May 30th, 1893, the day the Walter L. Circus train derailed, leading to a mass of horrifying consequences. The first car to drop into the 30-foot gorge carried the elephants. They were injured but did survive the fall. Other animals met their fates as a literal ton of steel toppled to the ground. Each car buckling and crushing beneath its own weight. Five circus workers were killed as the cars cracked open, causing steel to slash through the air.

Many of the animals, however, did survive. Records are unsure which animals survived and which died in the accident, but the lists tell us there were crocodiles, pythons, lions, tigers, kangaroo, and at least one gorilla named ”Man-Slayer” who did survive and was later chained to a tree after his capture.

A trench was dug to bury the dead animals as a mass grave. To this day the exact location of this grave is unknown, though construction has turned up many bones, cage lock, horseshoes, and other various animal item. The circus returned year after year to hold a memorial. To pay respect, elephants would lay wreaths at the unmarked grave. It is said that the elephants would cry out as if they knew they were at a gravesite.

Many of the animals escaped, a few were killed, and others made their way to the woods where they could not be found. Some say decedent’s of pythons, crocs, and big cats are still seen stalking the area. Not long after the wreck, reports of three kangaroos in a nearby town sprung up. People on their way to church, glimpsed them hopping across the street. But the most terrifying sighting was that of the tiger.

On a nearby farm owned by Hiram Friday, his daughter Hannah was milking a cow. The everyday chore was nothing to fear until the animal began to buck and thrash and wail in pain. Hannah quickly leaped away to avoid injury, revealing a tiger biting down on the cow’s neck. With a twist of its mighty jaws, the tiger brought the farm animal to the ground.

While the ferocious animal feast on its reward, Hannah sprinted back to the house to tell her father what had happened. Hiram had been injured during the civil war and did not allow guns on his property. The pair made their way to town where Hiram recruited a bear hunter.

Upon returning to the farm, the people that had followed from town only saw a partially eating cow carcass. For some time, a group of men led by the bear hunter tracked the beast. This led them deep into the nearby forest where the group found the massive cat. It’s bright orange and striped black body shocked the men as many had not seen a tiger. The white around its muzzle was crusted with dark red, nearly brown blood.

The bear hunter raised his rifle as he looked into the tiger’s eyes, noting that they were filled with fury. With the loud sound of an explosion on metal, the mystifying creature fell to the ground. Soon after the skull hung at a local hunting lodge.

A year later, fishermen still reported seeing fantastically colored birds. Many of the area residents were afraid to be out after nightfall, for fear that other dangerous animals were still lurking about after the Walter L. Circus train wreck of Tyrone, Pennsylvania.