Documentary about Aggie bonfire opens in theatres Friday

COLLEGE STATION, Texas - “When the stack actually fell, God, that was a long day,” said Ken Adams.

“It was the longest day of my life, ever,” said his wife Carol.

November 18, 1999 would be the day the Adams' lives would be forever changed.

Their pretty 19-year-old daughter Miranda was a sophomore at Texas A & M. Like thousands of Aggies before her, Miranda was mesmerized by the tradition and camaraderie of the annual autumn bonfire.

“It meant everything to her. She lived it, she breathed, it meant everything,” said her mother Carol.

The Adams never thought any bad could come from the 90- year tradition that occurred on college grounds.

“I was more worried about her getting injured at the cut sight where they were actually swimming swinging axes and trees were falling,” said Miranda’s father Ken.  

It was a call 20 years ago from her sister that alerted Carol Adams the 59-foot structure that looked like a wedding cake had collapsed.

“In some ways, it seems like it’s been forever,” Carol Adams said. "But in other ways, it’s like it just happened.”

The Adams watched as some students were pulled out alive under the collapsed logs, while others would not survive.

“They had gotten Bill Davis out and Bill Davis was actually a friend of Miranda’s,” Carol Adams said.

“I was on it when it fell trapped for four hours,” said Bill Davis.

Filmmaker Charlie Minn made a documentary about the bonfire called The 13th Man.

“This is brutally honest and that’s the only way to tell a tragedy is to be brutally honest,” Minn said.

“I have a friend, still to this day, can’t talk about it, so there’s countless people who still to this day have emotional scars from it,” Davis said