Battles, Fraud and Logistical Nightmares: 5 Disastrous Shows and Festivals From History

With the onset of summer comes a bevy of festivals, fairs and shows - but sometimes these joyful events end in chaos, crime or even death. Let's take a look at...

• The 1969 Altamont Free Concert
• The Deadly Victoria Hall Disaster
• The Battle of Yeoman's Bridge, Glastonbury 1990
• The Elephant Execution of Murderous Mary
• The Fraudulent Fyre Festival

The 1969 Altamont Free Concert

In the December of 1969, the Rolling Stones (and several supporting acts) announced that they would be playing a free concert to cap off their U.S. tour. Intended as a "thank you" to fans and retaliation against criticism of ticket prices, finding a venue proved... difficult. They eventually settled on the Altamont Speedway, an old racetrack with little in the way of facilities.

The place was jury-rigged into a rudimentary stage with a great deal of haste - for example, the crowd would be separated from the bands by a simple rope. There was also the matter of security - not wanting a police presence, the bands opted to hire a chapter of Hells Angels instead.

Things went wrong quickly - the temperatures, lack of facilities and the supply of free-flowing drugs resulted in an unruly and confused crowd. The situation only got worse when drunken Hells Angels laid into the crowd with makeshift weapons to keep order. Even the bands weren't safe from their security - Marty Balin (the singer from Jefferson Airplane) was knocked unconscious and Stephen Stills (of Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young) was stabbed in the leg.

Bursts of violence occurred throughout the sets... but the most dramatic outburst was during that of the Rolling Stones themselves, when Meredith Hunter approached the stage and was pushed back by the Hells Angels. He tried to get close a second time and, at some point during the resulting scuffle, pulled a revolver... and was subsequently stabbed to death. The Rolling Stones didn't even realize that someone had been killed right in front of them.

The Deadly Victoria Hall Disaster

Be warned, this one gets fairly grim.

The Victoria Hall and Temperance Institute of Sunderland in England hosted a variety show in 1883 - one that promised conjuring, talking waxworks, illusions and more. Somewhere between 1,500 and 2,000 children attended the June 16th matinee performance, filling the ground area and upper gallery. All was going swimmingly... until the performers announced that presents would be handed out on the stage.

With almost no adults in attendance, the children on the balcony attempted to rush down the stairs before the supply of presents ran out. The door at the end of the stairs, however, had been bolted so that only a single person could pass through at a time - and the resulting crush became lethal.

Those few adults present did everything they could to mitigate the unfolding disaster, but the door was bolted on the side eclipsed by the crowd. Eventually a man on the ground floor managed to bodily tear the door from its hinges... but by then 183 children (some as young as four) had perished.

The events actually resulted in legislation to help prevent a similar tragedy, requiring public venues to have outward-opening crush doors. If you've seen an emergency exit with a push-bar handle, you've seen an invention inspired by the Victoria Hall disaster.

The Battle of Yeoman's Bridge, Glastonbury 1990

Glastonbury Festival is a massive English open-field music event, traditionally held at the Worthy Farm of Pilton in Somerset. In addition to the official line-up the event includes several unlisted or outright independent stages, while the proximity of places like Glastonbury Tor and Stonehenge adds a new-age or hippie vibe to the crowds... all of which makes the 1990 "Battle of Yeoman's Bridge" even more surreal.

The story goes that a group of travelers on the fringe of the festival had begun to rummage through the debris left by the main crowds as they dispersed - an abandoned tent can still be worth a lot of money, after all. Tensions were already quite high between security and the travelers when (according to reports) a drunk driver ploughed through some fences and stole a tent belonging to the local church. The man was detained, police were called and the man and his van were hauled off... but not without being observed.

The story that reached the travelers had changed quite a bit in the retelling - apparently one of their fellows had been grabbed, beaten and dragged off by security.

What followed was a pitched battle between the vengeful travelers and bewildered security, featuring vehicles ramming each other, improvised weapons being wielded (in one case, a wooden pole was hurled through a wind-screen and nearly impaled the driver) and even the use of petrol bombs. Eventually security were forced to retreat... but as a result, the traveler contingent found themselves barred from the festival and surrounds in following years.

The Elephant Execution of Murderous Mary

Circuses are often billed as being a great day for all the family... but this example from 1916 featured the death of a trainer, the execution of an elephant and a permanent stain on the town of Erwin, Tennessee.

The triggering events for this debacle began in Kingsport with "Sparks World Famous Shows" hiring Walter “Red” Eldridge, a hotel worker with zero experience handling elephants. One day later, he was leading Mary (a five ton pachyderm) through the town's streets as part of a parade... and was using a bullhook to control the animal. These metal sticks have a sharp tip and hook, allowing them to inflict pain on an elephant by jabbing their sensitive areas.

On this occasion, Mary responded by grabbing her inept handler with her trunk, throwing him to the ground and stamping on his head. Unfortunately, the crowd didn't believe turnabout was fair play - they started baying for Mary's death (one member of the crowd is said to have opened fire with a pistol, but the shots failed to penetrate the elephant's thick hide.)

The newspapers ran with the sensationalized tale of Mary's retribution and "Sparks World Famous Shows" decided to execute the animal rather than risk being boycotted. They hired a railway derrick in the neighboring town of Erwin and hoisted the poor creature up to hang in front of a 2,500-strong crowd.

The Fraudulent Fyre Festival

Picture this - a party, music festival and holiday rolled into one, hosted by Rapper Ja Rule and held at a private island in the Bahamas; meals prepared by celebrity chefs, eaten while brushing shoulders with models, musicians and internet personalities. Sure, the tickets could be pricy and some cost as much as $100,000... but other tickets went for as low as $500. Not bad, right?

Of course, things were not quite what they seemed. Guests flying out to the island of Great Exuma found that it was not, in fact, private. The promised luxury accommodations turned out to be rows and rows of emergency relief tents, while the catering turned out to be bits of bread, cheese slices and a handful of salad leaves - all served up in a polystyrene burger box. On top of all that, the promised musical performances failed to materialize - suddenly even the $500 ticket seems like a rip off.

It wasn't just the guests who were affected. The whole debacle left locals hired to prepare the site (along with varying suppliers and caterers) seriously out of pocket. Ja Rule and his business partner Billy McFarland were hauled into court on fraud charges... and while Ja Rule was dismissed from the suit after claiming McFarland had scammed him, Billy ended up in jail and on the hook for some serious money judgments.

Now if you're feeling despondent about having missed this party of a lifetime, Billy McFarland announced Fyre Festival 2 shortly after getting out of jail (with ticket prices of up to $1.1 million dollars.) Organizers claimed that it would be held on Isla Mujeres... only for the local government to announce that no permits for such an event had been requested. The festival was moved to Playa del Carmen where, in what is surely a shocking twist, the local government also declared that no such event had been planned. Caveat emptor, I guess!

Thanks for reading - you might also like...

• Bizarre, Bold or Bungled: 12 Weird Historical Assassination Attempts
• Axes, Sharks and Alcoholism: The Strange Stories of 5 Unique Political Careers
• Discover 6 Mystery-Touched Relics From Ancient History

Sources and Further Info:

• The day the 1960s turned sour: the Rolling Stones' infamous Altamont disaster
• Children's deaths that shocked the world
• VICTORIA HALL STAMPEDE
• Glastonbury 1990
• A Circus Elephant Was Publicly Hanged In 1916 - The Tragic Tale Of ‘Murderous Mary’
• The Town That Hanged An Elephant Is Now Working To Save Them
• Fyre Festival: Inside the world's biggest festival flop
• Reboot of disaster-hit Fyre Festival postponed, US media reports