The smell of burnt flesh was overwhelming.īy the time the flames were extinguished, 32 people were dead.
Firefighters found grisly spectacles: a dead man hanging from one window with horror seared on his face and, upstairs, piles of charred bodies, some melted together. Those trapped inside desperately tried to squeeze through the iron bars on the floor-to-ceiling windows. Mississippi Center For Investigative ReportingĪ fireball rushed inside the Up Stairs Lounge and raced through the bar, and the flammable decor and patrons’ polyester clothing.
