The direction a door moves can be important even without a fire to drive the panic. In 1883 the Victoria Hall Theatre in Sunderland, near Newcastle, was hosting a show of conjuring, marionettes, and illusions billed as “the greatest treat for children ever given.” Around two thousand largely unsupervised children between the ages of seven and eleven were crammed into the theater. Nothing caught on fire but, equally frenzy-inducing to this age group, there was the sudden promise of free toys.
