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| 'Mansfield Bar' |
Jayne Mansfield was a femme fatale of the early 1960s...she had already found success as a model, actress, and even a singer...she seemed certain to follow in the footsteps of Marilyn Monroe after Monroe had died...and in a way she did... her life was cut short by an horrific accident just outside of Biloxi, Mississippi...it was on that fateful night of June 29th, 1967 that Mansfield, two other adults, and three of her children were traveling to New Orleans after doing a show...there was a dense fog from an anti-mosquito sprayer clouded the highway...the driver in the 1966 Buick Electra never saw the semi that was in front of them...the car slammed into the tractor-trailer with such force that it went underneath the trailer...the adults were killed, but the children survived with minor injuries...there were rumors that Mansfield was decapitated, but they are not true...the gruesome deaths led to a new National Highway Traffic Safety Administration requirement that all semi truck trailers must have a bar on the back of their trailer to prevent a car from going underneath them...you have seen them many times, yet you may not have known it was a direct result of Jayne Mansfield’s unfortunate accident.
