The Tragic Hanging of Mary the Elephant

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This is the saddest thing I have read in like forever. We all know circus animals are treated like shit but this takes shit to a whole new level.

So, back in 1916 there was a circus elephant called Mary. The elephant was part of the Sparks World Famous Shows and had performed for numerous years without any incidents.

On September 11, 1916 she was given a new trainer called Red Eldridge. His previous job was a janitor in hotel so I don't think he was...let'say fit for the job.

Now the exact details are unknown but chances are he mishandled Mary who in turn attacked and killed him. Some witnesses say he was stomped to death. Others that he was impaled by one of the trunk... Whatever. He died, that's for sure.

One thing led to another and eventually there was a public outcry demanding for Mary’s execution.

And what better way to kill and humiliate her other than... Public hanging...

And so the elephant was transferred to Unicoi County, Tennessee and hanged by the neck from a railcar-mounted industrial derrick in front of a crowd of over 2,500 people with most of the town's children participating.

Of course hanging an elephant is not something easily pulled off. As a result the first attempt failed due to a snapped chain, causing a fall and a broken hip. Things went better on the second attempt and the elephant died 😖

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Public Domain

Ironically, a vet examined Mary after the death and found that she had a severely infected tooth in the precise spot where Red Eldridge had reportedly prodded her, possibly causing immense pain to the animal....

Poor Mary. She was denied everything from day 1. Her freedom. Her home. Her herd. And in the end her dignity.

We humans are interesting creatures, that's for sure.

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30 comments
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Damn what a horrible thing to have happened in that past.

I swear, before the 2000's, humans were so unhinged (Well, we are nowadays too, but at least we are not hanging elephants anymore 😅).

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Heh. Unhinged...or just total assholes? 😆😂

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Though it happened many years back, reading her story is still heartbreaking to me. Poor Mary.😪

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I wish that kind of thing only happened in Tennessee, but I'm sure the cruelty was more widespread. Humans can be very cruel, to figure that out all you have to do is look at human history...
!PIMP

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That is cruel. It sucks to hear what happened to her, and there will always be horrible people.

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Poor animal, animals should be banned from circus, even today they just get exploited there

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To be fair we have improved as a species a bit. Circus animals are banned in most of the western world last time I checked

!pimp

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Humans have abused animals for centuries. It’s really sad all the crazy shit humanity has done to these animals.
!pimp

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Damn it man, Poor Mary. People can be so cruel. Hanging an elephant is just next level Satan. The poor animal suffered so much. We should never treat animals like this. I'm going to get Elon Musk Neuralink and implant it into their brains and make them commit suicide for doing 🤦🤦🤦

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Next level Satan indeed 😭

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we need a monument for that Poor elephant the pain it went through before death is horrible man

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