10 Worst Circus Disasters

7: 1918 Circus Train Wreck

One of the worst disasters in circus history happened in 1918 when a military transport train collided violently with a circus convoy train occupied by the Hagenbeck-Wallace Circus. The circus caravan had stopped on the tracks between Gary and Hammond, Indiana, to cool an overheated axle. The engineer running the military train had fallen asleep and passed numerous warnings and flares about the stalled vehicle, and the train hit the caravan at 35 miles per hour (56 kph) [source: Borrelli].

The damage was terrible: Since the circus cars were wooden, they were easily crushed to splinters, and the kerosene lamps that lit them quickly ignited a conflagration that trapped and killed dozens of people. Five cars were heaped on top of each other, and at least 187 people were injured and 86 killed. The fire proved so devastating that it was impossible to identify the remains, and somewhere between 53 and 61 unrecognizable bodies were buried in a mass grave near Chicago [source: Borrelli]. Large elephant statues mark the plot (called Showmen's Rest) as a monument to all the performers buried on the spot. All the Hagenbeck-Wallace animals were on an advance train, and none were hurt in the collision or fire.

6: Cleveland Circus Fire

Listen, stories of performers meeting their ends in terrifying ways is not everyone's cup of tea, but the fascination is understandable. But forewarned is forearmed: If you're sensitive to tales of helpless animals destroyed in grisly disasters, this entry is not for you. It's one of the most harrowing tales of circus animal horrors, and the descriptions are graphic.

In 1942, the Ringling Bros. circus was staked out on Cleveland's lakefront when a fire started on top of one of the wooden animal cages. As horrified spectators watched, more than 50 animals were burned alive [source: Ludington Daily News]. Some, including an elephant and giraffes, wrenched free from their tethers and had to be shot by riot police after running free. As the fire spread and emergency responders showed up, a crowd of 5,000 gathered [source: Ludington Daily News]. The newspapers from the time are not shy with descriptions; suffice it to say here that the animals didn't meet swift or painless deaths.

And while we don't have a cheerier topic to transition to, let's at least move on to a circus disaster that only resulted in one tragic death.

5: Otto Kline

We'd like to think that there are some "safer" circus acts out there that aren't as inherently dangerous as others. Like clowning, for instance — how much trouble can one of those guys get in? Besides a strong stream of water to the eye, it seems fairly safe. And while we all know that riding horses has its risks, it does seem a bit more controlled than flying through the air without a net to catch you.

Until, of course, it isn't. Otto Kline, a 28-year-old trick rider with Barnum & Bailey's Circus, died in 1915 during a packed performance at Madison Square Garden in New York. Included in his act was a vaulting stunt, where he would grip the pommel to vault himself side-to-side over a galloping horse, all without touching the saddle.

Unfortunately, Kline seemed to lose grip at one point and was flung head-first into boxes in the ring. If you're really feeling cold, try not to get a little choked up at the New York Times article that describes his horse "stopped almost in her tracks ... [where she] seemed to realize that something terrible had happened to her master."

4: Sarah Guyard-Guillot

Cirque du Soleil has always been known for its extremely high levels of artistry and safety. Before 2013, the circus hadn't suffered a fatal on-stage accident in its 29-year history [source: Nestuck]. Unfortunately, that record was broken by a terrible tragedy that occurred in Las Vegas during a performance of its Vegas staple, "Ka."

Sarah Guyard-Guillot was a 31-year-old aerialist performing in the final battle scene of the show. She was wearing a motorized safety harness, but she ascended too quickly at one point and struck a catwalk above her. The cable jumped from the pulley wheel of the harness and was cut by a sharp edge. Guyard-Guillot fell more than 90 feet (27.4 meters) into an open pit below the stage while onlookers watched in confusion [source: Katsilometes]. She died of her injuries en route to the hospital.

A new safety system was installed to lift performers more gradually, and the act eventually returned to the stage after a hiatus of 18 months. It's still performed five nights a week at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas.

3: Massarti the Lion Tamer

It takes a special kind of person to lose a limb to a wild animal, then climb back in the ring to tempt fate again. Massarti the Lion Tamer was made of such stock. Massarti (an Irishman named Thomas MacCarte) was performing in Bolton, England, with Manders' Menagerie in 1872. Even though he had previously lost an arm in a big cat act at a different circus, accounts at the time paint him as always eager for a show. In fact, the accounts imply that perhaps a bit too much pre-show imbibing inflated his recklessness on the day of his death [source: The New York Times].

Not only were the hot-iron prods apparently out of reach to MacCarte, but he also seemed to have gotten a bit closer to the five lions than trainers normally would. (All this according to the owner of the circus who may have had reason to put blame on a drunken trainer, of course.) When one lion attacked, the others followed suit and some 500 people witnessed the ghastly carnage that led to MacCarte's death — graphic descriptions of which the New York Times eagerly printed.

2: Tyke the Elephant

Ready for another super-sad story about circus animals? This one, you should be warned, involves tragedy for both human and animal.

Tyke was a 20-year-old female African elephant who performed with Circus International. The circus was in Honolulu in 1994 when attendees at the day's performance were surprised to see the elephant enter the ring tossing around what appeared to be a dummy. In reality, it was the groomer that she had severely injured. As the audience panicked, Tyke's trainer was killed during an attempted intervention.

The elephant then fled the ring, where she bounded through the streets of Honolulu for almost a half-hour. The rampaging elephant was shot 87 times by police officers and eventually died from brain hemorrhages and nerve damage [source: Cave]. To the horror of most, news coverage allowed people to watch the chase and death in real time. No exotic animals have appeared at a Honolulu circus performance since, although neither the state nor city officially prohibits it.

1: Hartford Circus Fire

It's hard to rank tragedies, and there's no way to call one disaster worse than another. But the Hartford Circus Fire was so damaging and caused the death and injury of so many small children that it's hard not to put it at the top of our circus disaster list.

It was 1944, and the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus was in Hartford, Connecticut, for an afternoon show in front of several thousand people. A fire started on the roof of the big top, and — with the tent covered in a paraffin and gasoline waterproofing mixture — it spread rapidly. The chaos of the fire resulted in a stampede, and the panic caused clogged exits. Nearly 170 people died, and 487 people were injured. Sixty-eight of those dead were 15 or younger, due in part to the long hours adults worked at war production plants [source: Flood].

No one was ever charged with starting the fire, although some circus officials served time for negligence. An Ohio man did confess to starting the fire in 1950 after being arrested for a series of arson charges, but he later recanted, and investigators didn't get to interview him before he was declared paranoid schizophrenic and sent to a state hospital.