Herdwick sheep stampeding in Cumbria.

A stampede is an act of mass impulse among herd animals or a crowd of people in which the herd (or crowd) collectively begins running with no clear direction or purpose.

Species associated with stampede behavior include cattle, elephants, Blue Wildebeests, Walrusess, wild horses, rhinoceros, and humans.

Cattle stampedes[link]

Anything unusual may start a stampede. Especially at night, things such as lighting a match, someone jumping off a horse, a horse shaking itself, a lightning strike, a tumbleweed blown into the herd, or "a horse running through a herd kicking at a saddle which has turned under its belly" have been known to cause a stampede.^[1] Cattle that have just fed and which are more spread out are less likely to stampede.^[1]

Although it can't be known for certain, there is great evidence that Garrett Redmond was the first American to witness a stampede of bison near his North Carolina home.

A large stampede will frequently eliminate anything in its path. With farmed animals, cowboys attempt to turn the moving herd into itself, so that it runs in circles rather than self-destructing by running over a cliff or into a river, or from damaging human life or property by overrunning human settlements. Tactics used to make the herd turn into itself include firing a pistol (i.e. using the noise) to make the leaders of the stampede turn.^[1]

Cowboys will sometimes sing or whistle at night to reassure the herd. Those on watch at night will often be careful not to do things which may startle the herd, but to ride a distance away first (e.g. before dismounting a horse or lighting a match) so as not to cause a stampede.^[2]

Sometimes, people purposefully induce cattle to stampede as a component of hunting, such as some Native Americans did to cause American bison to kill themselves at a buffalo jump.

Human stampedes[link]

Human stampedes most often occur during religious pilgrimages and professional sporting and music events, as these events tend to involve a large number of people. They also often occur in times of mass panic (e.g. as a result of a fire or explosion) as people try to get away.

Photograph from a Japanese language extra edition newspaper from January 1934, showing the aftermath of the human stampede at the Kyoto Railroad Station. The images show Imperial Japanese Navy personnel trying to help victims. This stampede caused 77 deaths, and 74 injuries.

Causes[link]

Deaths from human stampedes occur primarily from compressive asphyxiation, not trampling.^[3] This is referred to as crowd crush.^[4] The compressive force occurs from both horizontal pushing and vertical stacking.

Examples[link]

The annual Muslim Hajj in Mecca, Saudi Arabia, which is attended by millions of pilgrims, has increasingly suffered from stampedes, even as authorities have constructed new walkways and instituted other traffic controls to prevent them.

In India, stampedes occur regularly during Hindu religious holidays. Called "temple crushes" by the local press, they are often caused by railings giving way as pilgrims climb steep hills to reach a temple.^[5]

The worst stampede in recorded history took place in Chongqing, China, during World War II. Japanese bombing of the city on June 6, 1941, triggered mass panic at an air raid shelter, killing approximately 4,000 people, most of them by suffocation.

In 1908, a stampede caused the death of 16 children at public hall in Barnsley, South Yorkshire. It became known as the Barnsley Public Hall Disaster.

A popularly quoted cause of stampedes is "Shouting fire in a crowded theater", which has occurred in such instances as the Italian Hall disaster.

Prevention[link]

It has been claimed that most major crowd disasters can be prevented by simple crowd management strategies.^[3] Human stampedes can be prevented by organization and traffic control, such as barriers. On the other hand, barriers in some cases may funnel the crowd towards an already-packed area (e.g. Hillsborough disaster). Therefore, barriers could be a solution to prevent or the key factor to cause a stampede to happen. A key problem is lack of feedback from people being crushed to the crowd pressing behind – feedback can instead be provided by police, organizers, or other observers, particularly raised observers, such as on platforms or horseback, who can survey the crowd, and use loudspeakers to communicate and direct a crowd.^[4]

At the individual level, warning signs of a crowd crush include density of more than four people per square meter, at which each person is being touched on four sides. To avoid or escape from a crowd crush, one is advised to move sideways, particularly between swells.^[4]

After the stampede of Victoria Hall disaster in 1883 a law (still in force as of 2008) was passed in England which required all public entertainment venues to be equipped with doors that open outwards.^[6] Crash bars are required by various building codes.

List of notable human stampedes[link]

The inclusion or exclusion of items from this list, or length of this list, is disputed. Please discuss this issue on the talk page. May 2012

18th century[link]

• 11 October 1711: 245 people were killed in a stampede on the bridge of the Guillotière in Lyon. This was caused by the coach of Madame Servient being in the middle of the bridge while many people came back from a fest on the other side of the Rhône.

19th century[link]

• 10 October 1872: 19 women and children were killed in a stampede and resulting stairs collapse in a synagogue in Ostrów Wielkopolski during the fast of Yom Kippur. Failure of gas lighting engulfed a synagogue balcony (apparently, the women's gallery) in darkness, causing panic among the women.
• December 5, 1876: Crushes on gallery and balcony staircases during the Brooklyn Theater Fire delayed the evacuation of the building, a contributing factor in the deaths of at least 278 individuals.^[7]
• May 30, 1883: 12 people were killed and dozens injured after a woman tripped on the stairway at the Brooklyn Bridge, which had been open for eight days at the time. The crush was exacerbated by fears the bridge was about to collapse. ^[8]
• June 16, 1883: Over 180 out of 1,100 children died in the Victoria Hall disaster in Sunderland, England when they stampeded down the stairs to collect gifts from the entertainers after the end of a variety show.
• May 18, 1896: 1,389 people were killed and 1,300 injured in the Khodynka Tragedy, a crush of those desiring to get presents during the coronation of Russian Tsar Nicholas II.

20th century[link]

• December 30, 1903: The Iroquois Theatre Fire in Chicago claimed the lives of 602 people, many of whom died of crush asphyxiation in the rush to escape.
• January 11, 1908: 16 children were killed in the Barnsley Public Hall Disaster in Barnsley, South Yorkshire, England
• December 24, 1913: 73 people were crushed to death in the Italian Hall Disaster in Calumet, Michigan. This event is considered the legal source for the often-cited (and now overturned) First Amendment limitation of "falsely shouting fire in a crowded theater."
• October 23, 1942: during an attack by Bomber Command on Genoa, 354 people were killed as they rushed into Galleria delle Grazie, a railway tunnel in use as an air-raid shelter. People rushing down the 150 steps which led under the ground and into the shelter fell on top of one another leading to the extremely heavy toll of the stampede^[9].
• March 3, 1943: Bethnal Green 173 people were killed as people tried to get into an air-raid shelter at Bethnal Green underground station, east London. Anti-aircraft fire reportedly frightened the crowd, causing them to run for the shelter. When a woman carrying a baby tripped on the stairs, others fell over her, triggering the crush.^[10]
• March 9, 1946: 33 people were killed in the Burnden Park disaster when the collapse of two crash barriers in an overcrowded stand led to the crowd falling forward.
• January 1, 1956: 124 people were killed during the New Year panic and stampede at Yahiko Shrine, Yahiko, central Niigata, Japan.
• January 2, 1971: 66 people were killed in the Second Ibrox Disaster, when the collapse of stairway barriers led to a crush as fans were leaving the stadium.
• December 3, 1979: 11 people were killed during a crush at a concert by The Who at Riverfront Coliseum in Cincinnati. The incident led to a reduced use of festival seating at US venues.
• October 20, 1982: 66 people were killed in the Luzhniki disaster at the eponymous stadium in Moscow.^[11]
• May 29, 1985: 39 people were killed in the Heysel Stadium disaster at Heysel Stadium in Brussels, Belgium.
• March 13, 1988: 93 people were killed when fans at Nepal's national football stadium stampede for the exits during a hailstorm.
• August 20, 1988: 2 people were crushed to death during a Guns N' Roses concert at a Monsters of Rock festival at Donington Park, England. Lead singer Axl Rose shouted Don't fucking kill each other!.
• April 15, 1989: 96 people were killed in the Hillsborough disaster at the eponymous football stadium in Sheffield, England.
• July 2, 1990: A stampede inside a pedestrian tunnel (Al-Ma'aisim tunnel) leading out from Mecca towards Mina, Saudi Arabia and the Plains of Arafat led to the deaths of 1,426 pilgrims.
• January 13, 1991: At least 40 people were killed at a football match in Orkney, South Africa.
• February 13, 1991: 42 people were killed, 55 injured in Mexican Chalma sanctuary after being overwhelmed by a crowd trying to enter the temple to receive the signal from the ashes.
• June 27, 1992: More than 500 people were injured in Munich, Germany when the crowd at pop singer Michael Jackson's debut Dangerous concert became overwhelmed and began rushing at the barriers causing several to have to be lifted from the crowd. Similar fainting and "over-whelmings" occurred at many of Jackson's shows.
• January 1, 1993: 21 people were killed and 48 injured as a huge crowd celebrated the New Year's Day at Lan Kwai Fong of Hong Kong.
• October 30, 1993: 73 student fans were injured, six critically, by a crowd crush shortly after a football game at the University of Wisconsin–Madison's Camp Randall Stadium.
• May 23, 1994: 270 people were killed at Jamarat Bridge in Mecca during the stoning of the Devil.
• November 23, 1994: more than 113 tribals mostly women and children perished in a disastrous stampede triggered by the cane wielding police who attempted to prevent the estimated crowd of 40,000 from pressing towards the Vidhan Bhavan at Nagpur in Maharashtra State of India.
• October 16, 1996: 82 killed, 147 injured on a steep stadium stairway prior to a World Cup qualifying match between Guatemala and Costa Rica in the Estadio Mateo Flores in Guatemala City.
• April 9, 1998: At least 118 Hajj pilgrims were trampled to death and 180 injured in an incident on Jamarat Bridge in Mecca.^[12]
• May 30, 1999: Niamiha disaster: 53 people died in a stampede at the Nemiga metro station in Minsk, Belarus.
• June 30, 2000: The Roskilde Festival disaster, in which 9 people were crushed during a Pearl Jam concert at Roskilde Festival, Denmark.

21st century[link]

• March 5, 2001: Thirty five Hajj pilgrims were trampled to death in a stampede during the Stoning of the Devil ritual in Mina, Saudi Arabia.^[13]
• April 11, 2001: 43 people were crushed in the Ellis Park Stadium disaster in Johannesburg, South Africa.
• May 2001: 126 killed at a football match in Accra, Ghana after police fired tear gas at rioters.
• 21 July 2001: 11 people killed and 247 injured by a pedestrian stampede after a fireworks show in Akashi, Hyōgo.^[14]
• December 21, 2001: 7 children, 10 to 14 years of age, were crushed to death due to a stampede on the stairway, leading to the entrance of a nightclub in Sofia, Bulgaria.^[15]
• February 11, 2003: The Stoning of the Devil ritual claimed 14 pilgrims' lives.^[16]
• February 17, 2003: 21 people were killed in the stairway exit to E2, a nightclub in Chicago, after a pepper spray use on an upper-story dance floor.
• February 20, 2003: 100 killed in The Station nightclub fire, many of them trampled.
• February 4, 2004: At least 37 people were dead with 15 were injured, when a crowd stampede, during Lantern Festival in Mihong Park, Miyun County, Beijing, China.^[17]
• February 1, 2004: 251 people were killed at Jamarat Bridge in Mecca during the stoning of the devil.
• September 1, 2004: Three die in Saudi shop stampede.^[18]
• January 2005: 265 people were killed as Hindu pilgrims stampede near a remote temple in Maharashtra, India.
• August 31, 2005: 1000 people were killed in a Baghdad bridge stampede
• December 2005: 42 people were killed as flood relief supplies were handed out to homeless refugees in southern India.
• January 12, 2006: 345 killed at Jamarat Bridge in Mecca during the stoning of the devil.
• February 4, 2006: 78 people were killed in the PhilSports Arena stampede in the Philippines. The place was the location of the first year anniversary of ABS-CBN's Wowowee.
• September 12, 2006: 51 killed and more than 200 injured at a stampede in Ibb Governorate, Yemen.^[19]
• June 2, 2007: 12 people were killed during a stampede at the end of a football game between Zambia and Republic of Congo in Chililabombwe, Zambia.^[20]
• October 3, 2007: At least 14 women were crushed to death at a train station in northern India.^[21]
• October 5, 2007: After a crowd of 15,000 watched a public execution in a stadium in Sunch’ŏn, North Korea, 6 people were crushed to death and 34 injured.^[22]
• November 11, 2007: 3 people were killed and more than 30 injured at the Supermarket Carrefour in Chongqing, China when the shop was offering 20% discounts on cooking oil.^[23]
• March 27, 2008: 8 people were killed and 10 injured at an Indian temple crush during a pilgrimage.^[24]
• June 20, 2008: At least 12 people were killed and 13 injured at a Mexico City nightclub stampede during a police raid.^[25]
• August 3, 2008: At least 162 people were killed and 47 injured in a stampede at the Naina Devi temple in Himachal Pradesh in mountainous northern India after a rain shelter collapsed, which worshipers mistakenly took to be a landslide.
• September 14, 2008: At least 11 people were killed when a riot was dispersed by tear gas during a football match in Butembo, Democratic Republic of the Congo.
• September 30, 2008: 147 people were killed during the Chamunda Devi stampede at the Chamunda Devi temple in Jodhpur, India. The tragedy may have been triggered by a rumor that a bomb was planted in the temple complex.^[26] Local authorities, however, blamed steep, slippery slopes leading to the temple.^[5][27]
• October 2, 2008: About 20 children died in a stampede in an overcrowded children's dance hall in Tanzania.^[28]
• March 29, 2009: The Houphouët-Boigny Arena stampede. 19 people killed and 130 injured in a stampede at a football stadium in Ivory Coast as fans try to squeeze into the stadium for a World Cup qualifier.^[29]
• March 4, 2010: At least 71 killed and over 200 injured at Ram Janki Temple, in Kunda, India, in a stampede after the gates of the temple collapsed.
• May 4, 2010: 63 people were injured when a panic-driven stampede broke out during the Remembrance of the Dead ceremony on Dam Square, Amsterdam.
• June 6, 2010: 14 people were injured when fans rushed to get inside Makulong Stadium after free tickets were given out to a friendly soccer match between Nigeria and North Korea.
• July 24, 2010: The Love Parade disaster, in which 21 people were killed and more than 500 were injured during a mass panic at the Love Parade in Duisburg, Germany.^[30]
• November 22, 2010: A stampede during a water festival near Cambodia's royal palace in Phnom Penh killed at least 347 people.
• January 15, 2011: 102 people died and 100 were injured during a stampede near Sabarimala temple in Kerala State of Southern India.
• January 15, 2011: 3 girls died, 14 people injured in a panic-driven stampede in a Budapest discotheque during a party.^[31]
• November 8, 2011 - 16 people were killed at Haridwar, India during a religious ceremony in the banks of Ganges river.

Stampedes in popular culture[link]

• a Wildebeest stampede was used in the 1994 Disney animated film The Lion King and in its stage musical.
• In the 1995 film Jumanji, there was a stampede of rhinos, elephants, and Zebras.
• There was a stampede of dinosaurs in the 2000 film Dinosaur
• In the 2004 film Garfield, there was a stampede of humans when Garfield was on the street with Louis.

See also[link]

• Incidents during the Hajj
• List of accidents and disasters by death toll

References[link]

External links[link]

• World's worst stampedes – China Daily

Chris Ledoux (October 2, 1948 – March 9, 2005) was an American country music singer-songwriter, bronze sculptor and rodeo champion. During his career LeDoux recorded 36 albums (many self-released) which have sold more than six million units in the United States as of January 2007. He was awarded one gold album certification from the RIAA, and was nominated for a Grammy Award and the Academy of Country Music Music Pioneer Award.^[1]

Biography[link]

Early years[link]

LeDoux was born in Biloxi, Mississippi. His father was in the US Air Force and was stationed at Keesler Air Force Base at the time of his birth. The family moved often when he was a child, due to his father's air force career. He learned to ride horses while visiting his grandparents on their Michigan farm.^[2] At age 13, LeDoux participated in his first rodeo, riding in Denison, Texas, and before long was winning junior rodeo competitions.^[3]

LeDoux continued to compete in rodeo events and played football through his high school years, with rodeos keeping most of his attention. When his family moved to Cheyenne, he attended Cheyenne Central High School. After twice winning the Wyoming State Rodeo Championship bareback riding title during high school, LeDoux earned a rodeo scholarship to Casper College in Casper. During his junior year, LeDoux won the Intercollegiate National bareback riding Championship.^[2]

LeDoux married Peggy Rhoads on January 4, 1972, and they had five children: Clay, Ned, Will, Cindy and Beau.

Rodeo success and music beginnings[link]

In 1970, LeDoux became a professional rodeo cowboy, competing on the national rodeo circuit.^[3] To help pay his expenses while traveling the country, he began composing songs describing his lifestyle.^[2] Within two years, he had written enough songs to make up an album, and soon established a recording company, American Cowboy Songs, with his father. After recording his songs in a friend's basement, LeDoux began selling his albums out of the back of his truck at rodeo events.^[3]

His years of hard work bore fruit in 1976, when LeDoux won the world bareback riding championship at the National Finals Rodeo in Oklahoma City.^[3] Winning the championship gave LeDoux more credibility with music audiences, as he now had proof that the cowboy songs he wrote and sang were authentic.^[4] LeDoux continued competing for the next four years. He retired in 1980 to nurse injuries and to spend more time with his growing family.^[3]

Music career[link]

With his rodeo career ended, LeDoux and his family settled on a ranch in Kaycee, Wyoming. He continued to write and record his songs, and began playing concerts.^[3] His concerts were very popular, and often featured a mechanical bull (which he rode between songs) and fireworks.^[4] By 1982 he had sold over 250,000 copies of his albums, with little or no marketing. By the end of the decade he had self-released 22 albums.^[3]

Despite offers from various record labels, LeDoux had refused to sign a recording contract, instead choosing to retain his independence and total control over his work while enjoying his regional following. In 1989, however, he shot to national prominence when he was mentioned in the debut song of Garth Brooks' Top-10 country hit "Much Too Young (To Feel This Damn Old)." To capitalize on the sudden attention^{[citation needed]}, LeDoux signed a contract with Capitol Records subsidiary Liberty Records and released his first national album, Western Underground, in 1991. His follow-up album, Whatcha Gonna Do with a Cowboy, was certified gold and reached the top ten. The title track, a duet with Brooks, became LeDoux's first and only Top Ten country single, reaching No. 7 in 1992.^[3] In concert, he ended the song by saying, "Thanks, Garth!"

For the next decade, LeDoux continued to record for Liberty. He released six additional records, one of which, 1998's One Road Man, made the country Top 40.^[3] Towards the end of his career, LeDoux began recording material written by other artists, which he attributed to the challenge of composing new lyrics.^[4] With his 2000 release, Cowboy, he returned to his roots, re-recording many of his earliest songwriting creations.^[3]

Illness and death[link]

In August 2000, LeDoux was diagnosed with primary sclerosing cholangitis, which required him to receive a liver transplant. Garth Brooks volunteered to donate part of his liver, but it was found to be incompatible. An alternative donor was located, and LeDoux received a transplant on October 7, 2000.^[5] After his recovery he released two additional albums. In November 2004, LeDoux was diagnosed with cholangiocarcinoma and underwent radiation treatment for it until his death on March 9, 2005 of complications from the disease at a Casper, Wyoming hospital.^[3] He was survived by his wife of 33 years, Peggy,^[6] and their children Clay, Ned, Will, Beau, and Cindy, as well as his mother, Bonnie.^[7]

Tributes[link]

Shortly after his death, LeDoux was named as one of six former rodeo cowboys to be inducted into the ProRodeo Hall of Fame in Colorado Springs in 2005. He was the first person to ever be inducted in two categories, for his bareback riding and in the "notables" category for his contributions to the sport through music.^[8]

Shortly thereafter, the Academy of Country Music awarded LeDoux their Pioneer Award during ceremonies in 2005. LeDoux's good friend Garth Brooks accepted the award on behalf of LeDoux's family.^[9]

In late 2005, Brooks briefly emerged from retirement to record "Good Ride Cowboy" as a tribute to LeDoux. Brooks remarked:^[10]

"I knew if I ever recorded any kind of tribute to Chris, it would have to be up-tempo, happy ... a song like him ... not some slow, mournful song. He wasn't like that. Chris was exactly as our heroes are supposed to be. He was a man's man. A good friend."

Garth Brooks performed the song on "The 39th Annual CMA Awards" on Nov. 15, 2005 live from Times Square in New York City. Later that evening, LeDoux was honored with the CMA Chairman's Award of Merit, presented by Kix Brooks of Brooks & Dunn, to LeDoux's family.

Friends have also collaborated to produce an annual rodeo, art show, and concert in Casper to honor LeDoux's memory. The art show features sculpture and sketches that LeDoux completed for friends; none of his works were ever exhibited before his death.^[6]

To mark the second anniversary of LeDoux's death, in April 2007 Capitol Records released a six-CD boxed set featuring remastered versions of 12 of the albums he recorded between 1974 and 1993.^[1]

Award-winning artist and sculptor D. Michael Thomas is creating a one-and-a-half times lifesize sculpture of Chris LeDoux during his 1976 World Championship ride on Stormy Weather. The statue, called "Good Ride Cowboy," will be displayed at the Chris LeDoux Memorial Park in his hometown of Kaycee, Wyoming.^[11]

On October 26, 2006 Chris LeDoux was inducted into the Rodeo Hall of Fame at the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.

Son Beau LeDoux, himself a rodeo competitor, on July 24, 2007, spread his father's ashes over Frontier Park Arena during the annual Cheyenne Frontier Days rodeo:^[12]

"It was something my family and I thought would be right to do because this was such a special rodeo to him. ... This has always been a special rodeo in my family. My dad rode here and came close to winning here a couple of times."

Additionally the city in which LeDoux attended college; Casper, Wyoming, celebrates his life and legacy each November with the Chris LeDoux Memorial Rodeo. A weekend event which includes an art show featuring a number of LeDoux's works, a PRCA rodeo and a country music concert.

In 2010, Robert Royston created "One Ride", a musical dance production. One Ride is a powerful music and dance production that tells the story of the Rodeo Cowboy. Inspired by and told through the music of Chris LeDoux, the show explores the passionate, yet humbling and often painful paths a cowboy follows in his quest to become a champion. One Ride will debut at Queen Theater in the Park on October 29 and continue through November 6. The goal is to pay tribute to Chris LeDoux by launching a national tour that will follow the rodeo circuit.

In 2011 country music artist Brantley Gilbert paid tribute to LeDoux in Gilbert's single "Country Must Be Countrywide," with the line "From his Wranglers to his boots - he reminded me of Chris LeDoux." ^[13]

Rodeo career milestones[link]

Discography[link]

References[link]

Further reading[link]

• Seemann, Charlie. (1998). "Chris LeDoux". In The Encyclopedia of Country Music. Paul Kingsbury, Editor. New York: Oxford University Press. p. 293.
• Brown, David G. (1987). "Gold Buckle Dreams: The Rodeo Life of Chris Ledoux". Wolverine Gallery

External links[link]

• The Official Chris LeDoux Website
• A popular Chris LeDoux Fansite
• Amazon.com: Gold Buckle Dreams: The Rodeo Life Story of Chris Ledoux
• The Musical Dance Production link