For a Connecticut kid in 1944, few prospects were as rare and bright as a day at the circus.

Rumbling in on a train from Providence, Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey were bringing lions, elephants and a high-wire act, clowns and a gorilla named Gargantua to the capital city of Hartford.

The circus also offered a diversion for adults, especially the many women whose husbands, sons and brothers were in harm's way during a particularly lethal period of World War II. It was July 6, only one month after D-Day, and allied troops were battling their way through France.

But joy turned to terror 40 minutes after the matinee started, when the big top on Barbour Street flared into a scene of confusion and horror, filled with the unreal screams of burning men, women and children.

The fire claimed 168 lives and is still among the nation's worst mass casualty disasters. To mark the 75th anniversary, The Courant interviewed survivors about the scars they still bear, reviewed state records about the fire and created an interactive map (below) that shows how the fire started, spread and how many managed to escape. You can click on each section of the map and select a name to read about how the tragic day was experienced by those who were there, according to statements provided by survivors to police in the days following the fire.

Working with the Chief State Medical Examiner, the newspaper also is part of an effort to try and add a new chapter to circus fire history by finally identifying the five victims who remain unidentified, now buried only as numbers.