Hartford Circus facts

While investigating facts about Hartford Circus Fire and Hartford Circus Fire Graphic Photos, I found out little known, but curios details like:

Paraffin wax was a common waterproofing method for circus tents but changed in 1944 after the Ringling Bros. Fire in Hartford, CT. The paraffin wax ended up accelerating the deadly fire & 1800lbs of hot wax "rained down from the roof"-killing 167 people; injuring 700, mostly women & children.

how many animals died in the hartford circus fire?

Charles Nelson Reilly, actor/comedian best known as the long time panelist on the game show Match Game, was a survivor of the 1944 Hartford circus tent fire in which 169 people died. He never sat in an audience again for the remainder of life because large crowds reminded him of the event.

What started the hartford circus fire?

In my opinion, it is useful to put together a list of the most interesting details from trusted sources that I've come across answering what year was the hartford circus fire. Here are 11 of the best facts about Hartford Circus Fire Memorial and Hartford Circus Fire Victims I managed to collect.

what caused the hartford circus fire?

1. About "Little Miss 1565". An approx. 5-6 year-old girl who was trampled and died of asphyxiation in the 1944 RBandB&B Circus Big Top fire in Hartford, CT. Her identity has never been fully proven.

2. About The Hartford Circus Fire where 167 people were killed and 700 injured. Actor Charles Nelson Reilly was 13 and survived the fire. Charles and a friend went without his mother's permission, she scolded him by saying "I hope it burns to the ground."

3. An estimated 900 adults and children were either hurt or killed in a circus fire in Hartford, CT back in 1944

4. Late actor and comedian Charles Nelson Reilly survived the 1944 Hartford Circus Fire, which claimed the lives of 167 and injured 700+ at a Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey performance

5. In 1944, 167 died in The Hartford Circus Fire, one of the worst fire disasters in the history of the US. The tent had been "waterproofed" with a mixture of highly flammable paraffin diluted in gasoline.

6. A victim of the 1944 Hartford circus fire remained unidentified despite a massive publicity campaign, with her picture in nationwide magazines. The little girl became known as "Little Miss 1565" and the investigating officers continued to leave flowers on her grave every year until their deaths.

7. During the Hartford Circus Fire which killed 168 people & inured another 700, an exit was blocked by an animal chute. Many that died that day did so trying to get around or over the chute

8. The man who originally confessed to the Hartford Circus Fire claimed that he did it because he had a nightmare in which an "Indian riding a flaming horse" urged him to set fires.