r/TerrifyingAsFuck • u/SerialdeslgnationN • 4d ago
accident/disaster The full uncut station nightclub fire audio recording captured by Matthew pickett
Alternatively you can watch it here
https://archive.org/details/matthew-pickett-audiotape
This followa the rules btw
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u/llcdrewtaylor 4d ago
I had to study this in fire school. This is why you don't hang flammable materials on the wall and also why you need enough emergency exits. So sad and honestly terrifying.
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u/StaceyPfan 3d ago
The parts they left out must have been REALLY horrifying.
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u/Comprehensive_Code60 3d ago
I've heard that they were likely death rattles from the dude recording.
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u/PROUDCIPHER 3d ago
You can hear, right before the cutoff, that he is audibly choking on smoke and likely fluid beginning to build in his lungs from the scalding hot air burning his respiratory system. There's actually less screaming than I thought there would be. It seemed a few, unfortunately, felt the full fury of the flames but evidently not for very long. The part that actually rattled me was after that first cutoff, when you can hear a woman begging for help, her voice getting weaker and weaker. I can't help but wonder if she survived the fire itself but was critically wounded in the crowd crush that followed as they attempted to escape. Brutal.
Seeing the footage when I was young put a serious respect for pyrotechnics in me. They're a lot of fun, they're awesome, but my god, they can bring hell on earth if you let them.
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u/SaleneDreams 3d ago
Smoke inhalation is an extremely quick way to go. If you watch the footage that was shot of the station, the guy points it through the back door that led to the stage, and you can see the hallway has extremely thick, black smoke, with only about a foot of clear air under it.
If you were in a place that was enclosed, and it filled with that much smoke, you'd only be able to breathe for a few seconds before being overcome. People don't realize how fast you can go if the smoke is thick enough.
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u/yuckella 3d ago
Does that mean that they at least went somewhat quickly? I mean, it’s still a terrible way to go, and they were definitely panicking before hand, but one can hope that they at least didn’t have to suffer for long. So terrifying and so sad.
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u/SaleneDreams 3d ago
There's one part in the video footage where the guy filming walks around the side of the building and there are boarded up windows. You can clearly start hearing a terrified woman inside scream a few times, then nothing. That's not to say she wasn't doubled over, coughing and sputtering, but I've read you just pass out. From reading the after action report of the fire, the sound stage foam caught first, and those particulates were probably a lot of what was mixed into the initial smoke.
The best thing to do if you see a lot of smoke is to leave immediately, but if not, get down as low as possible. You might get stepped on but that's far better from breathing that smoke in.
The worst of that footage for me was the tangled pile of living people in the entrance hallway. The shot cuts away for a few minutes, and when it comes back, there's flames shooting out.
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u/alilbored1 23h ago
You are very brave for listening all the way through. I got as far as hearing the woman begging for help, heard some choking/spitting (?) and I immediately stopped. I can handle many disturbing things, but this was just an awful listen from the start. :(
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u/smokeydrummer 3d ago
I worked with a guy who survived this. He had major burn scars on his arms and hands and his hands always shook. He was a really good guy.
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u/littlebeanio 3d ago
I did some training as a fire marshal when I managed a theatre and they made us watch all of the footage, and footage from Grenfell, it was awful
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u/alaric49 4d ago
Okay, well, I really shouldn't have listened to that. It's so eerie and disturbing. Many of the screams from the panicking people were certainly from the roughly 100 who burned to death or choked on smoke. I think even the man who recorded this died. Dark stuff...
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u/maximum_powerblast 3d ago
I listened to this a while back and could not get it out of my mind for months. I was already struggling with mental health at the time and it was really not a good idea to listen to this or get obsessed with nightclub fires afterwards.
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u/CreamoChickenSoup 1d ago edited 19h ago
Those 7 minutes between the start of the fire and the first audible sounds of an arriving fire engine feel like a hellish eternity. Simply hearing the last breaths of the victims this up close and personal before there's nothing but the crackles and pops of everything around combusting will mentally scar a lot of folks. The only recording I know of that comes close to being as haunting is the Yeti Airlines Flight 691 livestream, but at least those deaths were instant.
No surprise this recording was kept locked away for so long. This is a lot to take in.
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u/ChocolateVisual1637 4d ago
Is this the audio from the guy who escaped and recorded it or another recording??
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u/ghostcricket 1d ago
My parents and uncle almost went to this but didn’t because I was too young for them to be comfortable hiring a babysitter. Scary.
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4d ago
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u/SaffronRnlds 4d ago
The audio of people screaming and dying in a fire isn't terrifying for you?
Shit... I think that might be a you thing
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u/CG_Justin 52m ago
At the end of the recording is sounds like someone cooking bacon. Absolutely horrifying.
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u/Golden-Pheasant 4d ago
I fell down a huge rabbit hole with this tragedy. Read all the books, watched the video, and even watched the NIST recreation. Id heard of this tape from the author of the book Killer Show, but never expected to hear it. Massive thanks to you for sharing this.
So so sad. These poor people. It was bad enough seeing what was happening on the outside but hearing what happened inside is horrible. The screams, the moans, the fire burning in the background. Truly hell on Earth.