Episode 130
In the finale of Fire in the French Quarter: The Upstairs Lounge, we follow the State Fire Marshal’s investigation to its end—and confront the question it could never answer with certainty: did Roger Nunez set the fire that killed 32 people?
We examine the evidence investigators believed pointed to Roger, the troubling inconsistencies that kept the case from ever being resolved, and alleged confessions that surfaced both before and decades after his death. We also tell the story of Ferris LeBlanc, whose family spent more than 40 years wondering what had happened to him, only to discover that he had died in the Upstairs Lounge and been buried in an unmarked grave.
Finally, we look at the fire and life-safety conditions that turned a fire in a stairwell into a catastrophe—and at the dignity too often denied to the people who died, the survivors, and the community they left behind. Fifty-three years later, there may still be no certainty about who started the Upstairs Lounge fire. But the people who were there can still be remembered.
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Inner Sanctum Acknowledgments:
Eternal gratitude to our Inner Sanctum patrons, Melanie Curtis, Beth Charis-Molling, and Brett Russ for helping us bring light to the stories others would rather leave in the ashes.
Listener discretion is advised.
Background music by Not Notoriously Coordinated
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SOURCES:
Delery-Edwards, Clayton. The Up Stairs Lounge Arson: Thirty-Two Deaths in a New Orleans Gay Bar, June 24, 1973. McFarland & Company, 2014.
Fieseler, Robert W. Tinderbox: The Untold Story of the Up Stairs Lounge Fire and the Rise of Gay Liberation. Liveright Publishing Corporation, 2018.
Camina, Robert L., writer, director, and producer. Upstairs Inferno. Camina Entertainment / Upstairs Inferno, LLC, 2015. Documentary film. Narrated by Christopher Rice.
The National WWII Museum. “Tinderbox: The Untold Story of the Up Stairs Lounge Fire and the Rise of Gay Liberation.” Conversation with Robert W. Fieseler and Ed Lengel, PhD. September 9, 2020. YouTube video. https://youtu.be/6A13PovoDAQ?si=7GnzAeQBCgEfE1it
Soileau, Alida B. “Quasi-Property No More: ‘Human Heritage’ as a New Legal Status for the Dead.” South Carolina Law Review, vol. 74, no. 1. https://sclawreview.org/article/quasi-property-no-more-human-heritage-as-a-new-legal-status-for-the-dead/
Perez, Frank. “Ferris LeBlanc and the Up Stairs Lounge Fire 50 Years Later.” French Quarter Journal. https://www.frenchquarterjournal.com/archives/ferris-leblanc-and-the-up-stairs-lounge-fire-50-years-later
7 hours ago
the whole fire was tragic. but, I really feel for Ferris and his family. all that time...
22 hours ago
And as always thanks for the out-takes. They make me happy.
22 hours ago
A family not being informed of a known death is outrageous