In our country and in the world, especially on discount days or concerts, there are stampedes. Some even end in disaster, costing the lives of hundreds of people. A similar situation occurred in Korea on Halloween in the past days, and 151 people lost their lives. The event we will tell in this content is similar to this, but this time the subject is children.
After this event in England in 1883, door designs changed and today it has saved and continues to save the lives of thousands of people. Let’s take a closer look at the details of this event, its cause and what happened after.
Victoria Hall was built 10 years before the disaster struck.
It was an imposing brick building built in the gothic style popular at the time. The main auditorium where the event took place contained a stage and three levels of seating. Due to its high capacity, it quickly became a popular venue for public gatherings, religious gatherings and entertainment of all kinds. Events such as theater performances and concerts were all held at Victoria Hall.
Therefore, a children’s magic show was not at all unusual for this venue. This special show was hosted by Mr and Mrs Fay, a show business couple traveling from out of town.
Flyers distributed before the event mentioned that there would be magic, talking waxwork, puppets, and something known as the Great Ghost Illusion. It was also announced that each child who comes to the show will be given a nice gift in the form of a small book or a toy by drawing.
What kid could resist seeing an ad like this? At 3 pm on June 16, 1883, a children’s magic show began at the Victoria Hall theater in Sunderland, England. The venue was packed with around 1,500 children of all ages.
When the show began, no one in Sunderland, especially those in the hall, could have predicted that almost one in seven spectators would die.
The audience, almost all of whom were children, was very satisfied with the magic and the games. After the final show went smoothly, Fayler announced that they would be holding a raffle and giving away gifts to the winners.
Then they started throwing toys and candy towards the children. Everything was normal until now, but whatever happened has happened from now on. Because toys and candies were thrown only to the children on the ground floor, not those on the upper floor.
Naturally, the children on the upper floor suddenly jumped up in excitement and wanted to go down to the ground floor and get the presents.
Hundreds of children between the ages of 3 and 14 began to descend the stairs in mass. The door at the end of the stairs provided access to the lower floor. That day, the door had been opened just enough for the children to pass, only 50 centimeters. The reason why the door was left open so much was probably to easily control the tickets of the children entering and to prevent confusion.
However, this narrow door has become a death trap.
It wasn’t long before someone tripped and fell while the kids were trying to get inside quickly. As the other children pressed on from behind, the ones in front began to fall on their fallen friends.
Within minutes, the children, who had fallen to the ground, were crushed by those above and began to pile up in the doorway.
This dire situation was exacerbated by the fact that there was a turn on the stairs. As the children above could not see what was happening below, they tried to keep moving forward. This caused those in front and those on the ground to be squeezed even more and suffocated.
The theater keeper did his best to lure the children through the narrow opening to safety, but realized they were too stuck to free them.
So the watchman directed about 600 children there using another ladder and averted an even greater disaster.
After the children trying to get down from the upper floor were pulled back, the door was dismantled and within half an hour all the children trapped there, alive or dead, were brought out. In total, 183 children died, and most died from drowning or crushing.
The incident had nationwide repercussions. An investigation into the disaster was soon launched, but no one was found to blame.
However, public anger did not subside and a second investigation was opened; the result was the same, there was no culprit.
No one knew who had bolted and closed the door to leave such a narrow gap. Protesters were also investigated, but they were not found guilty as a result of the trial.
Despite the specter of tragedy, the theater continued to stand and operate for more than 50 years. Until it was destroyed by bombardment during the Second World War.
The Victoria Hall disaster has something to give us.
Robert Alexander Briggs, a young boy who lived in Sunderland at the time of the disaster, was so shocked by the incident that, after becoming an engineer, he needed a special tool that would keep a door secure from the outside but ensure that anyone could easily open the door in the event of an event, so that it would never happen again. patented the bolt type.
This bolt patent was the first version of the release lever we see on emergency exit doors today. This bolt has saved thousands of lives since it was found. In this sense, perhaps hundreds of children’s lives could have been saved if there had been such a branch in Victoria Hall that day.
- Sources: Fascinating Horror, Sunderland Yolasite
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