Halloween Horror on Ice

October 31, 1963 - Thousands of spectators were on hand for opening night of Holiday on Ice at the Indiana State Fairgrounds Coliseum in Indianapolis. At 11:06 PM, as a skating ensemble performed to a Dixieland song, a leaking propane tank under the audience exploded sending dozens of people and massive chunks of concrete flying 60 feet into the air. A second explosion followed shortly and hundreds of people were trapped in the burning debris. 82 people would die and over 400 were wounded.

The death toll was so high, the coroner elected to use the Coliseum's ice rink as a makeshift morgue with rows of bodies lined up for indentification.

A grand jury indicted some city and state officials for failing to properly inspect the Coliseum, but ultimately only one person was convicted of any wrongdoing, and that verdict was later overturned.