The Deadliest Theater Fire In History 

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This is a very good example of something my dad, a +20 year veteran of the mining and construction industries, once told me: "Safety regulations are written in blood."

Jesus. It's like every single design choice for this theatre was made specifically to kill the audience in a fire.

"Wow that fire looks so real! The smoke smells real too!" "Oh wait..."

The Chicago Times: Make theatres safer Everyone: Bruh

Freedom of speech is the right to shout "Theater!" in the middle of a crowded fire.

"impervious to fire" is like "unsinkable" If you use it to describe something, bad things will happen

i just love how Austin covers this random interesting shit. you never know what you're gonna get with this channel, and it's always so fascinating.

I can't believe I've never heard of this if it had *double* the fatalities of the Great Fire of Chicago.

Oh the early 1900s, where "yeeting a metal canister at fire" was considered at least a somewhat acceptable safety measure.

"The theater's single entrance..." Me: oh no

Me: *knows the story of blue beard* Austin: many in the audience were children Me: well, that's a problem, too

When Fake News becomes *Real* **Cue the **_Curb Your Enthusiasm_** theme**

There's a deeper lesson in all of this that we never seem to learn. The best time to make changes is before tragedy strikes but we oft fail to see the point before then.

Chicago Times: there's a lot of other fire hazards, people could die Everyone: no Theatre: *burns down* Everyone: _surprised pikachu face_

One of the best example of "i told you so" in history

The Chicago Times: A THEATER CAUGHT FIRE- nah, but make em safer tho. Everyone: nah years later: Everyone: A THEATER CAUGHT FIRE The Chicago Times: *curb your enthusiasm theme plays*

*Theatre:* [sets on fire during the trailers of Aladdin] *Me:* That's hot! That's hot!

austinmcconnell is probably the most interesting channel to watch

This is like the Titanic of theatre fires

If there's no Missouri shout-out, then it's not Austin's video

My great aunt, my great-grandad's sister, was burned to death during the Iroquois fire. My whole family was based in Chicago before this. We moved from Chicago to Dover to Philadelphia, since my grandfather couldn't stand to live in Chicago anymore, even with all the reforms. I know it probably wasn't your intention to reach somebody's heart, but you did. I'm glad you're spreading awareness of what is now a rarely-known disaster that has become something of a family legacy for me. So thank you.

*_"I will find her_* _I will find her if I have to burn ALL of Chicago!"_

damn, newsies is a lot more depressing than i remember

Austin one week “a children’s book!” Austin the next week “a deadly fire that killed people.” I love the randomness of this channel

This video is stoking fears I didn't know I had. Imagine the claustrophobia.

Something I do to remind myself of my own mortality and center myself, is I walk through cemeteries. Sometimes I just enjoy the nature, the landscaping, and the architecture, and sometimes I look at the names and think about the graves - which usually ends with me doing some research at home. Your video reminds me of a particularly sad discovery - 4 graves with a year of death of 1903 and another one next to them of 1904. All I could think of was what a tragedy 1903 was for that family. When I did my research, I found out that those four graves were children that all died in the fire and the other grave were their mother that died of smoke inhalation next week. The husband and father ended up having a mental breakdown several years later - there is no record of what happened to him after this incident. I've been interested in this disaster ever since - such a sad and personal way to find out about such a tragedy.

This was amazing. everything about it: Your slow and clam voiceover, the amazing visuals and editing and most importantly a gripping story with just enough foreshadowing. This was lovely

Hey Austin. Great video. If you ever need some more fascinating yet lesser known events in history or videos in general, here are some suggestions: -the story of the woman who was pronounced dead three times and lived. -the time the US military weaponized bats during the Second World War. -the football war, a brief war that started out of a game of football or soccer. -the time the Polish once enlisted an actual bear to their military. -the Japanese soldier who didn’t surrender until the 1960’s. Those are just some ideas I have.

Guess the drama made the tea too hot

I love the format of Weird History! It's a sort of odd entrance and then suddenly it's something cool, creepy, or terrifying! Let me guess: Theatres didn't have proper emergency exits and bad things happened. 3:13 Titanic, much?

I have been waiting for another episode of this for months. Thank you

Really weird history more like real grim history jesus christ im crying rn

Oh man- living in Chicago I’ve heard this story constantly. Good to know exactly what this video was about- thanks for putting it together so well!

Older generations: "The young people today get way too easily offended!" also those same people:

I wish the headline of the paper was "We Told You" and then the rest was blank.

What I love about this channel is that Austin does what he finds interesting, not what gets the most views. Really enjoying it, keep up the good work!

Massive expensive theater: *exists* A spotlight: "I'm about to end this man's whole career"

I would have loved for some sources to be in the description. Not that i don't trust you, but i think that's a great way to promote critical thinking and to enlighten the quality of your work.

If you ever want to see how fast a fire can spread, look up video of the Great White Fire in the Station Nightclub. 4 minutes from smouldering stage to full engulfment. And again, most people died trying to exit through the main entrance.

2:48 The theatre's beautiful single entrance Me: oh no 4:57 Such a crowd that many sit in the aisle, blocking the exits Me: OH NO

"this theater is impervious to fire" "Aw shucks, there goes my weekend..."

Wow, I live here and I did not know this history. Also, "kilfyre" may be my favorite new word. Someone needs to work that name into a fantasy story of some sort.

One thing he doesn’t discuss is the fact that the emergency doors opened inward, people ended up being smushed against the doors and trampled. Another is that many people jumped out the windows into the alley next door, the amount of bodies in the alley was so large, that many survived the fall with minor injuries due to the fall being cushioned by the dead. This alley is now known as death alley for this reason, and because when they were removing the bodies from the building they were stacked in this ally up to ten bodies high.

Dear austinmcconnel, Please keep doing these really weird history episodes. They are your most entertaining product. Your narration skills and video quality do an amazing job at presenting these historical topics. Sincerely, Ron Swanson

i love your historical videos. keep up the good work!

Oh man, you’re only getting better and better. This new way of writing the episodes with a more detailed tang surely brings freshness into the series. Great job Austin.

So good! Thanks for the work you put in to these. They are fascinating and your style is inspiring.

This is just awesome. I had goosebumps as soon as you opened the real story after the newspaper story.

Extremely well made video, Austin. Great job!

Great work, Austin! I loved the story telling! Thank you for your hard work!

your historical videos are some of your best, imo. great job :)

Bravo Austin. The editing on this video was absolutely incredible

i love your history videos, your storytelling skills are phenomenal

Very well done. Thank you for this bit of information. I’ve always wondered what it was like before and what led up to the fire codes we have now.

Your choice of your videos topics is utmost fresh and interesting! Always a great watch!

When I had evening classes by State St. in Chicago, I used to walk by the Couch Place alleyway of the Oriental Theater (now called the Nederlander) where the Iroquois Theater used to stand and you can sense sadness and dread in the afternoon. Some may not feel it but knowing about the history of the building where the alleyway is now can change your perspective. Rest in peace to those souls who perished and didn't deserve this.

One of the more gruesome areas of this story: many of the deceased were found with flesh missing from their limbs. Even appendages were completely gone in some cases. This was due in part to high heeled shoe-wearing patrons panicking; their footwear scraped and sheered tissue, body parts off of those they encountered in the crush.

This channel is just so informative and interesting 😄 thank you for the hard work and great video 🙏

Please do more of these history videos, my family loves them!

I remember reading about this when I was younger and it's a case that's always stayed with me. I can't imagine the terror of the audience in that theatre.

Great work as always Austin

If it weren't for Austin, I probably wouldn't have started my own video essay channel. Incredibly inspiring, and I hope one day I can get on his level.

Truly amazing. You have a serious talent. Please don’t stop this

The moment he said “the theatre’s single grand entrance”, my heart plummeted.

These video stories are awesome content! Thanks for the video!

YES! I'VE BEEN WAITING FOR ANOTHER EPISODE OF THIS!

Imagine being the fireman who said it wasn't safe.

Great work, Austin

You somehow managed to make a short educational story seem like an outstanding short film. Bravo, sir, Bravo!

Every video you make is such an obscure but interesting topic that I can't help but be interested to look further into it or listen intently to every word.

I love your channel !!! Can you do more weird history videos???

I love this series. Keep it up man!

Super sad, but also fascinating, great video dude

There were also some other reasons why people couldn't leave the theater quickly. One was that, in the upper seating areas, the fire escapes leading outdoors were unfinished, leaving many people no means of escape except to jump into the alleyways from several stories up. In the main floor area, the doors had an ornate but fairly complex knob on them called bascule knobs, which were common in Europe at the time, but not in the States, and many people were unfamiliar with them. One man had some in his home and knew how to open them, but many others did not, and ended up dying because they couldn't get the doors open. Also, there were fake doors set into the walls as decorations, which confused many people trying to escape. Many of the victims were children because it was a holiday week, and many were off from school or visiting relatives from out of town. The theater owners made one bad decision after another, leaving many safety features unfinished or not added at all (for example, they didn't put in red exit signs in the main floor because they thought it would ruin the ambience of the theater), so that they could get the theater opened in time for the busy holiday season. Officials who came to inspect the building for fire safety were often bribed with free tickets to pass inspections. This fire was a tragedy on so many levels!

I've read about this before and it's haunted me ever since. This fire is the reason why exterior doors on public buildings now have to open outward. I don't recommend reading what happened with the inward-opening doors unless you've got a strong stomach.

Fire Hazards: HOW MANY TIMES DO WE HAVE TO TEACH YOU THIS LESSON, OLD MAN???

I love how random this channel is. I never know what I’m gonna get but it’s always interesting and high quality!

Love these type of videos .

I LOVE this series. Please do more!

Loved this video! We had something similar happen to a pub in Romania at a concert. It was devastating.

Another chilling mini documentary. Well done.

That was a brilliant video austin

Such a great idea for a video! I loved the presentation.

I love this series so much. It’s exactly the kind of thing I like to learn about..... really weird history

really interesting video i loved the articles put at the start and end of the video

I'm actually excited you did a video on this, during my freshman year of college I wrote a paper on this exact fire. My library had an original copy of a book which was filled with various accounts an testimonials of the event - published around 1914 if I recall correctly. Later in the year I visited the theater itself, renamed the Oriental now, and it's just as opulent as it was during its initial opening in 1903. I'd say it's worth a visit if you're in Chicago and interested in this sort of obscure history, and don't worry, the exits are indeed clearly marked.

I was at the Chicago history museum a couple years ago, and I saw a light that was there. It was sad seeing something that saw the deaths of so many people.

Not one mention of the others who died in a similar theater event! Weeks after this someone yelled, 'Fire!'! in a movie theater causing a stampede that also killed people! He was taken to court and charged with murder!

Here’s the thing; The fire never happened *x-files theme*

almost all of the 300 actors and performers escaped. always keep an eye out for where the employees are headed. they usually know the way out. NEVER head to the main entrance.

Austin McConnell: You're an excellent storyteller. Everything-from pace to enunciation-kept my attention to the end. Though I want you to keep this channel going for a long time, I hope storytelling takes you much further.

My used to be a fire captain, and my uncle is a fire chief. I will never stop hearing stories like this of stupid decisions people who don’t know what they’re doing make that end in fires and disasters.

Oh my gosh, this was like the titanic, but fire edition. This is so sad. 😭

I love this series Austin!!!

When a new theater was built in mu home town in 1908 the architect went over to the US to study this fire. When our theater caught fire a few years ago after being hit by lightning the fire didn't spread through the building and it could be repaired.

Im just over here imagining what a great movie this would make. Make it told from the perspective of the journalist who wrote the mock article, have him get fired, his best bud is an actor in the theatre. It could be a real good tragedy.

What a terribly designed theatre construction. Something is so very respectable about the leading cast member taking time to calm the audience, from your description; it brings forth memories of the described violinists playing a calming, fitting tune as the great Titanic began to sink.

Very well done. Thank you.

outstanding story telling. riveting unlike any other youtube video.