The Burning: The Movie Night That Devastated Dromcollogher

On Sunday night, September 5, 1926, the people of Dromcollogher, County Limerick, gathered for something special: a night at the movies. There was no cinema in the village, so roughly 150 people climbed into a wooden loft above a hardware store where a traveling film show had been set up. The room had a narrow staircase, barred windows, highly flammable nitrate film and candles being used near the projector. Then one of those candles fell. Within moments, the nitrate film ignited. Fire spread through the loft, the main staircase became impassable, and desperate moviegoers turned toward the windows. Some managed to escape. Others found themselves trapped as one possible way out after another disappeared. By the following morning, 46 people had died in the ruins. Two more later died from their injuries. 48 people were dead in a village of roughly 500. Fifteen of them were children. In this episode of Yore Town, Matt and Megh tell the story of the Dromcollogher cinema fire, the families devastated by the disaster, the questions over how such a dangerous screening was allowed to happen, the bizarre fate of organizer William "Babe" Ford, and what became of the site afterward. Because this story has one remarkable final chapter. The place where dozens of people died while gathering to watch stories eventually became a place where the village could gather for stories again. A library. One hundred years later, Dromcollogher still remembers September 5, 1926. They call it The Burning. Yore Town tells the strange, dark, and unbelievable true stories of real places. New episodes weekly. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.