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I think this is interesting in a very sad sort of way.
The true identity of Little Miss 1565 has never been solved, and I was surprised to read that there were several unidentified children. (Personally, from what little I read, I think Eleanor Cook was more likely to have been #1503 from the second link.) It mystifies me that anyone could have remained unidentified as long as there were any close relatives or friends still alive -- or perhaps the entire family had been cremated? Any thoughts or opinions?
You and I may be the only two people who still care about this story. I can't read the articles, I get chills.
When I was a very little girl, my mother would tell me about the terrible circus fire. She would show me the newspaper and tell me the story of some man who went to the grave every year and how he said he would never give up. Over and over. The child didn't have a name, just a number. That story haunted me all my life.
Then, in the late '90s, I think, it turned out that the little girl had lived in the very next town to where I was living here in MA. She had lived with her aunt in Southampton MA while her mother worked in Hartford CT. I think the mother couldn't afford to keep the kids with her but she did love them and was grateful to her sister in Southampton for taking care of them during the week.
She saved her money and took them to the circus. During the fire she was badly burned. When she recovered, she would see the child's picture in the paper every year. Her sister would try to tell her to speak up and identify the child, but she couldn't bring herself to do it. She lived in a fantasy land in which the child had been rescued and was still alive somewhere.
But back in the late '90s she did finally admit that this was her dead child. Her sister explained the whole thing, it was in the local newspapers. Maybe she never did admit it--I can't remember. Maybe it's just that the sister came out and told the truth.
Anyway, I do believe the dead child was Eleanor Cook and that her mother was the sister of the woman who lived on East St in Southampton MA. It's probably the saddest story I've ever heard.
Okay (sigh) I did find another article and read it. There is now some doubt that the child was Eleanor Cook. Dental records supposedly don't match. But I can remember at the (in the '90s) time that the aunt said it WAS her and that she had tried to get the girl's mother to accept it and come forward. But she never would say it was her child because she couldn't stand the thought. I think maybe after the mother passed away, that was when the aunt came out and made it public.
The article I just read said that in 1955, the surviving brother, Donald, also knew it was his sister and he did come forward. No one believed him, I guess. The matter was dropped--maybe because the mother didn't really want it publicized, wasn't able to face up to it.
One reason she wasn't identified early on seems to be the assumption that she was from Connecticut. They searched for her parents in CT. But she wasn't from CT--her mother lived and worked in CT but the child lived over the state line in Massachusetts with her aunt.
DNA could prove who she was. Probably not going to happen but I wish it would.
I believe the aunt and the brother were telling the truth. The aunt's story in our local newspaper was very convincing. She told of how she would try and try to get her sister to see the truth, that it was her daughter. But her sister wouldn't even look at the picture in the newspaper. So finally she gave up and just humored her. After her sister's death, she confirmed that, yes, this was Eleanor.
Dental records? Back around 1944, how many dental records would there have been? And how good would they have been? Kids back then usually didn't even go to the dentist for the first time until they were older. Another possibility is a mix up in dental records. I don't think anything except DNA would tell.
Mine is the little girl found in the Beaver River, a victim of the Johnstown Flood in 1889. She's buried in the Beaver Cemetery, a marker tells the tale of the little angel found. Over 2000 died in that mess and victims were found miles and miles away...so it's very possible her whole family was lost...
Mine is the little girl found in the Beaver River, a victim of the Johnstown Flood in 1889. She's buried in the Beaver Cemetery, a marker tells the tale of the little angel found. Over 2000 died in that mess and victims were found miles and miles away...so it's very possible her whole family was lost...
How very sad, and how strange that certain stories remain with us forever.
The name given to the tragic Ringling Bros circus fire is The Day the Clowns Cried.
Imagine a circus tent made of cloth and coated with wax!
The wax coating made things much worse. That was the last time the circus was ever held in a tent.
I had never heard this story. As to the mother's denial, I read a story a few years ago about a mother of an adult daughter who died in the WTC who does not believe her daughter died. She thinks she is lost somewhere, wandering around NYC and doesn't remember who she is. Her husband cannot convince her that their daughter is gone.
I think this is interesting in a very sad sort of way.
The true identity of Little Miss 1565 has never been solved, and I was surprised to read that there were several unidentified children. (Personally, from what little I read, I think Eleanor Cook was more likely to have been #1503 from the second link.) It mystifies me that anyone could have remained unidentified as long as there were any close relatives or friends still alive -- or perhaps the entire family had been cremated? Any thoughts or opinions?
(Btw, if you click on the each name or ID number, it will give details.)
Growing up om the North Shore of Long Island, I always knew about this. I found the whole thing to be disturbing. Circuses and carnivals have always been attractive - yet eerie. Forced happiness for the masses - with lots of tragedy beneath. Freak shows. Animal abuse. Circus geeks. The juxtiposisn of glamour and profound dispair.
To my knowlege, there is nothing paranormal sounding the Hartford Circus Fire, but it is creepy. From the scalding parafin to misplaced body parts and dead children. ....(shuddder)
I happen to agree about the identity of #1503. It does not add up. Except that someone wanted closure.
Crimes often have a connection to the supernatural. If you believe in that, as I do. Crimes with children are always disturbing. Orphanages and unidentified children, coupled with probable abuse. Too sad.
There is a carnival connection, here - Sylvia's parents were carnival workers. They farmed two pf their daughters out to one Gertrude Baniszewski, an impoverished divorcee with a decidedly sadistic streak and six children of her own.
Whe the first check for boarding Sylvia and her sister came late, she became enraged and beat the sisters with a heavy, leather police belt. Sylvia's sister Jenny, could not endure the beating, as a polio survivor, an fell to the floor. Sylvia volunteered to take her "beating" for her.
For Sylvia, it was down hill from there. As a pretty, young girl, in contrast to Gertrude's overweight and ungainly pregnant daughter Paula, she became the object of Baniszwski's rage. Gertie and Paula encouraged neighborhood kids and younger family members to join in on the horrific abuse.
She was starved, beaten, branded, tatttoed, scalded and burned. Finally, she was confined to the basement.
She died after three months of torture and starvation.
There is some evidence that the run-down two family rental on East New York St. in Indianapolis was haunted by Sylvia's ghost. The house has now been razed to the ground after attempts at turning it into a refuge for battered women.
Many of those who participated in the torture slaying of Sylvia Likens, died untimesly deaths. I think there is a natural explanation for this - poverty, and poor life style choices.
Strangely, Paula and her sister Stephanie, two of thge major sadists, are still alive and well.
So much for Karma.
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