Iroquois Theatre fire
CatastropheWikipedia
8
MENTIONS
3
EPISODES
2
PODCASTS
Search complete. 8 mentions across 3 episodes found for "Iroquois Theatre fire".
Oct 5, 2026
Carol HughesHOST
I'm Carol Hughes, in for Tony Bruschi, and on this episode of The Grave Talks, we're going to talk about some of the Windy City's most haunted locations with Chicago Hauntings tour guide Tony Szabelski.
Carol HughesHOST
Tony, I would love to start with the Iroquois Theater, because on December 30th, 1903, it had only been open for a few weeks, they had a fire, a huge fire.
Carol HughesHOST
The theater had been advertised as absolutely fireproof.
Carol HughesHOST
Obviously, that wasn't the case.
8 MINS LATER
Tony SzabelskiGUEST
Uh, but it was difficult for them to get out that way also because the doors, unlike doors you see in buildings today- Which it, if you're coming outside of a, inside a building outside, you would push like the bar on the door, a public door, and it would open outward.
Carol HughesHOST
You don't have to pull it.
Tony SzabelskiGUEST
The Iroquois Theater doors pulled inward.
Tony SzabelskiGUEST
They weren't able to pull the doors back with all these people behind them.
Tony SzabelskiGUEST
Ira, uh, and his brother James owned a hotel called the Treemont House Hotel.
Tony SzabelskiGUEST
Um, in the previous episode we just did talking about the Iroquois Theater.
Carol HughesHOST
Mm-hmm.
Tony SzabelskiGUEST
The alley behind the Iroquois Theater, right behind that alley is a parking garage today.
Tony SzabelskiGUEST
Uh, right where the parking garage is, is where the Couch family's hotel would've been at one point, the Treemont House Hotel.
Tony SzabelskiGUEST
The building was built, a- after Ira Couch died while on vacation in Cuba in 1857, the building was built, the Couch, uh, tomb, was built in 1858 by, uh, his brother James had it constructed out of limestone imported from Lockport, New York.
DianeHOST
Obviously, it's not gonna be exhaustive, but we're gonna hit the high points.
DianeHOST
Graceland is the final resting place of several victims of the tragic Iroquois Theater fire, which happened on December 30th, 1903, and left 600 people dead.
DianeHOST
Many of those in attendance to see the matinee performance of Mr.
DianeHOST
Blue Beard were children, as school was out for the Christmas break.
DianeHOST
The area where scenery was hung was unusually large, as were the other backstage areas.
DianeHOST
There were no sprinklers, alarms, or any kind of water connections, and yet the theater was coined as being fireproof.
DianeHOST
The firefighting equipment that was available was for use on low-burning fires, not ones that started high, like what was gonna happen here at the Iroquois Theater.
DianeHOST
During the second act, the orchestra started playing a dreamy waltz called Let Us Swear by the Pale Moonlight.