Is there really a circus Cemetery in Chicago?

Chicago’s Clown Graveyard – Showmen’s Rest Cemetery is the final Resting Place of Circus Performers. Showmen’s Rest is the site of a mass burial of clowns and other circus performers in Chicago after a train wreck killed 86 members of the Hagenbeck-Wallace Circus in 1918.

Where did the Hammond circus train wreck happen?

Hammond Circus Train Wreck
Date June 22, 1918 4:00 am
Location Near Hammond, Indiana
Country United States
Operator Michigan Central Railroad

Where are the circus animals buried?

The Showmen’s Rest Cemetery
Circus Animals Are Buried At The Showmen’s Rest Cemetery In Oklahoma And You Can Visit Them. One of the coolest cemeteries in the country – The Showmen’s Rest – is located in the small town of Hugo, Oklahoma.

Is there such thing as a clown cemetery?

Clown Graveyard in Chicago – Showman’s Rest Cemetery.

Who was Norma Jean and what killed her in 1972?

Norma Jean was a 6,500-pound elephant and the star attraction of the Clark and Walters Circus. That ended abruptly on the morning of July 17, 1972, when she was struck and killed by a bolt of lightning. Her trainer, “Possum Red,” was knocked 30 feet by the blast….Book Now.

Adults 1 2 3 4
Kids 0 1 2 3 4

Where is Lane Frost grave?

Mount Olivet Cemetery, Hugo
Lane Frost/Place of burial

What happened to the Barnum & Bailey circus train?

and Barnum & Bailey Circus shut down in 2017 it donated or sold off the railroad cars that made up the two, mile-long trains that carried performers, animals and equipment to shows around the country. NCDOT bought the cars shortly after the final performance of the circus in New York in 2017.

What caused the great train wreck of 1918?

1 on the line. The ICC also pointed to a lack of a proper system for the accurate determination of train positions and noted that the wooden construction of the cars greatly increased the number of fatalities….

Great Train Wreck of 1918
Incident type Collision
Cause Human error
Statistics
Trains 2

Why is Hugo OK called Circus City?

The city was founded in 1901 and named for the French novelist Victor Hugo. In the postwar 20th century, the city served as winter quarters for some circus companies and performers. A cemetery has a section for circus personnel.

Where is Showmen’s Rest?

Woodlawn Cemetery
Showmen’s Rest in Forest Park, Illinois, is a 750 plot section of Woodlawn Cemetery mostly for circus performers owned by the Showmen’s League of America The first performers and show workers that were buried there are in a mass grave from when between 56 and 61 employees of the Hagenbeck-Wallace Circus were interred.

Where was the circus train accident in 1918?

Documentary tells tale of 1918 circus train tragedy on Indiana lakeshore. The Hagenbeck-Wallace Circus train wreck killed 86 and injured 127 on June 22, 1918, near Hammond, Ind. The Hagenbeck

Where was the mass grave of clowns in Chicago?

Showmen’s Rest is the site of a mass burial of clowns and other circus performers in Chicago after a train wreck killed 86 members of the Hagenbeck-Wallace Circus in 1918. An elephant statue marks Showmen’s Rest, a mass grave of clowns and other circus performers.

Where are the elephants buried in the train wreck?

Memorial to Circus Train Wreck Dead. Five elephant statues mark the boundaries of Showmen’s Rest, a plot of 750 grave sites at Woodlawn Cemetery. The rumor, perpetuated by generations of Illinois schoolchildren, is that elephants killed in a train wreck couldn’t be moved and were buried where they fell.

When did the Clowns in the Circus Die?

On the gravestones, the dates of death are all marked June 22, 1918. Beneath is a mass grave containing the remains of clowns, trapeze artists, strongmen and other circus performers. On the night of June 22, 1918, members of the Hagenbeck-Wallace Circus were asleep in the rear cars of their train.