The Tragic, Fiery Death of Zelda Fitzerald TONIGHT, in addition to the usual wild news . . . Vance is joined in-studio by historian James MacKenzie to discuss the eerie and tragic end of Zelda Fitzgerald, who died in a fire in Asheville in 1948. A troubled woman in life, she is, not surprisingly, associated with ghost stories. Now, her life is being featured in the new TV series, Z: The Beginning of Everything. The Dark 30 Hour is filled with clueless criminals and desperate deviants.