Episode 70

As smoke begins to creep into the Cabaret Room, the audience still doesn’t realize the nightmare unfolding just beyond the doors. In this episode, we follow the chilling timeline from the moment busboy Walter Bailey issues his warning—largely ignored—to the split-second decisions that determine who makes it out, and who doesn’t.

We also dive into the club’s architectural failures, the inadequate exits, and the chaotic evacuation as hundreds of patrons tried to flee a room never designed to hold them safely. And as the fire flashes over, we begin peeling back the layers of the investigation—where conflicting reports, jurisdictional tension, and the premature destruction of the scene leave more questions than answers.

Because once again: you can’t claim to search for the truth while bulldozing the crime scene.

Background music by Not Notoriously Coordinated

Get your Crime to Burn Merch! https://crimetoburn.myspreadshop.com

Please follow us on Instagram, X, Facebook, TikTok and Youtube for the latest news on this case. You can email us at crimetoburn@gmail.com We welcome any constructive feedback and would greatly appreciate a 5 star rating and review.

If you need a way to keep your canine contained, you can also support the show by purchasing a Pawious wireless dog fence using our affiliate link and use the code "crimetoburn" at checkout to receive 10% off. Pawious, because our dog Winston needed a radius, not a rap sheet.

Sources:

• Inside the Beverly Hills Supper Club Fire by Ron Elliott – A detailed account of the tragedy, drawing from survivor stories, official records, and historical context to paint a vivid picture of the events leading up to the fire.

• The Beverly Hills Supper Club: The Untold Story Behind Kentucky's Worst Tragedy by Robert D. Webster – A deep investigative dive into the fire, including previously unreleased documents and interviews that challenge the official narrative and explore allegations of corruption and cover-up.

• “Tragedy in Kentucky” by Richard L. Best, Fire Journal, Vol. 72, No. 1 (1978), pp. 18–22, 27–35, 41–44. Summary of the official NFPA investigation into the Beverly Hills Supper Club fire, including analysis of code violations, fire development, and survivor accounts.

Episode 69

The Beverly Hills Supper Club wasn’t built to burn—but it sure wasn’t built to last either. In Part 2, we peel back the velvet curtain to reveal a firetrap disguised as Kentucky’s swankiest hotspot: no sprinklers, no fire alarms, a patchwork of unpermitted construction, and enough aluminum wiring to make an electrician weep.

We walk you through the timeline leading up to the fire—starting with strange heat in the Zebra Room during a wedding reception—and follow the flames as they race toward the jam-packed Cabaret Room. Spoiler: it’s worse than you think.

Then we dive into the official version of events. Investigators wrapped things up suspiciously fast, bulldozed the crime scene before outside experts could fully weigh in, and insisted the cause was “clearly electrical.” Mm-hmm. Nothing to see here.

Is it negligence? A cover-up? Or just good old-fashioned incompetence? There's a lot more to this story.

Background music by Not Notoriously Coordinated

Get your Crime to Burn Merch! https://crimetoburn.myspreadshop.com

Please follow us on Instagram, X, Facebook, TikTok and Youtube for the latest news on this case. You can email us at crimetoburn@gmail.com We welcome any constructive feedback and would greatly appreciate a 5 star rating and review.

If you need a way to keep your canine contained, you can also support the show by purchasing a Pawious wireless dog fence using our affiliate link and use the code "crimetoburn" at checkout to receive 10% off. Pawious, because our dog Winston needed a radius, not a rap sheet.

Sources:

• Inside the Beverly Hills Supper Club Fire by Ron Elliott – A detailed account of the tragedy, drawing from survivor stories, official records, and historical context to paint a vivid picture of the events leading up to the fire.

• The Beverly Hills Supper Club: The Untold Story Behind Kentucky's Worst Tragedy by Robert D. Webster – A deep investigative dive into the fire, including previously unreleased documents and interviews that challenge the official narrative and explore allegations of corruption and cover-up.

Episode 68

On May 28, 1977, the Beverly Hills Supper Club in Southgate, Kentucky went up in flames, claiming the lives of 165 people. The official ruling? Accidental fire. But decades later, that conclusion is still under scrutiny.

In Part 1 of this explosive new series, we begin unraveling the story from the ground up: the layout of the building, the overlooked warnings, and the dangerously overloaded showrooms. As a fire protection engineer, I’ll walk you through the facts—because when a fire moves this fast and takes this many lives, we have to ask: was it really just negligence… or something more?

Background music by Not Notoriously Coordinated

Get your Crime to Burn Merch! https://crimetoburn.myspreadshop.com

Please follow us on Instagram, X, Facebook, TikTok and Youtube for the latest news on this case. You can email us at crimetoburn@gmail.com We welcome any constructive feedback and would greatly appreciate a 5 star rating and review.

If you need a way to keep your canine contained, you can also support the show by purchasing a Pawious wireless dog fence using our affiliate link and use the code "crimetoburn" at checkout to receive 10% off. Pawious, because our dog Winston needed a radius, not a rap sheet.

Sources:

• Inside the Beverly Hills Supper Club Fire by Ron Elliott – A detailed account of the tragedy, drawing from survivor stories, official records, and historical context to paint a vivid picture of the events leading up to the fire.

• The Beverly Hills Supper Club: The Untold Story Behind Kentucky's Worst Tragedy by Robert D. Webster – A deep investigative dive into the fire, including previously unreleased documents and interviews that challenge the official narrative and explore allegations of corruption and cover-up.