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From the Archives: The Central Park Zoo Escape
Status: Famous Hoax
On November 9, 1874 the New York Herald reported that the wild animals had escaped from the Central Park Zoo. The article filled an entire page of the paper, and was topped by the dramatic headlines: "AWFUL CALAMITY. The Wild Animals Broken Loose from Central Park. TERRIBLE SCENES OF MUTILATION. A Shocking Sabbath Carnival of Death."The article, after a slightly slow start, really hit its stride once it started to describe the carnage. Readers were treated to vivid descriptions of rhinos impaling people on their horns, lions tearing limbs off, and panthers attacking churchgoers. They just don't write news articles like that anymore.
But if you read through to the very end of the article (which was 10,000 words long), you encountered this disclaimer: "Of course the entire story given above is a pure fabrication. Not one word of it is true."
Most people didn't bother to read the entire article, and so mass panic ensued in the city. The next day the Herald claimed it had done the city a favor by drawing attention to the possibility of such a scene occurring if conditions weren't improved at the zoo.
The New York Zoo Escape is one of the more notorious hoaxes of the 19th century, and yet, to my knowledge, the text of the Herald's article has never been reprinted. So I resolved to change that. I found that San Diego State University had the Herald on microform, made a trip out there, copied the article, and typed it out. It took me longer than I anticipated, but it's done now. It's a pretty good read.
Some trivia about the Zoo Escape hoax: It was indirectly connected to the tradition of using an elephant as the symbol of the Republican party. I explain the connection fully in the hoaxipedia article.
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Categories: Animals, Journalism Posted by Alex on Sun May 04, 2008 |
Comments (5) |
| More from the Hoax Museum Archives: | |||
Immediately upon reading this story, Rupert Murdoch made an offer to buy the New York Herald.
Murdoch said, "I anticipate making no changes in the editorial direction of the Herald."
Posted by Cranky Media Guy on Mon May 05, 2008 at 02:36 AM
Murdoch said, "I anticipate making no changes in the editorial direction of the Herald."
That was brilliant! What a great article - very exciting! But I have to ask - what is this:
'It is not long since a herd of Texan cattle threw New York
Posted by Nona on Tue May 06, 2008 at 06:46 AM
'It is not long since a herd of Texan cattle threw New York
I also recognized the Republican/elephant connection. Through the years, many innocent victims have been tossed high over their shoulders, thrown to the ground, and stomped into the dirt. And the elephants are dangerous, too.
Posted by Hairy Houdini on Tue May 06, 2008 at 01:46 PM
thanks for the monumental work!!!
Posted by Tatsumi in Momotoland on Fri May 09, 2008 at 04:00 AM
Your website is fantastic, but this is the best article I have seen so far. As I was reading it I was hoping the original news story was available............And you really typed out the full original article yourself?!
Posted by Paul G in Dublin, Ireland on Wed Jun 18, 2008 at 05:50 AM
Comments: Page 1 of 1 pages