The Cocoanut Grove Disaster | A Short Documentary | Fascinating Horror
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- Опубліковано 4 січ 2021
- "On the 28th of November, 1942, a hanging decoration in one room of the Cocoanut Grove nightclub in Boston, Massachusetts caught fire..."
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Imagine demanding someone to pay for their drink as the room becomes engulfed in flames. 🤯
Tbf, imagine telling your shady boss (who has mob connections) that you lost an entire nights earnings because that inferno everyone was talking about turned out to only be a small fire that was put out after a few minutes. Lol
@@ihavenousername1805 It’s either sleeping with the fishes or deal with the fire.
Goes to show that Karen's have always existed
so ridiculous, how dare them.
Didn’t they send a family member of an employee of the titanic a bill for the uniform even that the employees body went down with the ship and never found
"But there's a big fire!"
- "No exceptions, pay your bill first"
Something similar happened at The Station...
@@windsofmarchjourneyperrytr2823 yes. The bouncer wasn't allowing people to leave out the back exit that Great White was using. That was for the band only. 🙄 How many lives could have been saved.
Lol they are crazy
@@cyndianderson7056 I would have just punched that bouncer
And the greedy guys saying "pay your bill!" are probably dead too!!!
I've always been laughed at when I would enter a crowded place and leave the group for awhile. When asked what I was doing, I would reply, "Finding all of the exits." It's nothing to laugh at, because that knowledge could save your life!
Yes it can! They're stupid for laughing at you.
Really?
Yeah and if not for fire, todays gun violence.
Yup i do the same thing , I was asked in work one day in an office meeting how many fire exits are in our department ! I answered first & quickest. 7 in total & named where they all were.... KNOWLEDGE IS POWER & your life...
I do that…same in hotels. Know alternate routes of escape
That poor bus boy. I can’t imagine what he went through. You know everyone in there was smoking cigarettes and lighting matches.
Horrible thing for a 16 year old to carry. It wasn’t his fault but he must have felt guilty.
There was a house fire in my local area several years ago where a family, with the exception of their son (I believe he was 19 or so at the time), all perished. The father got the son out and went back in for the rest of the family, but none of them made it.
An investigation found that the son went outside to smoke earlier that evening and the butt ended up in the mulch, which once it really started to burn, then caught the house on fire. I cannot imagine having to tell that boy that his cigarette was what started the fire that killed his family. I almost feel it would have been kinder to say the investigation turned up nothing. The guilt he must feel. 😟
@ghost mall I don't know if it's true or not, but someone said the cause of the fire was a faulty electrical panel directly behind the melody lounge prefab wall.
It turns out that the fire had already started in the walls by the time the lightbulb debacle even occurred
I felt bad for him too! He wasn't even legally supposed to be employed there, was likely just being taken advantage of as cheap labour. Hope he wasn't left with too much guilt, although I can't imagine how one would escape that feeling after such an event.
This is the disaster that killed cowboy movie star Buck Jones. He's a forgotten name now but in his time he was every bit as popular as John Wayne was.
Yep!
@@pragmaticcat7619 died as a hero trying to save others
BLASPHEMER! No one was better than Marion.
I learned this one from the Big Book of Great Disarsters from Titanic to Flixboro.
Who is John Wayne
My grandma actually was supposed to go that night on a blind date. She had to cancel and my father told me that her date was possibly among the dead.
☠️🍾☠️
Holy shit...
@@trashcat623 That’s how random life can be.
Then you are here typing this because this disaster happened.
@@trashcat623 I don't believe in fate, but by that same paradigm if that fire didn't exist, someone else may have existed in his place.
My grandparents used to frequent there when they were just dating. 3 years they were together before the concept of marrage and starting a family even came to their minds. During their 1 year dating aniversary, they decided to go to the chocoanut grove for it. The very day this incident occured. However, once they got there, they noticed how packed it was and decided to go somewhere else for a bit more privacy.
This happened before the incident and they didn’t even hear of the fires until the next day. Just the thought that if they went ahead and went inside, they may not have survived and my family would never have existed.
Wow. On such decisions does life hang.
If only the couple in the club had the same intelligence as your grandparents, and went somewhere else for privacy, rather than taking a light bulb out. Had they done that this would not of happened regardless of what caused the fire.
@@mad-pit3832 it’s not the couples fault, it’s all on the owner. It is completely foreseeable that a fire can and will start, so the club should be designed to be safe even if that happens. It clearly wasn’t, so no matter the cause of the fire, this disaster would have occurred. The couple just happened to be the cause for a fire, which doesn’t really matter.
bull shiii
So True. And for the hundreds of victims, so too the loss of countless of their never to be future generations who would never breathe life.
One of the survivors of the fire, Clifford Johnson, had sustained third degree burns which covered 55% of his body. This made him the most severely burned person to survive his injuries at the time. In a horrible twist of irony however, he was burned to death in a car accident, 14 years later.
No!!😱
Wow!
Some people just attract fire
😳🥺
Well that's just shit.
The Nightclub owner had close ties with organized crime... and helped by politicians ..... NO WAAAAAAY.
That's republicans for you.
@@benbaer4697 not just repubs, fren
@@ZaphodTHEBeeblebrox true true.
@@benbaer4697 all politicians ain't your friends, trust no ones
@@benbaer4697 the irony of your tiny brain not even bothering to do research before making this comment. Maurice J Tobin was a proclaimed liberal and a Democrat. Your direct immediate bias shows why liberals are way more corrupt.
Cheap is expensive. We don’t want people sneaking in so let’s bolt the fire exits
I worked in a factory back in 2005, I live in England and they had the fire exits nailed shut.
I hated that place and am glad the higher upper's lost their job's and the business clasped back in 2008.
@@GazB85 you'd think lessons would be learned after the Station Fire. I'll be the reason they didn't was as dumb as they didn't take America seriously given that fire happen in America.
Sneaking in for free or sneaking out without paying their bill!
Always remember, kids, dead people don't pay either!
@@nekovannox but their relatives do, just because someone dies doesnt mean their debts do to, sad fact is that if he kept records of bar tabs he probably could have chased the victims for money owed after, and by law they probably would have had to pay.
“The employees blocked the exits to demand that customers paid their bills!” What in the actual fuck? What difference does it make if you die or the money burns with the building?
People who are greedy and stupidly power hungry don’t take safety into account, they only think about money they might be losing out on. Pretty much every theme park disaster video on this channel is due to the owners wanting to cut corners with costs for safety regulations.
I believe those employees were not aware of the fire at the time
Get the f**k out of my way. Send me a bill and I’ll send you a check. Scouts honor.
In that situation just attack the employees it's life or death who cares
America moment
I heard an interview from Marshall Cole, a survivor that'd been a backup dancer at the Cocoanut Grove when he was sixteen, and he survived the fire by fleeing through his dressing room window onto the roof with another guy and a group of chorus girls. They knew jumping would probably kill them, but luckily they'd grabbed a ladder on the way out... except it wasn't long enough to reach the ground. Thinking quickly, the two boys hung the ladder over the side of the building and held it up as the girls climbed down, and then safely dropped the few feet from the bottom of the ladder to the ground.
As the girls were climbing down, the backup dancer started wondering; who was going to hold the ladder for him and the other man? Luckily for him, witnesses on the ground had seen the girls jumping from the ladder, and also realized the predicament of the two holding it up for them, so they alerted fire fighters that they needed to get a ladder up the roof immediately. Cole and the other man were able to climb down that ladder, and the whole group escaped without injuries.
(That interview along with other survivor's stories is on youtube, posted by the National Fire Protection Association; look it up, it's an interesting watch)
That was a great act of heroism, on the part of Martin Cole & the other boy! p.s. Dick Bong, are you related
to, or named after Richard Bong, i.e. The top "Ace" of WWII?
Thanks for sharing
I always wondered why buildings with revolving doors had two standard doors flanking it, kinda assumed it was for people who walked too slow, now I know the truth. Awesome information as always!
@@paradise8389 the more you know
Wheelchairs.
This is a prime example of the old saying, "building codes are written in blood."
@@paradise8389 As someone who made a living wheeling in a tool kit on a small hand truck cart I can tell you all about revolving doors.
@@blujay2084 not sure how wheeling a tool kit makes you an expert on revolving doors, but go ahead...
My great uncle saved a few people in this fire by bringing them into the back walk-in freezer! He was just a bus boy :)
My great grandfather survived it too. He worked there and knew to let people out a certain window. It's crazy to think I wouldn't exist.
@@aisakataiga5200 Only the employees would have known about the window exits and what not. That's amazing to hear :)
Aisaka Taiga
Was he one of the six employees who escaped from the basement kitchen window? That’s pretty epic
Wow!
noice
My Great Aunt died in this fire. She was only 18 yrs old. My grandfather had to i.d. her body. He said there were rows of burnt bodies. She was the 2nd to last one. He was only 15. He soon left Boston, joined the Navy, and settled in Philadelphia, P.A. never to return. I visited the site a few years ago. Rest in Peace, Auntie Evangeline 💔
evangeline is such a beautiful name 💖thank you for sharing, may she rest in peace
My condolences ❤️
Your poor grandfather. I can’t imagine the trauma this left him with at only 15 years old.
GOD BLESS her & ALL the poor souls who lost their lives💔😢😔🙏
Did he have to view every single body? That would be awful. But it would have prepared him for the gruesomeness of military service. Although, I truly hope he never had to do something like that ever again.
I took care of a woman who survived the Cocoanut Grove fire when I worked in a nursing home in New Hampshire, she'd been severely burned and needed constant application of a special cream because her skin was so delicate as a result. She was such an amazing woman.
thank you for being one of the good workers in a nursing home!
There's a saying: "Regulations are written in blood."
Remember that whenever you hear someone (typically a businessman or politician) arguing against regulations.
Einstein?
YUP. Politicians, nearly always conservative ones, want to drag us backwards to a time when this happened regularly.
Very true, however there is a big difference between regulations that are meaningful and onerous regulations.
@@PanzerDave onerous regulations like what? Businessmen will tell you ''you can't put lead in children's toys'' is an ''onerous regulation''
@@PanzerDave Until you find out that "orenous regulation" actually had a purpose
I like how you usually give the positive aspect of an incident, like scientific stuff being found out and new building regulations being made
It's really important to realize the rules we have today sometimes stem from tragedy, and attempts to prevent further ones.
As the saying goes, regulations are written in blood
@@PWNsoldier bingo
It's extremely ANTI-SEMITIC to share this incident with the public
I was really floored by the fact that the burn victims' treatment was able to be used as a statistically significant scientific study. It's reprehensible that this ever happened, but the medical community did not let the experience go to waste.
For those who need to hear it: 1) if you see a fire start, run, unless you are the responsible party for putting it out. 2) If a fire is near a ceiling, run extra fast. 3) ALWAYS know where your exits are. Never take those for granted.
The Station fire in Rhode Island was another one of those ceiling fires that spread in seconds. Lots of injuries from the dripping ceiling. Awful.
Don 't run! But do hustle to walk out
And if you see one fire code violation, leave . There are sure to be other violations that you don’t see .
@@tracymoavero9916 Agreed. Don't run in an emergency unless you absolutely have to.
And if you smell smoke or a burning smell, leave immediately. Have a plan when you enter a building - know where the exits are - people automatically head the way they entered which may not be the best way out if the fire is in that direction. You have literally seconds before the place is thrown into pitch black with panicking people pushing you over.
Don't use a naked flame to see the way out
"Several emergency exits hidden, locked or boarded up..."
492 people is far too high a price for a few unpaid drink bills.
Yes, why not just a few bouncers?
@@ellenl.5581 Well, as the Station nightclub fire showed us the bouncers might just have acted as the obstacle instead 😐
But it would still be better to have that instead than a locked or blocked exit. You cannot reason with a locked door.
@@Khenfu_Cake Correct, but have you ever tried 'reasoning' with a bouncer?
@@gary1961 Well, a human would probably still be easier to reason with than a locked door. Especially since at some point the bouncer has to leave too. Just remain there until they do lol.
Mafia
Can you imagine the survivors guilt that kid felt for the rest of his life? Even if Stanley’s match wasn’t the first spark, he’d feel like maybe it was.
the guilt should be from the couple removing the bulb for privacy in a freaking night club. they should have went home for privacy smh
@@BimmerBabe yeah true. But that's not how survivors guilt works
@@tabiibat yea i know.
Regardless of what caused the fire, the culprit and sole responsible was the club owner, due to blatant safety violations. A fire could have started for any number of reasons : a short circuit, a lightning strike, hell even a cigar not properly put out. The idea is the fire should not have been able to spread so quickly, and many escape routes should not have been blocked or hidden
@@BimmerBabe It was the man who did it. It wasn't her idea.
Still the BAR'S responsibility to make sure all codes are followed and the marshall's responsibility to close it down if not.
Every time i hear "alternate exits were sealed shut" i go Oh Booooy.
Google "Club Cinq-Sept fire"... It was in another country and I'll give you some clues 1) emergency exits sealed shut 2) no firefighting equipment on site 3) no telephone on site 4) flammable materials used for decoration 5) building regulations ignored. It's always the same story!
Profits over people.
Triangle shirt waist fire too
That's why they're called "Exits".
They can discourage illegal use by sounding an alarm and maybe dumping water on those trying to exit. If the emergency is real, people won't mind getting wet.
@@jimaanders7527 Unless they have to go out into a Massachusetts winter and possibly get hypothermia and frostbite.
Hiding in the freezer was an absolute power move
It was in hindsight. But it could have turned out very differently if the firefighters hadn't been close and would have arrived later. Maybe the whole building would have burned down and the freezer wouldn't have saved them. In general, the best thing to do is just try to get out if you see any chance.
As if that isn't enough, there was this professor who survived a nuke by hiding in a freezer, i swear at one point we will get a story where a passenger/crew or more hid in a freezer because there was no way out of a sinking ship and later got rescued by a rescue submarine out of said freezer and lived lol
Works against velociraptors as well
@@yitznewton😂 😂 way underrated
Imagine getting rescued from the freezer and having to cross over hundreds of dead people. Yikes.
My grand-dad was part of the house orchestra here. He quit the gig about two weeks before the fire. (My mum was just a newborn at the time; grandma was having a tough recovery and the bastards that ran the club wouldn't give grandpa time off.) I worked with a gentleman recently whose mother was a survivor. 79 years later, and this is still relevant to Boston.
The bandleader, Mickey Alpert, got out thru a basement window; his musical director, Bernie Fazioli, didn't make it, but many of the musicians did. The bassist, Jack Lesberg, became a very well known player. He made it out by smashing his instrument thru some drywall.
So did the singer Goodie Goodall she escaped too with some others through bars on a window. She hand wrote her story. At a time b4 PSTD was known she suffered from it and lived her life worrying. Her children share her story.
I really need to start looking for exits more when I arrive at places.
Always!
thats the first thing i always spot whenever i go somewhere.
Anyone ever look for an EXIT sign in a casino?
Dunno why but it has always been a habit of mine. Always plan the nearest exit and an alternate route when I am going to be anywhere more than 5 mins
@@trubre5565 they dont want you leaving
As a firefighter I can't imagine a incident with this many fatalities, fire naturally rolls across the ceiling even with just drywall faster than you think until you experience it so having all those palm trees adding more fuel to it is unimaginable. This is one of the first fires you learn about when getting certified level 1 and 2.
I saw this ''Flashover''{?} demonstrated on /uk tv and it is terrifyingly fast.
@@Oakleaf700 and the flashover (aka backdraft) in a house is explosive. It shakes the ground, knocks the snow off the roof, breaks windows and blows the door off the hinges.
You don't want to be standing too close when the crew makes entry. We were trained to sledgehammer the door open and then drop to the ground immediately to avoid being hit by the door or other flying debris.
@@jturtle5318 I did a really stupid thing when first buying an old French cylinder stove as a young person.
I put some candle ends in there, when the fire was already quite hot.
Heard a roaring inside stove, and lifted the lid to look...
Of course, the inrush of oxygen caused a ball of orange flame to erupt from the stove and caught my long hair alight. {I beat it out}
After that, I was a lot more careful.
It was owning the stove that showed me how oxygen really affects fire.
I heard also not to open doors if a fire might be on the inside of a room {Back of door feels hot} for the same reason.
Respects to all Fire Fighters..It must be traumatic at times.
The 'Grenfell Tower' Disaster in London was grim.
People were advised to ''Stay in their flats'' rather than use the one stairway.
The cladding put on the exterior turned the flats into a huge Roman Candle.
@Mar Lin Indeed we do. But I wonder if this is slowly changing....?
the Joelma Tower Saõ Paulo was equally awful.
I think again, there was poor advice given.
Can't think of anything worse than being trapped in a burning building, for any person or animal.
We all have an instinctive wariness of fire.
i used to feel bad for firefighters who had to work on a single blaze for multiple days, or who failed to rescue children from house fires, but i'd say casualties in these numbers are much worse. i didn't even think events with casualty counts this size existed untill i was about 10 (i stayed away from the news. most the events i knew about had impacted the area i live in, for example schools and houses upwind being evacuated, or an accidental massive firework display that could be seen across town, or minutes of silence to respect victims happening at school)
Being stuck crushed in a revolving door and seeing the smoke and hearing screams and fire coming towards you knowing you’re about to be set on fire and die must be one of the most horrowing fates 😢
"Many people stuck in this crush were, unfortunately, still alive when the fire reached them."
You ever hear a sentence that just absolutely hits you like a sledgehammer to the gut, and need to take a few minutes to recover? Yeah, I got that...
That would be more like an hour to recover from… I mean, you wouldn’t normally think that people were still alive in the entrance or dining areas when the fire reached them, or smoke. At least now we have emergency exits on the sides of the revolving door.
Same here too. RIP.
Also the part where people were found with drinks in their hands still sitting :(
@@Persephone01 It sounded like that was because the material the burning chairs were made of emitted a flammable gas when burned, creating a fire ball. They were instantly incinerated.
Well said Steve! Agreed!
I watched a video presentation of the fire at the the Station nightclub and in it one of the survivors in an interview said that it was only the number of bodies above him all of whom died that absorbed enough Heat so that he wasn't burned nearly as badly although he almost had his feet burned off because they were sticking out from under the pile of bodies. I cannot even begin to imagine what that would be like, particularly the screaming of those above you. Jesus, that is absolutely horrifying to even contemplate let alone experience.
This one, and the Supper Club fire, and The Station fire have absolutely taught me to know the exits in a place and to leave immediately if there's even a bit of smoke.
Remember, kitchens almost always have exits!
exits have always been one of the first things i notice in a room, these videos make me greatful of that.
absolutely. and even if / especially if there's an announcement telling you that there's no problem and no need to evacuate. i don't know if this video series has covered the summerland fire on the isle of man in the 1970s, but i understand that they made an official announcement over the tannoy telling everyone not to worry and that there was no need to evacuate. horrible advice.
Zsuzsanna Varga Fortunately, you're incorrect. MANY people left as soon as they saw the smoke and survived. You can actually see numerous people leaving on the video of the fire.
Same. And always, always, look for the exit most people didn't use to enter.
Around 80% of people will automatically go to the door they entered, avoid that crush by planning ahead.
Can you imagine escaping a fire only to almost freeze to death?
Yes. I live in Chicago.
My great uncle was the person who brought people into the walk-in freezer to save them :)
@@macScsgo props to your great uncle
People with severe burns are already at risk of hypothermia in normal temperatures due to the removal of large areas of skin (which plays an important role in regulating body temperature).
@@joshyaks never even considered that, learn something new every day!
The most injured survivor ironically died of burns sustained in a car crash 15 years later.
His name was Clifford Johnson.
Damn...that sucked
@@ambertrawick6499 the universe really wanted to see the poor sod up in flames.
That’s some “Final Destination” shit right there.
@@windsofmarchjourneyperrytr2823 😰 how tragic, terrifying and chilling.
Several years ago, I met a woman who told me that when she was a child, she had an aunt who had lived near the Cocoanut Grove at the time of the fire. The aunt used to talk about how after the fire, there were cars parked on the streets nearby that stayed there for weeks and weeks and never moved. The cars were assumed to have been owned by patrons in the club on the night of the fire. They didn't make it or were badly injured so couldn't move their cars.
My grandmother was a nurse who had just had a baby at the Boston City Hospital. She offered up her room and assistance but was told that wouldn't be necessary: most of the victims didn't survive 2 hours due to pulmonary edema & lung injuries from breathing toxic fumes. She watched from her room window, them laying out the bodies in the parking lot, hundreds of them, most of whom made it out of the fire relatively unscathed, but later died from the fluid build up in their airways. This is why the law was changed about the materials you could use in decorating & furnishing public buildings. This was the most deadly detail that they couldn't charge the owner for, because it wasn't against the law when he did it.
That's terrifying. Imagine making it out of a deadly blaze without horrible burns, and then dying an awful death from poison, at the hospital, with no one able to help...
Very interesting. Thank you for your contribution to this tragic story of events. This was a precursor to building codes starting to change which has made public buildings so much safer in the event of a fire or disaster. As an interior design student I studied these codes which include materials, manner and number of egress opportunities, lighted exit signage, number of patrons allowed in at any one time and other specific items which have been enacted into law. It is horrifying to think about how the toxic and highly flammable materials used to decorate this nightclub contributed so heavily to the toxins and rapid spread of this deadly inferno.
Wow
This was the same issue at the Station Nightclub fire in RI. Use of flammable sound dampening foam caught fire. People didnt realize at first and bodies were stacked 8 high in the doorways. I was working that night in the trauma center.
If you find yourself in a place with junky -looking additions and tons of ‘decorations’ , leave immediately or sit next to the exit. ( looking at you, SKOB)
Fire....get out....
Hint of a fire....get out...
If you act early, you can survive....no one ever says, "Gee, I wish I hadn't overreacted to what turned out to be a minor incident."
And don't stay to get your coat. Just. Get. Out.
Actually I do say that. But I get your point
this is the best advice
400 plus died. With numbers that high theres nothing anyone can do. The only people that had survived were the ones who worked there and figured out, if this place catches its like a tinderbox. They make a plan in their heads of a window or whatever. People who came to get drunk and turn their brains off probably didn't start moving until it was too late and then all at once.
@hahaimabitch1 I had something similar at the symphony a few years ago. People were just milling around and I told my wife, 'Let's get out of here.'
I’m from Boston and this doesn’t get talked about enough. My cousins aunt died in the fire. Beautiful young woman gone too soon.
Isn't your cousins aunt also your aunt or mom lol
Sorry f that sounded insensitive I'm very sorry for what happened I was just confused about the part when you said your cousins aunt
@@foolishkai1822 not if they're distant cousins, I think. Or if their mom was her cousin, hope that made sense lol
@@foolishkai1822 No. Mom's and Dad's sides.
My grandfather's brother and sister-in-law died in this fire, and my grandfather almost went with them. This story and the fact that my uncle is a firefighter has made me very aware of fire safety and I always check for the exits and make sure they are clear whenever I enter a building.
Sorry to hear of your family's sad connection to this disaster. Yes be aware of your surroundings, know alternative exit plan, don't stay anywhere that feels unsafe. Nightclubs are a disaster-in-waiting.
When he said 492 people perished my mouth dropped! I wasn't expecting nearly that many while looking at the photos. That's so terribly sad, fire is such a scary force of nature.
Really worse than any plane crash that I’ve ever heard of
Same. Even reading it over it's still an almost unfathomable number of lives lost. Beyond horrific
Bodies where literally stacked to he ceiling, and pressed like sardines! It took over a week to clear out all the bodies.
@@bakomusha omg! Thats horrible. I never knew this fact
@@trubre5565 The disaster at Tenerife killed 583 people, with only 61 survivors, both planes were still on the runway; 3/27/1977.
The high number of victims is astonishing. Also the corruption, especially in the pardon.
Once a certain percent of your body is burned the chance of surviving drops dramatically. With no skin your body loses fluids and your organs start failing. You will eventually die a week or two later. But it's smoke inhalation that usually kills.
Corruption is alive and well. I feel like it was just easier and simpler to see evil back then. Sad stuff
@@WorkOvertimeOrElse Easier back then? It's far easier now we're in the 'information age' and have the internet and near instant global communications.
It was far easier to get away with stuff back then, just look at all the serial killers in America in the 60's, 70's and 80's, up to 40 years after this event!
Look at the corruption and then pardon of the owner and then the all the crap that's still coming out about Trump and his pardon's, it's easier to see today.
wouldn't the blame really go to corrupt fire inspectors?
@@GazB85 some might argue it goes the other way. Now that we live in "the information age" most people are confident the media and government ciuld never get away with lies and corruption. Thats exactly why they can. In modern days they can lie to your face and get away with as easy as they ever could.
There was a lady who lived her entire life in the home her parents bought in Brookline, MA. Her name was Michelle. She was a well know socialite for decades in the neighborhood and we had the amazing pleasure of befriending her. She knew all the best piano bars that were still alive in Boston during the mid nineties. She also had horrific burn scars over quite a bit of her body. Michelle shared with us the terrific scene that was the Coconut Grove.
My parents were just teenagers (hadn't met yet) in Boston in 1942. My mom always said that the Grove was easy to sneak into if you were underage. They both lost a lot of friends that night. They really didn't talk about it much. I do remember my mom saying in the days after 9/11 that the large number of daily funerals reminded her are the days after the Cocoanut Grove fire. My dad went to become a lieutenant in the Boston Fire Department.
One thing I've learned from this channel is to never doubt small flames. Also to listen to fire alarms.
I'd have bolted seeing the fire on the ceiling at either here or the Station. And I was paranoid anyway, so I'd have been by the stairs...
Fire alarm wasn't going to tell me anything I didn't know.
I know a family that was never allowed to light candles in their home. Good rule.
amen
I heard alarms sound in a 4 story office bldg. years ago. No one in my office paid any attention. I said i was getting the heck out and left.....luckily it was a false alarm, but better safe than sorry.
@@m.e.d.7997 that'd be mine, at least while me and my brother were under 13. After that they'd light them but only when awake and in the same room (and only on special occasions)
The compact of people in doorways never fails to disturb me to my core. Its the most horrific part of these stories to me
Right? It’s so disturbing and unimaginable. People who’ve seen pictures of these crushes have said they’ll never unsee it.
“So near, yet so far” never seemed more real.
Especially that Victoria hall one, with the kids
I totally agree! The fact that many of the victims were crushed under all those bodies that they couldn’t move and couldn’t escape while the fire engulfed them is terrifying. It sounds like such a horrific death. The survivors clawing at the fire fighters to pull them out fills me with this gut-wrenching feeling.
It reminds me of that sean from Water Ship Down. When the farmers block the burrows and fill them with toxic gas. The rabbits piling on top of each other trying to escape burrows. It really captures of the horror of being trapped.
@@kilocrockett2707 And the Collinwood School fire where parents were unable to free their trapped kids
i love this approach to sharing true horror without sensationalizing it
My grandmother and her sister were supposed to be there that night. But there team lost. THANK GOD! So they ended up going home. This was horrible. And my heart goes out to all of those who passed that night.
So logically heart goes out to all of those whose team won. But on a more serious note, I always think it strange when people involve God but at the same time there's this idea that everyone exists purely for this life.
@122378kls *their
“Lol look at that tiny little fire not even a spark lol”
Fire: :(
Fire: >:(
This shouldn’t be funny but I’m laughing 🤣
Fire: "I'm I a joke to you!?"
Fire: "And I took that personally"
Lmaoooo
Fire: So you've chosen death
Ignored safety codes? Everything made of flammable crepe paper and fabric? Club over capacity? Obviously this will end well.
And one other factor that's definitely not dangerous in any way: EVERYONE smoked back then and gleefully lit up in the clubs!
All that code violation, and he only served 4 years in prison!
The fact that the Fire Exists were sealed shut, is inexcusable. He should have been sentenced to death.
You don't deserve to live after you are responsible for the death of over 492 innocent people.
@@kyliepechler That mindset still exists in American law where corporate heads cannot be held directly responsible for their decisions which were the basic cause of an ensuing tragedy. Such things would end if we began to fully place the blame where it truly belongs.
Don’t forget the NAILED SHUT jolly exit doors
I agree that all of the club's owners and all of the corrupt City officials should have been held liable for all the deaths BUT, in the cases of overcrowded buildings, some responsibility lies on the patrons who keep cramming themselves in, just because they want to get in. They may not be thinking of disaster or how to escape from one but still, reading of how overcrowded these venues usually are, it's angrifying to think that their feelings of entitlement to be there, overcrowded or not, contributed to all the deaths.
The fact that there were bodies found that were still holding their drinks is chilling. Imagine going in after the blaze to identify bodies only to see that.
Far better to asphyxiate at your table than to be trapped in the crush at the doors. Many of those who were, actually burned to death.
When you die you get stuck in time
It's creepy
It’s terrible but at least they died quickly compared to the other patrons. So many died horrific deaths that night
“The venue was booked beyond capacity that night”
I feel like I’ve heard this before. Almost as if booking beyond capacity is just inviting disaster.
Many night clubs are disasters waiting to happen. Stay vigilant when inside them.
I think it should be added that Barney Welansky, who served 4 years for the nightclub fire, died 9 weeks after his release. It appears that he was released on compassionate grounds as he was dying from cancer. He is alleged to have told reporters "I wish I'd died with the others in the fire." If this is true then he at least showed remorse. He didn't get released to start a new life. He died slowly from cancer, haunted by his actions.
edit: a misspelling
That does make a big difference. Being released to go on with life vs. released to die.
Who cares? Let him rot in a ditch.
This def should have been included with the video! I was sitting here being annoyed, thinking the dude got out of jail because of his mob/politician connections and all.
One can rest assured that the politicians who allowed him to get away with it, to quote Spock, "live[d] long and prosper[ed.]"
@@ArceeMedicbot Probably got cancer breathing those fumes.
My family has been in Boston for some time, my great grandmother was there that night, she was pregnant with my Nana and so left early. Thank God for that.
🤯
One of my professors, in the early 70s, was there when a college girl. She escaped safely. Was cautious of fire ever after. She wouldn't take a hotel room above a couple floors, checked escape etc.
WOW. It's good that that happened, otherwise you'd probably never been born! Thank GOD for you and thanks for sharing!
Yeah, you wouldn’t be here. Thank goodness it worked out for your great grandmother and ultimately you!
Now THAT is on “I am here for a reason”
My grandmother and grandfather both perished in the grove. 40 years later my uncle would be a Boston fireman and lose his life in the vendome hotel fire. I think you should cover the Vendome fire. Thanks for the very definitive peices. They sting sometimes, but hearing how they pave new safety laws and advances in medicines I feel a little better. The memorial plaque is so small for the grove, the vendome memorial is gigantic.
I remember an HBO documentary about this tragedy and how the owner was in one of the hospitals with a cardiac condition when his floor was overrun with burn victims from his club. Secondary, medical staff would place signs on their foreheads identifying who would survive injuries and who were dying.
It's stories like this that make me think of how many millions of people were saved by the simple crash bar. The inventor of that was a saint.
Did you watch the Fascinating Horror video about the Victoria Hall Disaster? The inventor of the crash bar was inspired by that horrible incident. It's worth checking out.
This is so reminiscent of Our Lady of the Angels School fire. Terrifying
Yes but if the owner decides to lock / chain the exit doors, no crash bar can open them. Still happens today, sadly
@@allisonyoung8357 The doors were never locked/bolted shut there. I know people who were there.
@@windsofmarchjourneyperrytr2823 never said they were. Just the tradegey of loss of life and when they finally decided to escape because the fire was bigger than first imagined people/kids were hurt on the escape
This is sick, but I am reminded of the Simpsons episode where Homer has to evacuate the nuclear plant and sees a door saying "EMERGENCY EXIT". He starts running towards it, and then sees below: "COMING SOON!"
Yer or the one where there's a gas leak and the emergency exit is just painted on the wall
Or the one where he's at a lesbian club but realizes it's a deathtrap with no exits (and is packed with patrons)
@@generalhorse493 “What was her problem?” 😂😂😂
What episode was that
@@lemonlimespine1859 "Enjoy your death trap, ladies!"
My good friends’ dad was the fire chief at the time. He always would tell me the stories and how he has all the documents. One day we got real drunk and he showed me some! He wanted to turn it into a book. He passed away before he was able to. RIP Kenny🙏🏼
You can still write it
This was brought up in our Art History course by a professor who was there that night when young. One of the ways to assess the age of a building is whether exit doors open inward or outward. She spoke of regulations after this fire.
Some have compared this to The Station nightclub fire that happened in West Warwick Rhode Island but the Coconut Grove was far worse. Coconut Grove is still the worst nightclub fire in American history.
Yeah, they sound similar from the description of events, but I was blown away by the death toll on this one.
Actually in world history not just American
The city of Boston actually passed an ordinance afterwards banning the name Coconut Grove from ever being used again.
Just imagine how bad The Station club fire would have been if the main room had been in a basement such as the Grove!
Also- next time you board a plane take notice of how many people pay NO attention not only to the safety briefing, but even to how close the nearest exits are. I'm anal enough that I count the seat backs I pass on the way to my seat so I know how many there are back to the front exit, but also count how many rows to the over wing and rear exits. Being prepared may be the difference of life or death in an emergency!
The footage captured of The Station nightclub is haunting.
Just to clarify something: He was pardoned because he had late terminal cancer, he went straight to pelative care and died a few weeks later. They didn't pardon him because of corruption or anything. At the time they pardoned anyone who was terminal because pelative care wasn't practical in the prison system.
Facts: The owner had ties to organized crime. The owner, and organized crime, had ties to the mayor. With all the building, fire and other problems, the place always passed inspections. Capacity that night was greatly exceeded. The mayor narrowly escapes indictment. Four years later, the governor pardons the owner. The governor at that time is the same man who was Boston mayor, (Tobin, democrat), when the fire happened. Corruption?
@@falcon664 >democrat
Do you even need to ask?
@@robertmartin8907 Is that something like a Republican?
@@robertmartin8907 Tfw it's the 1940s and the party swap hasn't happened
@@coryfice1881 they're the same thing: Useless and self-serving.
Omg!! This is exactly the same accident that occurred here in Brasil (kiss club) 😰😰😰 but it was in 2013!!!!! A true crime!! 242 people dead and 680 injured!! No one is in jail yet!
Anyone who expects sinful fallen man to bring justice instead of a righteous God can't expect much.
If you are not part of the body of christ, you are no more wise than they. 1cor. 15: 3 & 4 Believe in the death of Jesus, his burial and his resurrection for salvation.
Wow that's so sad 😢
@@ellenl.5581 lol sup
Funny how the powerful protect one another- I am sorry this has continued- nauseating- this is so sorry on every level-
My mother and mother-in-law were both high school age when this happened. They both knew people who had been at the Coconut Grove that evening, as did most people in Boston and surrounding towns at the time because it was such a large and popular venue. There's still a law on the books in Boston that no establishment can be named The Coconut Grove. The site of the club is now a parking lot behind a hotel, that part of the city is a bit sketchier than it was back then. All that is present to mark the site is a very small brass plaque imbedded in the sidewalk where the front door had been located. If you're not looking for it you'll walk right past it. While most Bostonians over a certain age still know about the Coconut Grove very few can tell you exactly where it had been located.
There are several good books about the fire. One that I read had a heartbreaking story about the final burn victim to be released from the hospital in Boston. He was a serviceman, Coastguard I think but I could be wrong, and after he was finally released over a year after the fire he returned home to the mid-west and got a job as a park ranger. One day the jeep he was driving skidded and overturned into a ditch next to the road. He was pinned beneath the vehicle. The gas tank ruptured from the crash, gasoline leaked out and hit the exhaust system, the jeep caught fire, and he burned to death.
THE FUCK?
FOR REAL?
That’s some Final Destination stuff
@@TLJAWSIMIB For real, guess that was just the way he was meant to go. The book said that the nurses who'd worked with him for a year at the Boston hospital were devastated.
@@LS-ys8nr Yeah, guess it was just the way he was meant to go....his last thought must have been "are you effing kidding me???"
I read that story many years ago in the Reader's Digest, back when it ran articles worth reading. The poor fellow had hundreds of skin grafts.
I had actually heard of this one, but never actually read into it...this is quite haunting (and sadly not the first or last time this exact scenario occurred at a nightclub...)
@Belle there was enough of them to warrant a Wikipedia list of them so I'd say personally that there have been a few too many at this point sadly
The Beverly Hills night club in Southgate Kentucky in 1977 was an awful fire that many of my family saw as they live down there. Many big-name stars used to sing there and it was very very popular, as I heard it organized crime was also involved ,and negligence similar to this fire. I’m sure there are many more! en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beverly_Hills_Supper_Club_fire
@@primesspct2 ua-cam.com/video/e50YrXo2Tes/v-deo.html
According to Wikipedia, there were 7 nightclub fires in the USA not ruled as arson between 1920 and 2016. There are also more than a dozen in other countries throughout the world. There seem to be many more nightclub fires the cause of which were found to be arson.
The Beverly Hills supper club had the same problems. The owners actually chained the fire exits to stop the dine and dashers.
I get trapped in revolving doors even when there isn't an emergency.
Curse those wretched doors...
I hate those things. Not because i get stuck or anything, but because their turn speed is too damn slow for my liking.
Mood! 🤣
And someone comes in behind you and pushes FAST
@M Pulverman I must be lots older, because I remember the revolving doors that one pushed to go through. Though I know the ones you mean and they seem pretty fast. Someone wants them faster?
Well, we know no wheelchair users died in there because those things are impossible to get through even in the compact versions of today. I always look at those doors when I roll through one on the side and wonder whose stupid idea they were.
This was always held up to me by my parents. In the '70s the Blue Angel disaster happened in NYC. A fire thought to be minor flashed through as people jammed the coat check. A friend of mine's Father died there. From that day on I carried my car keys in my pocket knowing it was better to flee than stay.
"He had several emergency exits hidden, locked, or boarded up, in order to prevent guests from leaving the venue without paying their bill..."
What could possibly go wrong?
What I've learned from these videos is that
if there's even a small fire at a night club, get the f*ck out
If there’s ever a fire anywhere get out!
I’ve learned to never go anywhere.
Check out the Station fire in Rhode Island. Hard to believe it happened again years later. If you want to get an idea of what the Cocoanut Grove people experienced and how quickly the fire spread, check out the Station video. Horrifying.
Indeed.
@@bostonwalkdrive7763 why did I watch it? why? and I only watch the short non graphic version, the description of the longer one are the fuel for nightmares
My mother was 21 year old nurse at a Boston Hospital that night. She was so traumatized by this that she would never talk about it. Once the war was over she got out of nursing and eventually became a teacher.
Just 4 weeks before this, the BFD conducted a safety inspection and gave the club a pass. As we now know, it was a deathtrap. 61 years later, the same tragedy took place in RI (Station Night Club). In both cases, corruption and massive code violations that were ignored by the authorities.
Something ingrained in me from my father: whenever I am inside of a place like a restaurant, theater, etc..I ALWAYS put my eyes on at least 2 exits, and must clearly see how I will get to them.
Excellent plan. My father was a fireman and taught me the same thing. 👨🚒
Absolutely the best advice. And if any place feels unsafe - overcrowding, idiots setting off pyrotechnics on stage, no or not enough emergency exits, no fire protection - extinguishers, sprinklers, alarms, smoke detectors - badly lit exits, etc - get out.
Initially I saw the spelling of “Cocoanut” as incorrect. Upon research, it seems that “Cocoanut” is a correct earlier version of what we now use as “Coconut”. The things you learn on the net!
You just saved me the effort of looking it up myself haha! Thank you!
You’re showing your age 🙂. Us old people remember writing that word as “cocoanut” when we were kids.
I thoughtit was coconut as in Wilson, Cocoanut as in Chocolate
@@Woodman-Spare-that-tree Ok? I don't even think people as old as millennials know it's spelled as "cocoanut"
@@royalblanket ugh~ I'm gonna hate myself for typing this but ... I'm a Boomer and didn't know!
Sometimes the most haunting thoughts these stories leave me with aren't thoughts of dismemberment or injury, but thoughts of the negligence and disregard for safety and human life by those responsible - and the light "punishments" they receive for their actions (and inactions).
You speak professionally and calmly throughout, but sometimes I can still hear how angry some of these make you, and rightly so. The owner should’ve been in prison for the whole time.
He was released because he had cancer, and died 9 weeks after his release.
Sometimes, I find codes and regulations to be a bit paranoid. And then I learn about the Coconut Grove.
My late grandmother told me about this fire, she was a nurse at the time for Mass General and said she would never forget the smell and seeing a gymnasium filled with the bodies and gripped charred hands.....
Please cover the Ozone Disco Tragedy in Philippines. It's interesting. 162 people trapped in an over crowded disco on March 1996. There's more to the story so i think it will be an interesting topic for you to cover. 😊
Yeah, also the M/V Dona Paz, we had so many interesting disasters
Yana thank you for adding a new tragedy to my lists. Don’t know why but I find most of these types of videos interesting. The resulting innovations that come out of most of them is what makes our world today a safer place yet some people don’t even know about half of the disasters out there.
@@juliusnepos6013 I have watched some videos of this tragedy. Most people dont know half the man made disasters that has happend in the last 100 years.
Why does it always seem t be dance clubs with these tragic fires? And it's not like it's because they're all old with dubious codes. Recently there was that Florida night club.
The Volendam New Year fire sounds alot like what happend here. Except that alot less people died.
My grandparents were supposed to go to cocoanut grove that night with their friends but decided last minute not to go. Their friends were killed, and it’s insane to think that last minute decision is sort of why I’m here
And, to this day, use of the name "Cocoanut Grove" on any business, is illegal in Boston.
If you read the book, the author looked into that to find it was a myth. No one has made another cocoanut grove, but there isn't a law against it.
They'd probably spell it differently now anyway
@@gingereden546 Yeah, why would there even need to be a law? Lol it's just a terrible name to use given the association
I can't believe the memorial plaque was relocated a block farther from it's original location at the site of the revolving door because the residents of the new condos didn't want the attention.
I didn't know that! After reading your post I found a news article about it. The bronze plaque was made by Tony Marra, the youngest survivor of the fire; he was a 15 year old busboy. They moved it from the actual address of The Cocoanut Grove to the front of a parking garage.
such arrogance ......... i hope the ghost haunt them!
I heard that too & wonder if that would happen in modern times? Can you imagine moving the memorial for something like The Station Nightclub fire because people don't want the macabre reminder? Isn't that what a memorial IS, by definition? SMH
city residents are just the absolute worse. They move to a tourist attraction in the centre of a major city and expect the peace and quiet of the suburbs.
I would have told those residents to a) go pound sand and b) maybe learn something of the area's history, both good and bad.
And if that poor 16 year old boy had been tried he would have been given numerous life sentences - and no-one would have pardoned him! No justice.
no. he said that investigators determined the source of the spark scarcely mattered. the real issue was the lack of fireproofing and emergency exits, of which blame clearly laid at the feet of the proprietors and not the busboy who was simply doing his job.
He was a child but who knows?
@@apseudonym I said "if"
@@chopperballs85 What a stupid comment. And if you had wheels, you would be a wheelchair. IF.
Even if it was his fault, it would have been an accident so criminal charges shouldn't be brought anyway. I'm wondering though why he's wearing a bath robe over his suit in the photo. Can''t figure that out.
Most of these videos are a grim reminder of how much unions have impacted day to day life and how we must not take that progress for granted.
I appreciate the CC a lot! Not a lot of people take the time to caption their videos. :) Great video, very organized, and easy to understand.
As a fan of yours with auditory processing issues, thank you for providing subtitles!!! The effort does not go unappreciated ❤️
@Vicar Amelia At least for me, yes. It almost feels like my brain forgets to actually listen. I personally have trouble processing video and audio at once, so subtitles help a lot.
I have sleep issues and am often up at 3:00 AM. I'm sure my neighbors appreciate subtitles then!
Cause of this channel I'm mentally prepared to bail from any public situation where I smell smoke or see fire. RIP to all those lost in such disasters.
Edit: Damn! The rule of nines came from this?!
Agreed. Every public place I go to, the first thing I look for is the emergency exits.
And basement venues? Nope, not for me.
What about the rule of nines?
My parents were young when this happened. Their parents taught them to always scope the layout, exits, and windows of any new place they went. Also, to get up and leave at the first hint of trouble, the bill can always be paid later.
The lessons stuck. They taught me and my sibs the same.
I once had to use it and a friend and I missed out on being victims of a restaurant takeover robbery in San Feancisco. I saw the crew come in, told my friend "Follow me, NOW," and we exited through the kitchen to the side exit. He used to think I was paranoid but he trusted my instincts. And I just motioned the kitchen crew to be silent and follow, they followed like ducklings.
I mailed an anonymous money order to the restaurant to pay our bill the next day. The crew didn't kill anyone but they did rough up a couple of people.
Just hide in freezer
The office I work in has a number of proper fire exits, but every time we have a drill almost everyone leaves via the main entrance. This involves passing through THREE inward opening doors. It doesn't seem to dawn on them that a mass of frightened people behind an inward opening door will prevent it from opening. There has been occurances of only me and my immediate colleagues leaving through an actual fire door, yet no one in authority ever mentions it.
Inward-opening doors doomed the kids at the Collinwood High School fire in Cleveland as well.
In many studies of human behaviour in such situations, the main problem is people leaving too late and rushing for the way they came in, whether it is the safest way or not. Not being aware of other exits, and their position according to where you may be in the building all play a factor in getting out safely. And yes exit doors should always open outwards preferably with a push bar release. (known as a panic bar in theatres)
When you put lists of the deceased in your videos, it really adds power to the severity of the disasters. I think it is so important to remember these people's names and small details to know they were people and not just a statistic.
There is an airline disaster channel that looks in detail of all those that perished in various airline crashes. Most have photos, age, occupation, and a little personal history. As you say it puts '360 dead in airline crash' into human perspective and it is very, very sad to watch.
@@rainscratch where
After learning about these incidents you begin to notice safety features in modern day buildings that you never would've paid any attention to before.
I’ve been deep in some small, tightly packed nightclubs prior to the Station Fire. That I would view much differently now. I’d probably wait within easy reach of the main exit. It’s not worth it.
Wouldn't want to live in a high rise either.
Once again, fantastic job. The narration has a very appropriate tone. Clear, well-spoken, good amount of depth as far as reporting and research. Respectful, not overly dramatic. Wide enough depth of field to get all angles - involvement of mob, ownership, construction and decorating choices, I employees and patrons. I really appreciated hearing how much the medical profession learned from so many burn victims. One of my favorite things about your videos is that they paint a picture I can see whether I’m watching or just listening. I always look forward to and enjoy the latest uploads.
Have you done one of these videos on the Hartford Circus Fire? My grandmother was a survivor, and it's incredible how much that fire's been forgotten in the ensuing decades.
ua-cam.com/video/ho9UR_A0zgw/v-deo.html
OMG, I remember my mother talking about that!
That’s a terrible event. Ambulances hadn’t been invented yet.
I was confused as to why I woke up randomly at 3am but lo and behold...it is because you have posted.
oh boy another 3am joke
so funny
Yes 3am here also
Always 3am here
@@TrianglePants I actually had just woken up when I commented this and was pissed because I woke up wide awake and couldn't fall back asleep. I wasn't intending to make a bad joke, but I was happy to see his video nonetheless! :D
My house went on fire a couple of years back and Im still traumatised. I cannot begin to imagine the sheer terror those people experienced that night.
That's awful. Please be very very careful with space heaters (NO extension cords of ANY kind--ever!), only use the modern type that doesn't have an obvious heating element you can see and doesn't get THAT hot. The fan ones I like the best.
Candles cause another 30% of house fires. The silly battery operated ones, you can't tell the difference with frosted glass...
@@windsofmarchjourneyperrytr2823 I believe electrical fires in the wall wires are a very common cause for house fires too (or at least that is what my uncle, who is an electrician, has told me). So it's a good idea to make sure the wiring is up to standards 😊
Whats sad is we have so many idiots crying about regulations when history shows we need many of them to protect people.
You can toss up regs til the cows come home. Doesn't matter if people ignore them and get away with it. Jmo
@@windsofmarchjourneyperrytr2823 ignoring existing rules doesn't help no. But as history shows no rules or finding loopholes sure as hell doesn't help. A lot of folks have mentioned regret at just watching exterior videos of the Station Nightclub fire. The screams haunt them. I'm sure similar audio would have been here had that sort of thing been easily recorded as well.
We’re talking about excessive regulations that kill businesses, not building and fire codes. Get a clue, doofus.
Oh please you can’t name me any regulations that have “destroyed “ businesses and trust me conservative idiots complain about any regulations
@@PopeSixtusVI some regulations protect us from businesses..
80 years ago now, rest in peace to all who were killed you are not forgotten.
What makes this feel worse to me is that this is almost literally the same story as the Station Nightclub Fire. We dealt with a terrible disaster already, and yet it still had to happen again, regardless of the standards we changed.
Yes! I was thinking the same thing!
@@scarystoryfrogcast6175
And you can be sure that it will happen again...and again...and...
By watching these videos about mishaps from the past...we see a repetitive number of disasters on land or sea that come back regularly...!
The reasons...:
ARROGANCE....GREED....CARELESSNESS...POLITICAL GRAFT...POLICE CORRUPTION...NEGLIGENCE...and so forth..!
Maybe SpongeBob was right, we should stay in our homes. A magical place with magical charm.
Exactly! After both this and the Beverly Hills supper club fire of 1977, including just over 60 years to learn from history, there were ZERO excuses for the station fire to be as bad as it was. Better late than never i suppose.
And what's worse, the bouncer at the Station reacted with the same apathy as the staff at the Cocoanut Grove. Anyone who fails to recognize a life or death situation should not be trusted to do their job.
Had to see this documentary. I remember my grandfather telling me this story about the Grove. He witnessed it as a bystander when he and my grandmother had gone out to eat nearby. He said he tried to help the firemen out. The screams and the smell of burning people was something he said he could never forget.
The grim silver lining of the medical advancement this made for burn treatment… absolutely shocking. Especially because this was right before WW2. It’s so significant. It’s always a strange feeling when a disaster that cost us so many also teaches us for the future.
Had to watch this again with new eyes. I've just learned we lost family in this fire as well. My great-great aunt, Sadie Levin. Survived by her husband Ben. Also killed in the fire were Sadie's sister, Addie, and her husband, Ted. They are interred together. They had been out with another sister, Lilly and her husband, but they chose to go the Symphony instead. They adopted Addie and Ted's children. Unfortunately, Lilly would also lose her elder brother shortly after in WWII. May they rest in peace.
Oh I needed this so glad you've uploaded now as I'm attempting to home school my three young children . Five minutes peace before the madness starts again , thank you 😄
Catherine Palmer oh lord, good luck with that!
Hahah , thank you I'll need it x
Well if you haven't it's always a good time to teach them fire safety and a meeting point outside of the house and why they should leave quickly. Could take them to fire demonstrations that fire stations do sometimes. I always wanted to go to one as a kid though we did have school visits. It's a suggestion (not assuming you've done this already).
Good luck with the homeschooling. Seems tough but rewarding!
I'm surprised the fire inspectors that declared the building "safe" a week prior weren't prosecuted.
They should have been HUNG, actually...the Station, too. It's identical. Minus lack of exits/locked doors. Could have been more, but everyone goes for the one they came in at.
...I'm not.
This is literally my worst nightmare and you did a fantastic job of covering this tragedy. You showed photos of the incident i havent seen before. nice job!
While Massholes may have learned, the brothers Dedarian, from right down the road in Rhode Island, waited 60 years to make all the same mistakes at The Station.
You’re channel is so lovely.
I’m so invested in every story you tell and I feel bad being so excited about new uploads because I know the story is going to be heartbreaking.
Just discovered this channel and it became a quick favorite.
Your*
Oh gosh I know just how you feel, just slightly guilty. It's not that I enjoy the misfortune of others (in fact I have literally cried at some of these episodes). They're just done in such a compelling and historically contextual way.