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and now onto the episode.
The iconic French Quarter of New Orleans
is known the world over for its food, nightlife,
and perhaps most of all, its history.
The architecture alone
is enough to transport you to a time long since passed,
but in a place so rich in history,
it's no wonder that some of it or even much of it,
would go either unnoticed
or borderline completely forgotten.
Having said this, if you Google the intersection
of Iberville and charters in New Orleans,
you might just recognize a couple of things
that surround it.
Just a few minutes away is Bourbon Street,
and even closer is Canal Street
where massive floats roll each year from Mardi Gras.
It was here that the Upstairs Lounge was located.
Its name being quite a literal one
since the bar itself was situated
on the second floor of the building that housed it.
It served as a safe haven for the local gay community
and even doubled as a place of worship
via the Metropolitan Community Church,
which welcomed LGBTQ individuals with open arms.
For many of the Upstairs Lounge was more than a venue,
but a place where one could express themselves freely.
A stark contrast to life outside,
where most of its patrons
had to keep their identities a secret
out of fear of both personal and professional repercussions.
The bar opened its stores to the public in the year 1970,
but just three years later,
the Upstairs Lounge would play host to what was at the time,
the worst mass murder of LGBTQ people in American history,
a grim record that wouldn't be surpassed
until the Pulse nightclub shooting in 2016.
(gentle somber music)
June 24th, 1973.
For the many regulars of the Upstairs Lounge,
it probably seemed a day just like any other.
The bar was hosting its weekly beer bust event,
and on top of things,
the anniversary of Stonewall was just days away.
For those present at the time however,
the celebration was unfortunately cut short.
At around 7:50 p.m,
the familiar sound of the venue's doorbell
caught the attention of an unassuming bar goer,
but instead of fellow customers upon opening the door,
they were met with a massive gas to flames
that quickly invaded the establishment.
In an instant, the bar was set ablaze
and patrons scattered in a panic attempt to escape.
Bartender Douglas Buddy Rasmussen led 20 people to safety.
One witness who chose not to identify himself to the press,
described the escape.
Stating quote, "I went out the back door,
ran through a theater where we used to produce plays
and went down a fire escape to the street."
Now the same person wou;d later go on to clarify
that neither he nor any other patrons
had known about this escape prior to being led to it.
And as such many others inside rushed for windows,
but only 15 were able to squeeze through the security bars
and jumped to the street below.
A handful of others, according to reports at the time,
also managed to reach a window ledge
where they remained until help arrived.
Dozens of others, however were still trapped inside.
The blaze lasted less than 20 minutes total,
according to fire superintendent William J. McCrossen,
who described the arson attack to the Electro Bulletin
as the worst and loss of human life
he'd seen in his 32-year career.
He also explained that quote, "87 firefighters
and 21 pieces of firefighting apparatus
were used to combat the blaze."
The firefighters were able to save
those stranded on the ledge,
but even though they'd responded rapidly,
for those inside, it was already too late.
The scene was horrific,
with many of the bodies left completely unrecognizable
by the damage
and several having to be identified
via items that survive the heat,
such as one, who was identified by a ring, he was wearing.
Firefighters found it difficult
to tell how many victims were there at times
due to the way they'd huddled together
and how severely they were burned.
Perhaps the most harrowing image to come out of the event
was one of Reverend William B. R. Larsen,
whose a final moments were witnessed by onlookers.
A survivor by the name of Linn Quinton,
explained to the press, quote, "Four people burn to death
in front of my eyes tonight.
I was pleading and pleading with them
but they couldn't or wouldn't jump.
The bigger people just couldn't get out.
Bill Larsen, a pastor at the Metropolitan Community Church,
got caught in the window and I just watched him burn.
He had one arm out and I heard him scream, 'Oh God, no.'
And in the next window three people burned
and I could just watch."
- Police arson squads are investigating
the ruins of a New Orleans bar where a fire last night
killed 29 persons and injured 15 others.
- [Narrator] This event in and of itself
was obviously a tragedy,
but despite the deaths of 32 people that night,
not everyone was sympathetic and some were downright cruel.
Reportedly, it took over three hours
for fire services to remove the dead.
And during this time, hundreds of onlookers
gathered at the police barriers
to see firefighters recovering bodies.
According to Louisiana newspaper, The Town Talk, quote,
"One enterprising barroom owner
set up an outside bar within a few feet
of where the ambulance is stood awaiting the bodies.
The bar did booming business."
Per a Decades TV network documentary,
the Catholic Archbishop of New Orleans, quote,
"Offered neither sympathy nor support to the victims,"
with the subject of one of their interviews stating that,
quote, "Church after church refused their sanctuaries
and facilities for any kind of service.
The Unitarian Church did hold a small service
which was not very well attended in the days after the fire.
And a few days later, St. George's Episcopal Church
across town, did hold a service.
The priest, Father Bill Richardson,
caught all sorts of holy hell from his congregation
for doing that."
The interviewee also recounted
how radio commentators at the time
would make homophobic, hateful, and often cruel jokes
at the victim's expense while on air.
- One of the cruelest of which was,
"How do we bury the remains of these fire victims?"
And the answer, "Fruit jars."
That was the punchline.
- [Narrator] Political and public figures
apparently never felt the need to send condolences
or even acknowledged what had occurred,
in spite of often doing so routinely
for tragedies which had impacted fewer people.
Now, perhaps the most crushing lack of humanity here
came from the victim's own relatives.
Reverend Bill Larsen, for example,
whose photographed remains
are forever associated with the attack,
was never claimed by his family.
According to Reverend Troy Perry,
his mother opted not to recover and bury her son,
because quote, "She was embarrassed
that he was publicly identified as a gay man
who had died at a gay bar."
The 32-year old Larry Norman Frost,
was among three unknown white male victims
up until November of 2018, 45 years after his death.
He was eventually identified by his sister and nephew,
though it would later come to light that Larry's parents,
most likely, already knew of his fate
and simply chose not to come forward
or to share that information with family members.
Similar stories are distressingly common
amongst the other victims in this case.
So, why did this happen and who was responsible?
Shockingly, multiple people confess to starting the fire,
though there's little info about most of them.
One example was a 32 year-old drifter
named Raymond Wallander,
who admitted to pouring gasoline in the club stairwell
and setting it ablaze.
He would tell police that a customer at the Upstairs Lounge
had promised to pay his companion for a sex act,
but then had gone back on the deal.
In actuality, Wallander had read about the fire
and concocted a story in order to get arrested
and serve time outside of California,
where he was already wanted.
He said he feared he'd be murdered by inmates
if he served time in California, for whatever reason.
The most likely culprit here appears to be a man
by the name of Roger Dale Nunez.
The Decades TV documentary posits that Nunez
was one of the people involved
in an argument at the lounge, the night the crime occurred
and that he returned 30 minutes after being kicked out
to start the fire in an act of revenge.
A former friend of Nunez also later claimed
that he had admitted to being behind the fire
on four separate occasions.
Nunez was apparently questioned during the investigation,
but upon initial questioning,
he had a broken jaw and could not respond.
A later conversation with him
did not leave investigator to suspect Nunez,
but even if he did do it, we'd never know,
since the man took his own life just a year after the fire.
And six years after that, the state fire marshal's office
would close the case due to having no leads to work with.
To this day, the case remains legally unsolved,
and by that fact, a motive technically
could not be established,
although it was very clear that this was no accident.
Still, no matter the motivation of the arsonists,
every refusal of service, every blind eye turned,
and every unclaimed body, made it clear that to many,
these victims were seen as subhuman.
That somehow deserve less respect
and that they were an embarrassment.
People like Reverend Bill Larsen, who was a man of faith,
but had his legacy reduced to a single grizzly image.
People like Larry Norman Frost,
a free spirit who was beloved by his siblings,
but left an unidentified corpse for decades
who now lies in an unmarked grave on unkept land,
because someone felt he wasn't worth claiming.
People like Ferris LeBlanc who fought in World War II
and survived both D-Day and the Battle of the Bulge.
He had turned 50 just a couple days
before the arsonist struck.
And too many, for whatever reason,
that day was the point of no return
where all the accomplishments
and everything I just mentioned
had somehow become irrelevant.
(gentle somber music)
Before I go, I'd like to thank
every single one of you for watching,
and that includes the following up people:
T. Gorman, Connor H, Basobshadow, WH, Shaun The CHB,
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Again thank you guys so much,
and if you're still listening, you're insane,
but I love you and I'll see you next time.