I don't know if you remember the film "Jaws" directed by Steven Spielberg, this drama as a very classic old film, although there is no specific horror sound effects, there is no very intuitive bloody scene, but everywhere there is a horror atmosphere. The film uses our primitive fear of the deep sea to show a seaside town that has been attacked by the same man-eating shark many times.
Jaws is based on Peter Benchilli's novel of the same name. The novel is actually based on a real event that took place in the summer of 1916 in New Jersey, when five people were attacked by sharks in 12 days, and four of them were killed in the attack.
Man-eating shark incident in New Jersey, USA:
In 1916, New Jersey, USA, when people were still immersed in the joy of summer water play, they did not know that a serial murder murderer man-eating shark that subverted people's cognition and took 4 lives in 12 days had arrived, and it caused a tragic end of 4 deaths and 1 injury from the coast to the inland stream, along the coast of the west coast of New Jersey.
First attack:
On July 1, 1916, New Jersey was unbearably hot, and at the same time, polio was again endemic among the population, and people began flocking to the beach to escape the heat and the flu.
Charles Epting Van Sant was the first victim, who, like most others, came here with his family to escape the summer. Van Sant is in good shape and very athletic, and before dinner, he plans to swim in the sea for a while and brings a Chesapeake.
However, before he could swim far, Van Sant began to yell, but people did not realize that his legs were attacked by sharks, but thought that he was calling his dog on the beach to let him go into the water; By the time the lifeguards observed the abnormality and rescued Van Sant, one of his legs had been torn off alive by a shark, and eventually Van Sant died because he had not been treated in time for excessive blood loss.
Although there was a shark bite, because the politis epidemic dominated the headlines at the time, and most people, even experts, were confused about sharks attacking people in shallow waters, they did not think that the attack was a shark, and even more outrageously, some people believed that it was a giant turtle bite, and other beaches on the Jersey coast remained open.
Second attack:
The second attack occurred on the afternoon of July 6 of the same year, 27-year-old Charles Bruder, while swimming on the beach called Spring Lake, 72 kilometers northwest of the beach paradise, was suddenly attacked by a shark, bitten in the abdomen, seriously injured his legs, the sea was instantly dyed red, and Bruder was screamed by the huge attack.
At this time, a woman just discovered this scene and quickly notified the rescue team, but because Bruder was far from the shore, when the rescuers arrived to rescue Bruder, everything below his knee had been torn off by the shark, and then Bruder fell into a fainting and died soon after.
This time, the shark hunting operation was seen by hundreds of people, and soon caused a big sensation. Several media outlets rushed to report, and the New York Times said that when Bruder's stump was brought ashore, several women were directly frightened and fainted. Now people really began to believe that there were man-eating sharks on the beach, fear began to spread on the beach, and all the resorts were empty.
Despite the sensation, some experts could not believe that sharks did it due to the lack of sufficient knowledge of sharks at the time. John Tredwell Nichols, assistant curator of the museum's fish department, examined Charles Bruder's body and still believed that it was not a shark bite, but a orca that did it.
Other scientists are doing the same, doing everything they can to downplay the threat sharks pose to humans. They still believe that sharks will not attack humans at all, let alone the next one. Folk newspapers also talked about murderers, including but not limited to giant mackerel, large sea turtles, and even German U-boats.
Of course, in all the stereotypical image reasoning, there is also a very rational person, Dr. Scheffler, one of New Jersey's most respected doctors, who said unequivocally: "There is no doubt that a man-eating shark caused these injuries." It's just that at the level of knowledge at that time, this different voice was quickly drowned out by the voices of opponents.
Third attack:
The killing did not stop with suspicion, and on July 12, 1916, the tragedy was repeated. In Matawan, New Jersey, life would have been as peaceful as usual. Fear on the beach side of New Jersey didn't spread here, because no one believed sharks could run into a small river 48 kilometers from the mouth of the sea.
But it was on this day that the shark made a joke on people's self-righteousness. On this day, local captain Thomas Courtwell suddenly saw a shark about 2.4 meters long passing under the bridge, so he immediately rushed into the town to tell everyone that the shark was coming, but unfortunately, no one wanted to believe him, they thought he was crazy.
Coincidentally, just then, a group of young men were about to go swimming in the river. However, soon, they experienced a terrible scene in their lives, a shark's dorsal fin suddenly appeared on the surface, and the boys quickly ran towards the shore, but unfortunately, one of the young men named Lester was dragged underwater by the shark when he was about to go ashore. The boy instantly surfaced again and screamed. The rest of the boys panicked and ran into town to ask the adults for help, shouting that there were sharks.
However, by the time everyone arrived in a hurry, Lester was gone. Watson Stanley Fisher, a 24-year-old local, and several men went to investigate, they dived into the creek, but soon noticed something strange, and Fisher quickly rushed out of the water and swam back to the shore. Unfortunately, Fisher was still a little slower, and a shark attacked Fisher and tore 9 pounds of meat from his thigh. So on the way to the hospital, Fisher also died.
Fourth attack:
Meanwhile, the last victim, and the only survivor of the incident, was also attacked by sharks downstream of Matavan town, 30 minutes after Fisher was attacked. This is a young man named Joseph Dunne, he was about to go ashore, however, at this moment, his leg was suddenly bitten by a shark, fortunately his two companions reacted in time and desperately pulled him ashore before the shark could hurt the artery, so he survived.
Panicked and angry people decided to take revenge.
On July 14, as Leicester's body was found, panic and anger at the shark reached unprecedented heights. The New York Times reported the atmosphere: "Everyone had the same goal, which was to catch the shark, kill it, and see its carcass being pulled ashore, and everyone could see and be sure that the shark would be killed by them." ”
Plenty of safety nets have been erected around New Jersey beaches, and angry people have sailed into the sea in fishing boats, carrying rifles, axes and harpoons to attract sharks with sheep guts and then begin to hunt them.
The residents around Matavan were even more furious, losing two young men and one seriously injured in just one day, and the residents began to shoot and throw bombs into the river, even if only a few small fish could not stop the residents' anger.
The most massive shark hunt in the United States began, everyone was venting their anger and fear, everyone wanted to be the first "shark slaughterer" to kill the "bloodthirsty shark", and some even offered a high price for the "bloodthirsty shark" to reward the hero who saved people.
A few days later, off the coast of Jersey, a man named Michael Schlesser caught a subadult great white shark weighing about 317 pounds and about 2.3 meters long with a net, and people killed it and brought it ashore. Doctors then dissected it and found a human tibia and ribs in its stomach.
However, because there was no modern DNA technology at the time, it is impossible to determine whether the shark killed four people and injured another. However, one thing is undeniable, since the great white shark was killed, there have been no more shark attacks on the Jersey shore at that time.
The truth is confusing:
Although the New Jersey shores returned to their usual quiet after the great white shark was killed, no one can be sure whether the shark they caught was the culprit that killed the four people, or whether multiple sharks were involved in the crime.
This suspicion is justified, as there are many sharks on the New Jersey coast, including ferret sharks and low-tip sharks, which no one thought could kill people at the time, and scientists today believe that these two sharks may be more dangerous than great white sharks.
The biggest controversy was the 3 attacks on Marta Bay Creek, 48 kilometers from the sea, as only a handful of sharks had the ability to enter a freshwater river. One of them, the low-fin shark, considered dangerous by today's scientists, is one of them, and its body structure is very special, able to adapt to both seawater and fresh water, and can swim back to more than 80 kilometers from the river.
Of course, some people think that it is a great white shark, Mata Bay Creek was in the tide at that time, a large amount of seawater poured into the river, invisibly increased the salt in the river, which allowed the great white shark to stay in the water for about a day, the great white shark can fully plan these 5 attacks.
Why sharks attack people:
Although scientists today tell us that sharks attack people very rarely, it can be said that it is rare, because for low-fat creatures like us, humans, they do not like to eat. But sharks still attack people from time to time. In December 2010, there were five shark attacks in Sharm El Sheikh that killed one person. Fortunately, though, much more sharks are known today than they were in 1916.
The culprit was soon identified, a longfin shark and a barramundi mako shark that caused the tragedy. Subsequently, the cause of the attack was also discovered, because of overfishing, food scarcity in the Red Sea region, and transport ships from various places often throw dead animal carcasses into the sea, and sharks follow these carcasses into the coast.
And because the crew's action of discarding the carcass inadvertently caused the shark to form a conditioned reflex, associating people's hands or thighs with food, which led to the attack.
In addition to miscalculation, sharks can also attack humans out of curiosity. Sharks learn about their surroundings by biting things. They bite rocks, cages, garbage, boats, and humans. Of course, if a human is accidentally injured and bleeding, or deliberately provokes a shark himself, it will also lead to a shark attack.
Epilogue:
The 1916 New Jersey Shark Attack is thought to have spawned the 1975 film Jaws, which began with a young couple. They went into the sea to swim, without any scruples, enjoying the sound of the waves as night fell.
As everyone knows, a huge shark has targeted the tourists of this coastal town, starting a massacre, and finally when people find the murderer in the far sea, it shocks everyone, this is a huge great white shark, can actually use the huge fishing boat as food. Although the shark was eventually killed, at the same time humans paid a terrible price.
It can be said that the plot of the 1916 New Jersey man-eating shark incident is similar, except that this great white shark was exaggerated by the director.
Of course, in real life, the size of adult great white sharks is actually not small, an adult great white shark can grow to 4 meters ~ 5 meters or even larger, and the weight can exceed a ton. Even newborn great white sharks are nearly 1 meter long and have sharp teeth.
Over time, we will never know exactly what kind of shark was responsible for the 1916 New Jersey attacks, and why, because shark science was just getting started. But one thing is certain: people's fear of great white sharks began with a shark attack in 1916.