Fire Eater

The Fire-Eater is a true story about the weird death of a Romanian man who was killed by an accidental burp. He met an explosive and tragic end during a circus act.

Vlad Cazacu was a 43 year old man who lived in Bucharest, Romania and worked as a fire-eater in a circus. Vlad would always hold a flammable cocktail in his mouth, so he could spit fire at a burning torch. He called it “eating the fire”, and it always got a big round of applause.

On the 23rd of January 1998, Vlad was performing his fire-spitting routine when he accidentally swallowed some of the flammable liquid. As he put a flaming torch in his mouth to ‘eat’ the fire, he burped. The vapors from his stomach caught fire and Vlad suddenly exploded.

The stunned onlookers assumed it was all part of an amazing illusion. At first, they started clapping. Then, they slowly realized what had happened.

The explosion was so powerful that Vlad’s body was blown to pieces. They found his head in a popcorn machine.

The tragedy horrified on-lookers in the circus and many of the audience members required treatment for shock following the incident.

“It was the most awful thing I’ve ever see,” said one witness. “He was so graceful and everyone was applauding – then he burped and was blown to bits.”