The Destructive and Deadly Hartford Circus Fire
Featured in Ripley's Believe It or Not!
The Hartford Circus Fire
On July 5, 1944, trains carrying the Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey Circus pulled into Hartford, Connecticut. The circus was unusually behind schedule, so much that two of the daytime performances had to be canceled. The trains were quickly offloaded into a field on Barbour Sreet to avoid any further bad luck that was believed to come from canceling performances. The circus completed setup in just enough time to put on the last nighttime show.