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These Irrational Fears From History Take The Cake

Khalid Elhassan March 12, 2024 23 min

A New York City crowd in 1912, mostly clad in straw hats. Library of Congress

An Even Bigger Nineteenth Century Brooklyn Tragedy

Panic - The Brooklyn Theatre's Washington Street Entrance. New York Public Library — The Brooklyn Theatre’s Washington Street entrance. New York Public Library

About a thousand playgoers were crammed into the Brooklyn Theatre on the night of December 5^th, 1876, to enjoy The Two Orphans, one of the era’s more successful melodramas. During the intermission between the fourth and fifth acts, the curtain was down, and as the orchestra played, preparations were made for the next act. Then theatergoers heard shouts and what sounded like a brawl on the stage behind the lowered curtain. Little did they know that it was the start of a tragic disaster.

A lamp had set fire to some scenery offstage, and carpenters who first spotted the flames tried to beat out and smother it. That did not work, and the fire spread. As the curtains rose for the final act, backstage employees tried to bring the fire under control. At this point, it would have been best to tell the audience to exit the theater, since it was on fire. However, some folk overthought things. They feared that informing the theatergoers about the fire could cause a panicked rush to the exits, and lead to disaster. So they downplayed the danger – and brought about an even greater disaster.

Written by

Khalid Elhassan

A lifelong history buff, I developed a particular passion for WW2 history as a child, when I spent hours listening to my grandfather, enraptured, as he recounted his wartime experiences in the British East African Campaign and with the British 8th Army in North Africa.

I graduated with a history BA from George Mason University, then went on to get a JD from the University of Virginia School of Law. After lawyering for a decade, I moved to sunny Rio de Janeiro and a less demanding career, opening a tourism agency in Copacabana.

A big chunk of my free time is spent blogging (you can follow me on Quora https://www.quora.com/profile/Khalid-Elhassan ) or freelance writing, mostly about my favorite subject, history.