The Fatal Vespers

October 26, 1623 - On this Sunday evening in London, a large crowd of Catholics gathered quietly in the upper chamber of Hunsdon House in Blackfriars. This was a time when their faith was still outlawed, so the service, known as Vespers, was held in secret.

As the hymn began, the floor groaned under the weight of nearly three hundred worshippers. Then came a loud crack that sounded like the breaking of a mast. The floor’s main support beam split in two and the entire room collapsed, plunging the congregation twenty-two feet into the drawing room below.

In a split second, timber, plaster, and humanity became one tangled heap.

Nearly 95 people died, and dozens more were terribly injured.

In the aftermath, London was stunned. Protestant pamphleteers seized upon the tragedy as divine judgment, printing lurid broadsides titled “The Fatal Vespers” and “A Doleful Even-song.”