@HadridarMatramen]

Thank you!!! It bothers me that so much effort is clearly put into researching a topic, but then they say something like this - hoopskirts in 1897...- that shows they did not research on that topic at all!!! And when they then make a point of the giant hoopskirts making it difficult to escape.... No. Just no. If the fashion is important to the tragedy, then they ought to research the fashion!!!

[@Ob1sdarkside]

The lady lets people go ahead of her and remains calm. Quite amazing

[@stevenstice6683]

With the highly flammable building, inward opening doors, revolving doors at the entrance, and a lighted match starting the fire, it's the Cocoanut Grove episode all over again.

[@reneedennis2011]

Yup. That's what I was thinking 🤔.

[@KathrynsWorldWildfireTracking]

Yes quite chilling. Also, the Cocoanut Grove had a "death door." A quick means of egress for hundreds of the patrons - locked to prevent people from skipping the check. This funneled an extra few hundred people from the basement lounge to the main foyer - where they collided with several hundred other patrons running for the same, small main exit... Sadly - a single guy getting his foot stuck in the door caused the jam.

[@dawnstorm9768]

Sadly predictive.

[@stevie-ray2020]

Except that this was decades before the Cocoanut Grove fire!

[@dawnreneegmail]

Or the Iroquois Theater Chicago, INWARD facing exit door still in the 1910s! No exit signs (would've uglied up the place) and of course the afternoon matinee loaded with women and their children including Burlesque star Eddie Foy (performing in the show) and his 7 year old son. Both survived but the death toll staggered the imagination.

[@classicmicroscopy9398]

Before even watching this I'm gonna guess the building was considered "100% fireproof".

[@SkunkApe407]

"Purpose built, wooden warehouse..." I highly doubt anyone thought a wooden building was fireproof.

[@kurotsuki7427]

No matter how "fire proof" the building is the stuff and people inside always are flammable. (Though this one was wood)

[@Plasmastorm73_n5evv]

Nope.

[@MusicoftheDamned]

You would think given the usual hubris involved with most of his videos around fiery disasters in buildings, but in a morbidly funny way this is almost like inverse exception that. Literal minutes of him poiniting out more and more flammable things inside and on people even after the fire started. I'm surprised the building managed to last an entire ten minutes.

[@Wally97523]

I, also before watching, bet you’re correct.😂

[@HeronCoyote1234]

Considering the sheer number of people, the high flammability of everything inside and out, and the lack of usable exits, I was surprised the death toll was as low as it was.

[@stevie-ray2020]

My guess is that many that survived the fire died rather painfully in the weeks and months following from infections!

[@Arkylie]

Yeah, that's... 1800 in attendance, 126 deaths (less than 10%) -- that sounds miraculous. Not even 300 injured (300 would be 1/6th). I mean it's still horrific, obviously, but those low numbers shock me.

[@dyamonde9555]

yeah, when i heard how many people were in there, how flammable it was and that it burned down in 10 mins, i expected a WAY higher death toll.

[@user-ox9ep9ki6h]

I read about this many years ago. The other exits had cheap doors that while opening inwards failed when enough people had begun pushing from the inside.Most of the survivors escaped like that.

[@senses70]

As a Parisian, I’m really aware of this completely avoidable disaster and the impact it had at the time on the high society of the European aristocracy. The roof of highly flammable tarred tarpolin was the main fire spreader as it instantly caught fire in the entire building and dropped deadly molten droplets on the hundreds of people crowded underneath. It was certainly a disaster waiting to happen as you perfectly described the unthinkable material used for its construction and the dresses most women were wearing, fuelling a devastating, almost instantaneous inferno in this remarkable video. The “Notre Dame De La Consolation” chapel is still there but sadly mostly forgotten about. As you rightly mentioned in the video, this terrible tragedy helped improve the fire safety in buildings all around the world, so the victims last horrific moments saved countless lives in the years after. Thank you for remembering the victims. One of your best documentary FH.

[@TheSaneHatter]

Thank you for being willing to share that memory . . . or should I say, "merci"?

[@coconyt3623]

What an incredible person that Duchess was. The typical aristocrat would expect commoners to die so they can escape. But to stoically favor others in that hellscape... Damn.

[@gray_mara]

Incredible to think that if she'd been around exactly one hundred years earlier, she would have been executed during the Terror.

[@reachandler3655]

Flammable construction, flammable decor, flammable clothes, and flammable beauty products equals nightmare fuel!

[@zombiedoggie2732]

You forgot two ingredients. Ether and match.

[@janicesullivan8942]

The heavy layered clothing women wore back then made it difficult to escape, they went up like Roman candles. 💔💔💔

[@snewsh]

It's okay. They posted No Smoking signs. Everything should be fine.

[@zombiedoggie2732]

@@janicesullivan8942 Polyester and other synthetic fabrics also have a problem, They don't just burn but they melt as well, and thus cling to the skin.

[@dx1450]

Not to mention crowded building, revolving door, and fire.

[@lyedavide]

Another testament to the saying: every rule and law enforcing safety is written in blood. RIP to all those who perished in this awful tragedy.

[@ThatOpalGuy]

and yet...big goobermint is BAD.

[@MegCazalet]

The Wikipedia page includes a list of the victims and stories of survivors. So many there were wealthy aristocrats.

[@ethribin4188]

The moment I heard "hundreds of people" and "rotating doors", I could think of only one word. Crush.

[@unrulycrow6299]

Being French and from Paris, with a keen interest in the Belle Époque, I was SO waiting for you to cover that one! For those interested, a dramatisation titled Bazar de la Charité has been made some years ago as a mini-series on this events and its repercussions on 3 women and their families. Excellent series, beautiful costumes as well (hoop skirts were out of fashion for some decades by that time, though!).

[@p4ngolin]

J'approuve. Avec la dame du lac en personnage principal, ca peut etre que bon

[@nihilusdirus]

Thank you for the comment, I'll have to check out the dramatization!

[@TheSaneHatter]

That's right: hoopskirts were from 1850-1870, bustles from 1870-1890, and now we were in a transitional period at the turn of the century. Women were still heavily corseted, though.

Superb dramatisation. I thoroughly recommend it. Rather harrowing at times and some scenes are seared into my memory... unfortunately😦

[@p4ngolin]

I'd like you to know that I watched it again this week because of this video and yes they got the skirts right hahaha

[@vincentshadowfriend6523]

Dress historian checking in here: Hoop skirts hadn't been in fashion for decades at this time. There weren't even any bustles that were favored anymore. By 1897, especially in fashion-forward Paris, there was a much sleeker, more streamlined silhouette. There could still be some padding around the hips, but there wasn't anything like the hoop anywhere for a lot of years by this point. Fashion was pretty chill, compared to earlier in the nineteenth century. You can literally see this in the illustration you chose. As someone who as actually worn a hoop, they don't make it hard to move around at all, especially not in historic buildings that were made with things like that in mind--the only difficulty I've had in one is trying to drive in one (do not recommend). They're quite comfortable, actually, as they take the heavy weight of the skirt off the legs and keep things nice and cool underneath. Again, this is a moot point though, as no one was wearing a hoop at this event.

[@knrdvmmlbkkn]

"no one was (...) at this event." How do you know that? Did you attend it?

[@bruhbruh-us6gl]

@@knrdvmmlbkkn I did. I was there

[@vincentshadowfriend6523]

@@knrdvmmlbkkn If you can find empirical proof of someone wearing a hoop in 1897, be my guest. This is literally my career, researching clothing, recreating it, and studying how it was worn.

[@aquachonk]

Agreed. I was looking at that image and thinking, "What hoop?" But I disagree that it should be implied that movement in one would be effortless in a crush of hundreds.

[@vincentshadowfriend6523]

@@aquachonk Oh for sure! Overcrowding definitely was a problem, and you just know there weren't any considerations for emergency exits. I just think it's wildly inaccurate to blame the clothing, which is just silly.

[@juliadagnall5816]

Always be wary of temporary structures. They often don’t get the same kind of scrutiny as permanent installations so there’s a temptation to cut corners and do things on the cheap making them especially prone to fire and collapse. I remember my Dad (who trained as a firefighter) telling me about a haunted house he went to in college. It was basically a bunch of trailers stuck together and as he walked through he realized ‘this thing is a death trap!’ Sure enough, later on the thing caught fire and a number of people got trapped inside.

[@gray_mara]

It sounds like one already covered by this channel.

[@ahill4642]

Wise advice.

[@worldwideinterests1]

Am I the only one who heard 126 deaths and thought, "Whoa, I thought that would be a LOT worse."?

[@sweetistweeter]

I know! I wonder how many people died subsequently, though. Burns can kill slowly through sepsis etc. they may not have been able to collect that information.

[@pavlinas3422]

Sad and strange fate of Sofie (Duchess Alençon). In young age she was engage with Ludwig II. from Bayern But later it was abolish. She must have wedding with d'Alençon, but of course it wasn't happy marriage. Next, Ludwig died and she was very shaken, she got ill both physically and mentally. When she was somehow back, Sissi alegedly not welcome her and don't want her in imperial court. Sofie and her husband came to Paris, when she start doing charity and work for Dominican Sisters. They said when she dying, she comfort her friend and one nun. Strangely she and all her sisters have sad fate.

[@reneedennis2011]

Wow. Thanks for the information.

[@carey579]

Ludwig II broke off the engagement because he was gay and didn’t want Sofie to be unhappy with him.

[@reneedennis2011]

@@carey579 Oh.

[@lavacakez5912]

thank you, very real pavlina

[@empresskrissy1527]

Sophie Charlotte never lived with Ludwig. Because she was unmarried, she lived with her parents in Bavaria. The engagement ended after Ludwig refused to set a wedding date. Sisi talked with Ludwig on her sister's behalf and it was because he was in love with Richard Wagner at the time. Sophie stayed with her parents until she married the Duke. Sisi didn't invite her sister to the Viennese court because she was rarely there. She preferred to travel and stay in Hungary to escape the rigidity of the court as well as her marital issues with Franz. It is true none of the sisters had happy marriages. Ludwig died first, then Sophie Charlotte and the Sisi was last.

[@Gimpygladiator]

Part of me feels incredibly horrible about how giddy I get seeing a new video from this channel. Been following for many years now, and there seems to be a ceaseless array of ways humanity fails to protect itself from past mistakes. Once again, a brilliant, well-described snapshot of history. Thank you for the sheer amount of research you do to put these together!

[@reneedennis2011]

I agree.

[@nlwilson4892]

The way I see it, it is the past, you can't change it, you can learn from it. I suspect a good many people who watch this and Plainly Difficult are a lot more aware of potential dangers and take more care to avoid causing them or being part of them.

[@deborahblackvideoediting8697]

I feel the same way. I'm always happy when he posts a new video, but it so difficult listening to what some of those poor folks had to endure. But I still keep watching!

[@rebekahwolkiewicz449]

Those poor people. So many of them were there to do good, so many of them perished trying to save others from the fire, putting others’ lives and escape above their own.

[@thereisnosanctuary6184]

They weren't poor.

[@JohnGardnerAlhadis]

Lighting a highly-combustible liquid inside a wooden structure crowded with people covered in flammable material and petroleum jelly? What could go wrong, I wonder?

[@nlwilson4892]

I heard "temporary wooden structure" and thought, "well that would be bad" and then it just got worse from there. It is like the whole event was designed to be a disaster.

[@Numb3r3dDays]

I feel like hardly any of the dresses portrayed are actually hoop skirts, lol. The ones shown don't really illustrate how much space they took up. That being said, I've never heard about this one! Really interesting, thank you.

[@KathrynsWorldWildfireTracking]

Found out recently - the "whalebone" used in some dress hooping was actually baleen. Makes a lot more sense now. And, it's creepy.

[@JosieJOK]

Yeah, I think true hoop skirts were a fashion from 30-40 years before, and the current fashion of 1897 was just very voluminous skirts without the cage-like hoop apparatus underneath.

[@MadameChristie]

Bustles, yeah? ​@@JosieJOK

[@thedrinkinggames9573]

​@@JosieJOKbustles were no longer in fashion, and hadn't been since the late 1880's. Hoops hadn't been in fashion since the 60's to the very early 70's. By this time there were only a few petticoats holding the skirt's shape.

[@AndrewBrown-fq6vp]

Once again I have never heard of this disaster. Brilliant video.

[@pmberry]

The incident reads like a checklist of every fire safety regulation yet to be written at the time.

[@adde9506]

Interestingly, the sawdust under the floorboards, while potentially highly flammable in other circumstances, is a non-issue here. Dust explosions and fires are fantastic disasters but that's when they are loose and on the move. A packed density of even the most flammable material burns poorly or not at all, whether it be tightly shelved books or the bag of flour you dump on a grease fire. The sawdust doesn't mean a thing when evey surface is flammable with plenty of airflow. I'm honestly shocked that it was the projector that set it off and not some careless bit of smoking, but I suppose the attendees recognized tge tinderbox they were walking through, even if they didn't realize just how flammable they themselves were.

[@TrineDaely]

Flour on a grease fire? Baking soda for a grease fire unless you have an extinguisher rated for it.

[@serendipitish]

Never flour on a grease fire, agreed! But this person is pointing out that a whole bag of flour won't burn/explode in the same way a scatter/cloud of loose flour will, because the particles are closely packed, just as the compressed/contained sawdust under the floors likely didn't contribute as much to the fire here as it might have in other situations.

[@nlwilson4892]

Considering that it was fresh so the sawdust would not be bedded down and you'd have sawdust mixed in with shavings I'd say that would burn very quickly.

[@wilsjane]

The biggest problem was the ceiling, since the draped fabric had air on both sides. The original fire first travelled upwards, then along the entire length of the structure, dropping burning fabric at the same time.

[@roadweary5252]

Rotating doors, drapery hanging from the ceiling….Both made me immediately think of the Coconut Grove in Boston

[@seandelap8587]

Always look forward to a Tuesday morning video by FH

[@gwenmitchell3207]

Same

[@MegCazalet]

There’s a French tv series about this called Bazar de la Charité. Highly recommended. Don’t watch the English dub. Watch it in French and read subtitles. The performances are lost if you watch the dub. The scene of the fire is terrifying. The show follows the stories of three women who survive. That’s all I’ll say. It is a compelling, beautifully acted, gorgeously-shot program. In English it’s called Bonfire of Destiny.

[@TheOnjLouis]

Thank you for such captivating videos, I genuinely look forward to these every week. Your channel is a personal favourite of mine.

[@sarapenn9776]

By 1897, hoop skirts hadn't been in fashion for a few decades. Most skirts worn at this time were not nearly as cumbersome or voluminous as mentioned.

[@myragroenewegen5426]

From our perspective the danger here is blindingly obvious. It makes me think it would be important to contextualize in a history of fire safety awareness. Also, without the fire, it just sound like such a generally lovely, well thought out event in other ways, so the reasons basic fire awareness wasn't there would really give us insight into how safety knowledge builds over time.

[@Bintexas]

1 minute in and the views/like counters are spinning madly. FH is a favorite of mine, too. 🙂

[@patriciamariemitchel]

Forty years ago washing machines had slides on the transmission. One day , I was spraying them with brake cleaner in my basement, with the windows shut, to get the gunk off them. I was really happy with how that was working. I didn’t notice that the excess cleaner was dripping onto the floor and going and running down the floor drain. I also didn’t notice how the fumes were accumulating in my work area, which was about six feet away from the gas water heater and when it lit up, there was suddenly a loud banging noise. I thought someone dropped something heavy upstairs. I didn’t know it was the brake cleaner exploding in the drain so I ignored it and kept spraying. I was almost done and began to back out of the opening when there was a huge whooshing noise that came out of the washer and blasted me. I was so stunned I didn’t realize my arms were on fire. I heard a crackling noise and turned to see a huge ball of fire between me and the hot water heater. That’s when I stood up and ran. Then the air exploded and it left little fires burning all over the place, on the ceiling rafters and everywhere! My kids came down to see what was going on. I looked like the bride of Frankenstein, running around putting out the little fires. I thought I was brushing fire residue off my arms, but it was my skin. Thank God I had a big jar of sulfadine cream burn ointment: amazing stuff that formed new skin anywhere it’s needed. I had it for times when I got careless with my solder guns. They use silverdine now and it works pretty much as well. I had a newspaper route with about thirty stores at the time so I asked my son to help me that night and I drove, sticking my arms out the window almost constantly because it was winter and the cold air quelled the pain. By the time my route was over, I was pain free. For three days I changed my gauze after showering and reapplied the burn cream. Except for the memory of that day, I have no scars. Yes, God does heal stupid people! 🕊️

[@maryeckel9682]

Holy cow!

[@thereisnosanctuary6184]

Single mom story.

[@jalapeno1119]

"hot water heater"

[@thegodofpez]

Horrible tragedy. Awesome artwork.

[@cleopatracatra2097]

What a tragedy! But the artwork shown in this video is superb! Gorgeous!

[@cya2163]

Horrific disaster that Netflix made into a movie, Bonfire of Destiny, in 2019...just a ghastly way for people to perish...

[@whiplashfatigue1430]

No longer on Netflix, not streaming anywhere. I looked.

[@AJP1613]

The fire scene was intense! Slightly hard to watch. The horror those people experienced 😢.

[@micadean1600]

@@whiplashfatigue1430damn.

[@New_Wave_Nancy]

@@whiplashfatigue1430 That's a shame. It was quite good.

[@Klm49]

​@whiplashfatigue1430 Oh No! Was going to go watch now!

[@elli_senfsaat]

No Patrick, expecting humans to avoid even the tiniest stupid thing isn't a sufficient security measure

[@bertuccigirl]

The revolving doors reminds me of the Cocoanut Grove, which is why you always see stationary doors next to revolving ones. Small note, skirts were not particularly voluminous at this time, though sleeves were and hats and hair might have been. The huge skirts were earlier.

[@daffers2345]

As soon as he said "revolving doors," I said, "Oh no!" I hate those stories where everyone jams into them. :(

[@kimhohlmayer7018]

Growing up I loved reading books written in the late 1800s. Such stories often included parties or bazaars describing how the decorated areas were created including huge sheets of muslin and cheese cloth. Others focused on long, sweeping gowns with balloon sleeves. Thus as you described this setting I could almost feel the disaster forming in my mind. All that fabric and paper based decor would have literally burned in a flash. That combined with the exit issues make it a miracle that anyone escaped.

[@colemarie9262]

They built a literal pyre between two revolving doors and packed in over a thousand people. I’m surprised at how many escaped!

[@fredsalter1915]

Thank you for researching and presenting this!

[@FascinatingHorror]

Thanks for watching!

[@JohnJohn-vw7tc]

Love your shows. History is amazing and you are keeping it alive. Good on you.

[@Sharon-kl3by]

The running theme is money over safety.... another interesting story. Love this channel

[@user-ll8be9vt4u]

Excellent as always. I really appreciate the time you take to research these stories.

[@reneedennis2011]

So do I.

[@daffers2345]

Yesterday I was heating some oil in a pan to fry something. (I have a gas stove.) I walked off to wait for it to heat, and then I got distracted and forgot about it. About 2 minutes later my smoke alarm went off. The oil was smoking like crazy. I was able to take care of things before a fire started. My smoke alarm goes off a lot because the apartment is small. It's annoying sometimes, but I am SO grateful for it. If the oil had caught fire, I'm not sure what I would have done. Stories like this remind me why we are required to have working ones in all units here.

[@marvindebot3264]

Just don't pour water on it!

[@emordnilap4747]

As long as nothing else has caught fire yet, you just have to remove it from the heat, then cover it with something like a lid, or plate. As long as there's no more oxygen getting into the pan, it's 100% effective, will go out immediately.

[@daffers2345]

@@emordnilap4747 Yup, I just shut off the heat and moved the pan to another (cool) burner. I also know to throw baking soda on a grease/oil fire. But I'm just glad the alarm went off BEFORE it was in flames!

[@ASnarkyCatLady]

I learned about this first from a Netflix show called Le Bazar de La Charite which I think did a great job showing the fire and aftermath. Its a fictional accounting, because this is a small part of the overall story, but the fire was terrifying and they showed most of what you talked about in this video. Definitely recommend watching episode 1 too see what it might have been like inside.

[@JohnKyleChalmers]

I feel like I have to add a small note for 5:32… The fashion in 1897 was NOT for hooped skirts. Both crinolines and bustles had come and gone by this point. Skirts had become quite fitted to the hips and bell shaped. HOWEVER, most skirts, especially for upper class ladies would have slight trains and the 1890’s were the period of the voluminous ‘leg o’ mutton sleeve’ as seen in the illustration you showed. It’s a small detail but it paints a very different picture to how people would have moved and interacted.

[@chriscooper654]

Your matter-of-fact narration makes the actual sense of tragedy all the more effective. Particularly the description of all that combustible material in such a crowded place... Fascinating horror, indeed.

[@daffers2345]

I couldn't agree more. This is one of my favorite YT channels, and certainly the best disaster channel. I have not come across any that have the same respect. Most of the others, even the good ones, use opinion or try to sensationalize things, and ALL of them beg for likes and subscribes, which FH does NOT do.

[@jenniferbrewer5370]

This is literally the first documentary of any kind I've seen about this deadly fire.

[@MightyMezzo]

And just think, only 47 years until the Coconut Grove fire persuaded people that revolving doors make really lousy emergency exits.

[@ahill4642]

oof! good point

[@zoltanrudolf]

This is one of the best channels on KZbin.

[@AidanOAArch]

Ether as a fuel for a lamp seems just insane to me, given how violently flammable just the vapors are.

[@PurelyCoincidental]

Yes, but you have to realize that at this time it was still difficult to make enough light to run a projector. I think they were using carbon-arc lamps by this point, but this was someone's personal projector, which may have been older. Or they may have used an ether lamp so they didn't need to connect to electricity.

[@bronwentillman8385]

Very hard lesson to learn

[@dagneytaggart7707]

Events such as this is how we know what things are horrifically dangerous.

[@dawnreneegmail]

@@dagneytaggart7707 logically the guys knew, but "as long as" being their insurance policy is pretty flimsy.

[@dmelvinable]

As soon as the narrator mentioned ether, I said to myself "there it is", and when the guy working the projector was rushed to relight the lamp with a match, you just knew that's when it started. If the worker wasn't ordered to restart the projector within two minutes, they may have had the sense to close the container of ether or put it where the vapors wouldn't have been close to the match and this would have all been averted.

[@ajh6354]

I like the old historical stories that I have not heard before. RIP to the victims and well done to the heroic rescuers.

[@ksteak27]

You should do a story on the Boyertown Rhoads Opera House fire in PA.

[@daffers2345]

He has an email in the description. I recommend emailing him your suggestion. I have done so twice, including a suggestion for the Sight & Sound theater fire in 1997. He has not done mine, at least not yet, but he was courteous enough to respond to both emails.

[@ksteak27]

@@daffers2345 Thanks!!

[@TigerRose246]

Just a note: At 5:30 the illustration of the dress is right but it is not a hoop skirt. Per Fashion History Timeline: "Early 1890s dresses consisted of a tight bodice with the skirt gathered at the waist and falling more naturally over the hips and undergarments than in previous years. Puffy leg-of-mutton sleeves (also known as gigot sleeves) made a comeback, growing bigger each year until reaching their largest size around 1895." The cage crinoline, or the hoop skirt, made a comeback in mid-1850s to mid-1860s. Think Scarlett O'Hara in "Gone With the Wind". Ironic to think that if the women were indeed wearing hoop skirts there could not have been nearly so many people in the hall.

[@MichaelCZUSA]

No one tells a story as well as you do, Sir. Thank you for all the research you must do to bring these stories to the forefront of our minds.

[@donaldlyons537]

Thank you for this story. My mother was from Paris and grandparents were probably alive when this occurred...😢

[@MrMalvolio29]

Congratulations, @FascinatingHorror, on the success of your superb, thoroughly researched, engaging, and beautifully scripted videos and on the exemplary KZbin channel that streams them. I’ve been a subscriber for quite a good while, due in no small part to your being one of my favourite human KZbin narrators. Bravo!

[@drummerdavemax]

It's startling how many of the disasters you cover are fires!

[@matthewpaul6904]

I first heard of this fire in the doc "Cinema Europe The Other Hollywood" Nice to get more details about it.

[@yesenia8415]

Aways so excited to see your posts! Keep up the amazing work!!

[@Straswa]

What a horrific fire. Thanks FH for another insightful video.

[@gemfyre855]

As soon as you said ether I just said, "oh NO!" out loud.

[@ahill4642]

I said that at “revolving doors” 😬

[@MusicoftheDamned]

Thiis weirdly feels like a mixture of the last three or so videos between the shoddy construction, the deadly crush of people, and the absurdly flammable conditions (that I'm surprised lasted ten minutes).

[@DARWINZOO]

Sort videos by oldest to newest. 😂❤

[@bennybongosbigolebonanza894]

That’s one tiff my wife and I get into as I always insist on decorating our rooms in the theme of a medieval French street.

[@ethribin4188]

The fact that one of the worst fires in Paris ever is "just" a Bazaar, shows how devestating this fire was.

[@hostrauer]

After hearing this story, I am STUNNED the death toll was "only" 126. I was expecting 500-1,000 dead.

[@LawnmowerJoe]

I’m happy you finally covered this one!

[@starry53]

To think that place is fireproof, but I guess I thought wrong. Everything is quite flammable.

[@evangelinehoke5512]

Great video thank you- love watching these with my sisters

[@rondavis13]

Thank you for creating such great videos. They are a great way to look back at the mistakes made and learn from them. Thank you!!

[@robertphillips6296]

History keeps repeating itself with preventable disasters!

[@ahill4642]

Yes! Safety standards may improve after these disasters but not everywhere. And greed/saving a buck will never die.

[@artman2oo3]

This is one of your best videos, FH. It’s pure fire! 🔥 🔥

[@ayo_nik]

the decor of this place reminds me of the lakeline mall in austin back in the day. the food court was decorated to look like a victorian street, the ceiling painted to look like a blue sky with small pretty clouds, and the very center was a huge fake hot air balloon. as a kid i used to imagine you could pay to go up there, for like a birthday or something.

[@garyb6219]

"How do you like my new dress." "I love it. What's it made out of." "Gasoline." "Oh dear."

[@TheLanise]

I have a suggestion the Ashland Kentucky theater fire 1959

[@htos1av]

That was a bad one, RIP to all. Thanks FH, for covering this, it was my first time on this one. And a great look into tech history as well. Did my time as a projectionist too (hot and dangerous), as an a/v geek who surfed the digital wave to the shore from the full analog era. (broadcasting became podcasting) The whole time was SAFETY FIRST! That's not a glib expression for a reason.

[@civillady13]

I have to say that at this time known as the Belle Epoch the wide hoop skirts were several decades out of fashion. The wide, puffy sleeves were definitely in and it was necessary to stuff them with paper or light fabric to get and maintain that width as were layers of petticoats and skirts draped with at least two different fabrics.

[@terrisomers7843]

Another great video, thank you!

[@ellenbryn]

I note two big things here. 1. Most of those flammable materials were new or rare before the industrial revolution, so people didn't appreciate their fire hazards any more than modern people today appreciate the explosive hazard of flour mills, bakeries or grain silos (dried milled plant matter = sawdust). 2. A charity bazaar with noble celebrities like this comes up in one of Dorothy Sayers' Peter Wimsey novels written in the 1920s/30s. I guess this is a whole cultural activity/phenomenon that's been forgotten - except it hasn't. It's morphed into SF and other fan conventions where fans get to meet their favorite stars, following the precept that pop stars and entertainers fill the social role/psychological niche formerly occupied by royals and nobility. Many (most?) include a charity auction and/or encourage celebs to plug their favorite charities.. Thankfully none have burned down in recent memory, although several have burned ticketholders and vendors cancelling at the last minute and failing to refund tickets or vending booth fees, let alone travel expenses and the costs of unsold products.

[@BennyLlama39]

Seeing some of these pics and hearing the description, I can't help thinking this was the world's earliest mall. 😀

[@daviegriffin3539]

_Thanks for the uploads._ 🎞 *Cheers 🍻 from **#CancúnMéxico* 💙🇲🇽

[@zombiedoggie2732]

By 1897, The hoop skirts were actually out of fashion. The look was still large though, with huge leg o mutton sleaves, and hips that don't lie that was padded out. (not to the extremes of the 1700s of course) Skirts were still volumous, but not nearly so as they were in the 1860's. Also. Match plus Ether is NEVER a good combo!

[@crow-jane]

The big sleeves were largely out by 1897; the silhouette was actually pretty streamlined and is one of my favorites.

[@zombiedoggie2732]

@@crow-jane Ah thanks for the information! I didn't realize the leg o mutton deflated so soon. Still oriognal point stands. The ladies wern't wearing hoops.

[@crow-jane]

@@zombiedoggie2732Not unless they were borrowing their grandma’s clothes. 😂

[@zombiedoggie2732]

@@crow-jane then they'd be all "All dis fabric in the skirt! lets make something new!"

[@zombiedoggie2732]

@@crow-jane Then they'd be all "Look at all dis fabric in this skirt! lets make something new!" I think there's more than one Edwardian skirt made from grandma's/great grandma's ginormous lace shawl.

[@Sasuhinagirl1]

Yay, its Tuesday!

[@jonathanfox676]

Crazy that they auctioned off the burned stuff afterwards

[@TakeMeToYourLida]

They built a building-shaped bonfire, lured people inside, and set it ablaze. Surprising more didn’t perish. Wow.

[@reneedennis2011]

I never heard about this horrible 😢 story! Thank you for this video.

[@maryeckel9682]

Skirts in the 1890s had no hoops or crinolines. They were full and often touched the ground, but they weren't hard to move in per se. The gigot sleeves could be stuffed to puff them out more, but again, not really an impediment to movement. I'm sure a lot of skirts got stepped on and torn, and the fabrics were certainly inflammable, but that's about it. Btw even hoops and crinolines were collapsible, like accordions. These myths need to be quashed, not spread.

[@vinawaldren6888]

Wow! Horrors! I definitely didn't know about this. Thanks FH!

[@vulcantoaster]

I have no idea how I missed this video when I've been binging these while sorting packages at work but here I am! I hate to be nitpicky but I wanted to point out that hoop skirts had stopped being worn by the 1860s, they were simply sewn in a bell shape. I'm just a nut for fashion history!

[@iainballas]

With so much paper, sawdust, wood, chemicals and idiots around, this was bound to be the hottest party of the year.

[@marilynfoster1233]

This one really got me, just about couldn’t finish it. Heartbreaking 💔

[@jillwiegand4257]

This was a "Hot time in the old time tonight". Alot of intelligence and glamour in one area, but not many fire emergency procedures in place. ❤️

[@imogenx9145]

Another great video on something I've never heard about before.

[@timthetoolpool]

I'm impressed they were able to contain the fire.

[@lisaknits69]

Thank you for sharing 😊😊😊