Victorian Dresses Were Death Traps Sprayed With Kerosene

Thousands of women burned to death, screaming for help

Fanny Longfellow was sitting at the table with her little girls.

It was July 10, 1861 and she’d snipped little Edie’s curls because it was so hot that summer. They were going to save her curls in an envelope. A keepsake.

Edith (7) and Allie (Allegra, 10) watched their mommy melt sealing wax with a candle when a gentle summer breeze wafted through the window.

Instantly, Fanny was on fire.

Wanting to protect her girls, she ran into her husband’s study in the next room. Henry Wadsworth Longfellow was in the study when his wife burst in, a ball of fire. He grabbed a rug to smother the flames.

Failing to stop the fire with the rug, he wrapped himself around his wife, trying to smother the fire with his own body, suffering horrendous burns to his face, hands and arms as he tried to save her. It was futile.

She died the next morning, leaving 5 children behind. Due to the severity of his burns, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow was unable to attend the funeral of his beloved wife and the mother of his children.