Comments on: Circus Train Wreck Myth

By: Fazdraw

Fazdraw — Thu, 21 Feb 2008 23:32:43 +0000

Actually there is more factual (sort of) information on this story than you might imagine. There were indeed ’some’ circus train wrecks closer to the beginning of the century. You have to understand Train wrecks were the common wreck of the day; they have been replaced by car wrecks and train wrecks occurred on a regular and predictable basis. The wreck itself was a big event. Toss in some wild tigers and lions escaping and what do you have…well you have one of the best promotion stunts of the ages. The 1952 movies didn’t start the cycle of Circus Animal escapes but ripped the story off of the headlines of early day Americana. My uncle told me about such a ‘train wreck’ and I researched the subject many years ago and found that this was a trick of the circus to drum up business. Days before the circus would come to town promoters would plant the story in the local papers and raise the hype. In those days the biggest buck got the biggest bang (not too different from today) Look at early papers from 1900 to 1935 and you should see some of these stories.

By: Imaginary Friend

Imaginary Friend — Mon, 03 Sep 2007 07:45:47 +0000

In the book “Summer of the Monkeys” by Wilson Rawls, the whole plot concerns a group of chimpanzees that escape from a circus train in Oklahoma. That’s the same writer who wrote “Where the Red Fern Grows,” so generations of people have grown up reading his books, and there is a movie of “Summer of the Monkeys.” I had read that book years ago, so imagine my surprise to discover that there are Bigfoot and “ape” sightings in Oklahoma even today - in fact, it is a hot spot. So was the Circus Train myth true? Or is that what Wilson Rawls heard while growing up to explain away every odd animal sighting?

Having said that, I am in Tennessee and I recall a man who had a pet wolf that escaped when I was a young teenager, and another person who kept buffalo and other exotic animals. So that was much more common at one time before laws restricted exotic pets. But the whole “circus train” aspect just seems like an urban (or rural) legend to me.

By: ithilien

ithilien — Sat, 01 Sep 2007 20:23:14 +0000

i think little golden books series had a bonzo the bear story…he escaped the train wreck and went on to live happily with the wild bears…after teaching them some of his tricks. way to go bonzo.

By: Nachzehrer

Nachzehrer — Sat, 01 Sep 2007 02:25:47 +0000

Jimmy Stewart’s role as Buttons the Clown, a man wanted for murder, might have also contributed to belief in evil phantom clowns.

By: bill green

bill green — Sat, 01 Sep 2007 00:42:40 +0000

hey loren good evening, wow very interesting new article about a circus train wreck. thanks bill green.

By: Shelley

Shelley — Fri, 31 Aug 2007 22:24:02 +0000

In an eerie switch on this myth, our rural county had been seeing bobcats for many years, although they are officially extinct in this area since the late 19th century. Three years ago a dead bobcat was found *run over by a train.* The local authorities are still trying to get out of this one, although they insist it was not a native and was the only one of its kind. [Necropsy showed that it had been feeding here for some time.]

By: sasquatch

sasquatch — Fri, 31 Aug 2007 18:53:08 +0000

Oh, so that’s why a Rhinoceros has been eating my asparagus, then waiting for a bus…back to the circus!

By: poodpood

poodpood — Fri, 31 Aug 2007 17:11:04 +0000

Escaped animals are never ‘mundane’.

I grew up next to Edinburgh Zoo, Scotland, and, when I was a kid in the 60’s/70’s there were lots of escapee animals.

The zoo backs onto large woods and we had wallabies running wild for a while.

My youngest vague memory of an escapee was a chimp/monkey that got loose and wa found in a neighbours garage, but that could have been the older kids trying to scare us young ‘uns.

It was a very surreal experience living next to a zoo, waking up to the roar of lions and the sounds of exotica.

By: AtomicMrEMonster

AtomicMrEMonster — Fri, 31 Aug 2007 16:59:30 +0000

MattBille:

Ah, thanks for the correction.

By: MattBille

MattBille — Fri, 31 Aug 2007 16:13:37 +0000

The guy in NY had a full-grown tiger in his apartment. David Letterman explained that it was the only cat the guy could find that New York City rats were afraid of.

I wonder if any circus historian has ever created a log of known circus/carnival wrecks or escapes?

While the explanation does not work now, animals in the 20s and 30s in the United States might have ended up running loose because circuses were constantly starting up, merging, going broke, and buying (or sabotaging) each other. When a circus was bought by a rival or simply disbanded, animals not valued might be shot, sold to some local to be exhibited (creating a better chance for escape or release) or simply abandoned. Read the wonderful dramatization of the era in the novel “Water for Elephants” to learn what things were like.