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.

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!

That poor bus boy. I can’t imagine what he went through. You know everyone in there was smoking cigarettes and lighting matches.

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)

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.

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 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.

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.

"But there's a big fire!" - "No exceptions, pay your bill first"

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!

“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?

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 💔

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.

Imagine demanding someone to pay for their drink as the room becomes engulfed in flames. 🤯

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.

"Several emergency exits hidden, locked or boarded up..." 492 people is far too high a price for a few unpaid drink bills.

Cheap is expensive. We don’t want people sneaking in so let’s bolt the fire exits

The Nightclub owner had close ties with organized crime... and helped by politicians ..... NO WAAAAAAY.

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.

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.

There's a saying: "Regulations are written in blood." Remember that whenever you hear someone (typically a businessman or politician) arguing against regulations.

I like how you usually give the positive aspect of an incident, like scientific stuff being found out and new building regulations being made

Hiding in the freezer was an absolute power move

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 😢

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."

“Lol look at that tiny little fire not even a spark lol” Fire: :( Fire: >:(

"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...

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.

The high number of victims is astonishing. Also the corruption, especially in the pardon.

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.

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 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.

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.

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.

The most injured survivor ironically died of burns sustained in a car crash 15 years later.

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.

Every time i hear "alternate exits were sealed shut" i go Oh Booooy.

Can you imagine escaping a fire only to almost freeze to death?

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.

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.

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.

I really need to start looking for exits more when I arrive at places.

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.

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.

One thing I've learned from this channel is to never doubt small flames. Also to listen to fire alarms.

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.

“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.

Ignored safety codes? Everything made of flammable crepe paper and fabric? Club over capacity? Obviously this will end well.

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.

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🙏🏼

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.

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

The compact of people in doorways never fails to disturb me to my core. Its the most horrific part of these stories to me

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.

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!

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!"

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.

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.

"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?

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.

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

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.

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.

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...)

I get trapped in revolving doors even when there isn't an emergency. Curse those wretched doors...

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.

Sometimes, I find codes and regulations to be a bit paranoid. And then I learn about the Coconut Grove.

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.

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.....

And, to this day, use of the name "Cocoanut Grove" on any business, is illegal in Boston.

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.

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).

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!

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.

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 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.

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 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.

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.

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?!

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.

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.

Whats sad is we have so many idiots crying about regulations when history shows we need many of them to protect people.

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.

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.

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!

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.

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. 😊

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.

man the stuff i learn in this channel truly IS both horrifying and fascinating. You especially had my jaw drop at the revolving door part.

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.

As a fan of yours with auditory processing issues, thank you for providing subtitles!!! The effort does not go unappreciated ❤️

This was my introduction to your terrific channel; I have since watched dozens of your videos. Your non-judgmental focus on what has been learned - and still needs to be learned - from these tragedies is refreshing and enlightening. Thank you.

I am so glad you did Cocoanut Grove. I've seen this on so many 'shows' and reenactments, and it never provides the detail and true justice you do. I'd much rather listen and watch you tell the history of it then watch any of those. You always find details, photos, and show respect to victims. Then you also site changes made from it. Absolutely amazing!

I was confused as to why I woke up randomly at 3am but lo and behold...it is because you have posted.

I'm surprised the fire inspectors that declared the building "safe" a week prior weren't prosecuted.

love your videos, thank u for the care you take when talking about and remembering victims

I found this channel by accident last night and have been binge watching ever since :D the music and the voice of the narrator really makes this videos have a dark undertone to it

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.