In looking back over the journal, I noticed that I skipped a day. It was a zero day in Erwin. That was the day I was going to explain why elephants are boycotting Erwin. As old stories go, it has been embellished over the years and it has been difficult to separate the facts from the embellishments. The locals really don't want to talk about it because they fear that it reinforces stereotypes about southern Appalchia and its residents.
Prior to 1916 elephants were frequent visitors to the community. In September 1916 the Sparks Circus came into town. As was customary, there was a circus parade down Main Street. One of the circus' main attractions was Mary, a huge elephant, who the owners claimed was even larger than the more famous Ringling Bros Jumbo.
Well, an inexperienced roustabout was assigned to lead Mary during the parade. As the parade progressed, Mary stopped to nibble on a watermelon rind. The handler hit her over the head with a stick in order to get her moving again. She easily picked him up, threw him into a wooden stand and stepped on his head. People panicked and ran away screaming but the elephant never charged the crowd and immediately calmed down once her tormentor was dispatched.
However, word quickly spread about this mad, murderous elephant and mayors in the surrounding towns refused to let the circus into their town if the elephant came. The circus was stranded in Erwin.
The owners came up with a solution and staged a public execution of Mary. She was taken to the railroad yard and was hung by her neck from a railroad crane. Over 3,000 people came to watch the show. Mary is currently buried in an unmarked grave somewhere in the railroad yard and elephants have boycotted Erwin ever since.
Posted by at June 11, 2005 08:54 AM