10 March 1948: Zelda Fitzgerald dies

Zelda Fitzgerald, the wife of the famous American novelist F. Scott Fitzgerald, died in a fire at the Highland Mental Hospital in Asheville, North Carolina on 10 March 1948. She was 48 years old.

Best known for her turbulent marriage to the famous writer F. Scott Fitzgerald, Zelda began her career as a writer in the early 1920s, publishing short stories and articles in various magazines. Known for her witty and irreverent style, her work often explored the complexities of gender roles and social norms in the early 20th century.

Zelda suffered her first mental breakdown in 1930 in Paris. Diagnosed with schizophrenia, she spent time at a variety of mental health institutions and was ultimately moved to Highland Mental Hospital in 1936 where she spent much of the next nine years. As Zelda’s mental health declined, her writing became less frequent and less polished.

By 1948, she had endured over ten years of electroshock therapy and insulin shock treatments, and she suffered from severe loss of memory. On 10 March, while sedated and locked in a room on the 5th floor of Highland Hospital, she died when fire destroyed the building. Her body was identified by her dental records and one of her slippers.

The marriage and lifestyle of the Fitzgeralds had been the subject of much public fascination for many years. Scott died of a heart attack in 1940 at the age of 44. Zelda’s tragic death in 1948 was widely reported in the media and was seen as a symbol of the tragic decline of a once vibrant and creative woman.