The Jersey Shore
shark attacks of 1916 were so unexpected, so
sudden, and so violent that they stuck in the
public eye like a splinter and never really left. The Matawan Man-eater,
as the shark was called, claimed between three
and five human lives before the killings
finally stopped. And by that time,
the word shark had taken on a dark significance
among beachgoers. Today, we're looking at the
shark story that inspired Jaws. But before we do, be
sure to chum our waters and subscribe to the
Weird History Channel and dangle some
comments into the fray. OK, let's get started. Once upon a time, there
was a killer shark that terrorized the
shores of the Garden State for 12 horrible days. Chief Brody's shark story,
while not as soul punishing as Quint's, is no less true. It began with the death,
not of a skinny dipper, but a finance broker
named Charles Vansant. He was swimming in
the Atlantic one hot July day when a shark
took a bite out of his leg and fatally severed
his femoral artery. The creature was
bizarrely aggressive, following a stolen prize as
rescuers dragged it to shore. The whole thing was just so
darn weird, officials declared, that it could only have
been a freak accident. Five days later,
bellboy Charles Bruder would make victim
number two, leaving his friends with these chilling
final words, "A shark bit me. Bit my legs off." The shark abandoned the
beach for the calmer waters of nearby Matawan, a charming
little burrough straight out of Huckleberry Finn Adventure. In the town's
freshwater creek, he would find his next three
meals, all prepubescent boys with wooden hoops
and broom switches. 11-year-old Lester
Stillwell went first. He told his friends
to watch him float. Instead, they looked on in
horror when he bobbed up and down like a
jack-in-the-box as the shark, whom we're beginning to
think may have been Pennywise the clown all along, went about
the messy business of eating him, and then making him float. 24-year-old Stanley Fisher
jumped in like Superman and tried to help the
distressed boy back to land. But no one told him there was a
300 pound shark swimming around in there too. He had to find that
one out for himself. Making for the ocean
again, the shark had one more for the
road, Joseph Dunn, age 12. This time, he satisfied himself
with only a drumstick though, and Joseph survived. Now the people of
Matawan knew there might be a shark in the
creek before this happened. A grizzled old sea captain
saw the shark swimming in from the ocean. But when he tried
to warn the town, they decided that
it was impossible. And they blamed his
visions on the heat. To be clear, great white
shark attacks in the US are not very common. You're more likely to be
killed by bees than sharks. And most shark
attacks aren't fatal. We know this is going
to come as a shock, but what happened in Jaws
is not at all typical of shark attacks. After five attacks in less than
two weeks, the hunt was on. The ocean soon teemed
with mobs or schools of fishermen armed
with dynamite and eager for vengeance and glory. Now, they had no idea
what kind of shark they were even looking
for, but they certainly weren't going to let
such petty quibbles get in the way of their
almost holy mission. Folks were beginning
to think of sharks as actual avatars of evil. Enter lion tamer/taxidermist,
oh, yes, friends and neighbors, Michael Schliesser. While he was fishing
in Raritan Bay, an eight foot shark tried
like hell to sink his boat. He managed to keep it afloat,
finally stabbing the shark to death with a broken
oar like a boss. Dr. Frederick Lucas,
the Hooper of this tale, dissected it to study the
contents of its stomach. Sharks are like garbage
cans if garbage cans had armor plating, five to
15 rows of serrated teeth, and the ability to use
blood as a homing beacon. But sharks can and will
eat just about anything. His bite radius may
have been small, but that didn't stop him from
eating an airplane, something beyond the capabilities of
the most ambitious of sharks. Hoagie! Hoagie! Records report the recovery
of 15 pounds of human remains from the belly of
the beast, including the shinbone of a young boy
and probably a human rib. Surely unbiased by the
area's need for capital, authorities declared they were
satisfied that this was indeed the shark they were looking
for, and the hunt was ended. But the damage was done. Shockingly, sharks have
not always struck fear in the hearts of the masses. For a long time,
scientists believed that sharks not only would
not but most of the time could not kill human
beings, despite the fact that we're all soft
fleshy meat sticks that can't breathe water
without getting very, very dead. Word of the odd
occasional attack circulated, but these were
dismissed as tall tales. And some of the
ballsier customers even went so far
as to try to get sharks to attack in order
to make the point that they couldn't attack. The sharks who,
believe it or not, don't do super great
with human aggression would swim away, thus
reinforcing the idea that there was no such
thing as a man eating shark. Even when the New Jersey
attacks first began, scientists refused to
believe it was a shark. Perhaps it was an
orca, they suggested, or another big sea critter. They were more
than willing to pin the whole thing on, seriously,
a giant turtle than accept that sharks could eat people. It was not until
the body count began to climb with witnesses that
scientists began to realize they were chasing a shark. If all of this sounds a little
bit familiar, it should. The story was so violent, so
unexpected, and so important to the way we view
sharks that it helped writer Peter
Benchley bring his chilling story to life. Jaws was published in
1974 after Benchley saw a photo of a fisherman
posing with a porker in 1964. Like the movie, the novel
references the 1916 attacks. And although he
adamantly maintains they were not his
initial inspiration for writing the book, they had a
big hand in how it was written. Unlike the movie, the
behavior and types of attacks detailed
in the book closely mirror many things that happened
in real life way back in 1916. Without the Jersey shark attacks
of 1916, our fears of sharks would not have been so
grippingly visceral. And stories like
Jaws would not likely have been so terrorizing
or successful. So you know, silver lining. Oddly, Peter regrets
writing his famous book. While it brought him
fame and fortune, he didn't really know much
about sharks at the time, relying on the events of 1916
to model proper shark behavior. But the 1916 attacks were
downright bizarre and atypical of shark behavior. And Jaws only served to fuel
the fires of shark genocide. Smile, you son of a-- [GUNSHOT] [EXPLOSION] When the movie Jaws
came out, its impact may not have been as severe as
that of the New Jersey attacks. But there was still
a serious impact. The stigma against sharks
was revived in glowing color, especially against great whites. The movie portrayed
sharks as vengeful and as actively seeking out
human flesh to munch on. Seeing the movie, spectators
were inclined to believe it and began to see sharks as evil. More than that, they were less
likely to vacation near beaches the summer after Jaws
was released, which again had an impact on resort towns. The impact on sharks
was devastating as well. Fishing contests about who
could kill the biggest shark sprang up all along the coasts. Shark populations fell as
much as 50% in some locations and up to 90% in one case. As they had in 1916, sharks
were seen as perpetual villains, and the stigma lingers. This is where the story should
end, but a lot of questions have been raised over the
years about the shark that committed these acts. Great whites don't go nosing
around for food in creeks. And it is very rare for a single
shark to kill so many people, especially in such a
short period of time. It's been suggested that
the killings were not done by one shark, but by
a group or shiver, which would go a long way toward
explaining why they happened so rapidly in multiple locations. Maybe Schliesser's
shark was the fall guy. The shark would also
have had the power to be in several places at once. There's a horrifying thought. Witnesses reported seeing
sharks in multiple locations over very little time. That could have been
partially due to hysteria over the deaths. But after what
happened in 1916, it's probably a bad idea to
write them off again. It's also been suggested
that the shark was not a great white, but
a bull shark, which have been known to be more
aggressive towards people and are now well-known
for their attacks as well as being
capable of traveling through salt and fresh
water, the waters of a creek, for example. In the end, all the details
about this weird spree of shark attacks may never be known. What is known is the
impact these events had and how it still affects the
public's perception of sharks to this day. With his tacky suit and
deliberate obtuseness, the mayor of Amity Island is
a character we love to hate. Tomorrow is the 4th of July, and
we will be open for business. But he had a valid point. Resort towns like Amity
and the Jersey Shore depend on tourists for survival. Whether Schliesser's shark was
a serial killer or just got really, really peckish one
day, the vicious attacks changed the lives of not
only the four victims and their loved ones,
but everyone in business on the shore. Beaches closed bringing
the economy to a standstill as they waited for
the shark hunt to end. Now relegated to buffet
lines for sharks, these once lively
bergs lost their glamor and fell into decay. Resort owners estimated a
total loss of over $250,000. Boy, that doesn't
sound like much. But it was in 1916, right? Even after the offending shark
was, in theory anyway, caught, people tended to avoid
the beaches not terribly eager to find out firsthand. Some enterprising businesses had
a go at embracing the legend, promoting art that showed
smiling sharks to promote a child friendly environment. But some resort
towns just shut down, unable to pull in
enough money to get by. It's been over 100
years since then, and folks still know
Matawan as that town where five people got eaten. Some people have even argued
that the attacks and deaths tanked President Woodrow
Wilson's campaign for re-election. As the beach front
communities rotted away, the voters there were
understandably less than stoked to vote for him again. As we said, sharks are
basically swimming trashcans. They are perfect
killing machines. But they aren't malicious. Although, we could argue that
with their dead little eyes, it might be a bit less
creepy if they were. If you take anything
away from this, it ought to be that hanging
around and eating people is not your typical sharks MO. Sharks are far more likely
to stay away from humans, and they certainly do not
go out seeking human flesh. We're pretty scary. And we don't taste super great. Sharks are predators
of opportunity and prefer to grab what they can
get and haul ass out of there if things get too exciting. You're more likely to get hurt
stepping in a hole on a, beach be killed by a bee, be kicked
or bored to death by a deer, or even savaged
by a cow than you are to end up a shark snack. It's the sharks that
really ought to organize. Humans kill millions
of them every year, to say nothing of the garbage
we dump in their backyard. Even on the sea,
we're apex predators. If a shark does
decide to come at you, you have a pretty good
shot at not getting eaten. The vast majority of shark
attacks end in minor injuries and, while pants
loadingly frightening, rarely leave more than a
mental and physical scarring. Seldom do more than one
or two shark attacks result in serious
injury or death. The fact that the
1916 killings are ones we're still
talking about today just goes to show how few
of these shark attacks are man-eaters. So before you go the way
of the chief, rest assured, you're more likely to
end up in a confrontation with the business
end of a jellyfish if you brave the ocean than
you are a killer shark. So will you be dipping your
toes in the ocean this year? Let us know your biggest fear. And while you're at it, check
out some of these other videos from our weird history.
