9 nov 1874 - Central Park Zoo Escape Hoax

Description:

On November 9, 1874, the New York Herald published front page news detailing the escape of several animals from the Central Park Zoo. According to the article, the animals were on a deadly rampage; a lion was found in a church and a rhino was discovered in a sewer. Forty-nine people were reported dead and another 200 were injured. The people of New York City panicked. Men took to the streets with their weapons and the police were mobilized. The hoax was actually revealed in the final paragraph of the newspaper article, but most people did not read that far. The hoax was believed to have been written to increase readership and cause excitement.

Illustration by Arthur Burdett Frost in the Daily Graphic, November 13 ,1974 [Public domain], retrieved from http://hoaxes.org/archive/permalink/the_central_park_zoo_escape/