Elephant Graveyard

I ran across this post on the Montana Moments blog the other day, it’s too absurd to pass up. Here it is in my own words:

A white board fence blocks off a square of earth at Dillon’s Beaverhead County Fairgrounds. The fence encloses a small tree and a square of granite. The granite memorial reads: “PITT – Killed on this spot by lightning Aug. 6, 1943 while showing with Cole Bros. Circus. Last of the John Robinson herd of Military Elephants. May God bless her.”

Yes, the Beaverhead County Fairgrounds doubles as an elephant graveyard—with an occupancy of one. Around the turn of the century John Robinson’s Military Elephants formed the largest domestic elephant herd in the world. However, the financial panic of 1919 forced Robinson to sell the majority of his herd to the Ringling Bros. Robinson didn’t sell the four oldest. Instead, they lived out their retirement at his farm in Terrance Park, Ohio. Robinson died in 1942, and his widow gave the last remaining elephant, Petite (nicknamed Pitt) to the Cole Bros. circus. By then, Pitt was 100 years old.

The Cole Bros. toured the country, and on August 6, 1943, they stopped at Dillon for a one night show. The elephants had just finished their act when a thunderstorm came up. The elephants huddled together. A clap of thunder and flash of lightning left the other elephants and their handler stunned, and Pitt dead. The circus performers and townspeople held a funeral and buried the 102 year old pachyderm. The next year, when the circus was back in town, a granite marker was laid at the foot of the grave, where it sits to this day.

I found this story at ellenbaumler.blogspot.com, but it also shows up on roadsideamerica.com and in Montana Curiosities: Quirky characters, roadside oddities & other offbeat stuff by Ednor Therriault.