Stranger Dimensions is a blog dedicated to the paranormal, weird science, and all things out of this world. The newspaper accounts vary from several thousand to 1,500 to “only persons immediately concerned and reporters.” Had Edison been present, the newspapers would certainly have made note of it, but none even mentioned him at all.
Once the switch was flipped, it took just ten seconds before Topsy fell over and died. Elena Holodny, writing in Business Insider, chimed in, too, noting that Edison “sought to prove that alternating current actually can kill quickly.” Holodny then goes on to say that “at a demonstration [Edison] held at Coney Island, he electrocuted and killed a circus elephant named Topsy.” Countless other websites have followed suit, making the same claim against Edison, likely because the film made of this singular event was given the title “Electrocuting an Elephant—Thomas A. Edison.”. The answer is an emphatic “no.” Topsy was sentenced to death by Luna Park officials after she had killed three men over a three-month period. Eventually, after the firing of her original handler and a number of other incidents, the officials at Luna Park at Coney Island decided they couldn’t manage Topsy, anymore, and decided to put her down. The New Bedford Mercury reported that the SPCA officers present had said that “they had never seen a more humane manner of causing death,” though they likely had very little real understanding of the effects of electrocution in spite of the experiments Edison had done.
Topsy (elephant) - Video Learning - WizScience.com - YouTube
As the electrocution of an elephant was hitherto unknown, Topsy’s executioners made sure to complete the act successfully through a technique that combined all; electrocution, poisoning and strangulation. It is also unlikely that he was personally involved in producing the film “Electrocuting an Elephant,” even though the title bears his name. Here’s a video of the film, but fair warning: While it’s old and grainy footage, if you don’t want to see a poor elephant get electrocuted, don’t watch. Topsy the elephant is electrocuted at the new Luna Park at Coney Island in 1903. They at first considered hanging, but outcry from the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals prevented that. Edison is not mentioned in any of the numerous contemporaneous newspaper accounts of the killing of Topsy. To meet these objections, park officials, with the approval of the SPCA, subsequently decided to use a combination of poisoning, strangulation, and electrocution. Electricians from the local electric company fitted two of the elephant’s feet with electrodes to administer the shock. Their end-of-the-year plans to hang Topsy at the park in a public spectacle and charge admission were stopped by the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals.
Your email address will not be published. These experiments at Edison’s West Orange Laboratory did convince SPCA officials that electrocution was a more humane and efficient way of euthanizing animals than either drowning (in the case of dogs) or hanging (in the case of other animals). It is arguably the most famous animal execution ever—the killing of Topsy the elephant at Luna Park on Coney Island in January 1903. Many believe Topsy was a victim of the so-called War of … For nearly 10 years, he's managed Stranger Dimensions, providing a unique perspective on all matters involving time travel, parallel universes, and whether or not robots might one day take over the world. While the Edison Electric Illuminating Company of Brooklyn oversaw the electrocution, they were a private company that, at that time, was not affiliated with Edison himself. They placed electrodes on her feet, and ran a copper wire over to an electric light plant. After killing a spectator in 1902, she was sold to Coney Island. As Wikipedia so tersely describes, “…in front of a small crowd of invited reporters and guests, Topsy was fed poison, electrocuted, and strangled, the electrocution ultimately killing her.” The short film, titled Electrocuting an Elephant , would later be featured in coin-operated kinetoscopes. Edison associates had also used the results of this laboratory research during the Battle of the Currents (1886-1892) to demonstrate that AC was more dangerous than DC. January 4, 2017 On this day in 1903, Topsy the elephant died of electrocution on Coney Island. While there, Topsy was involved in several incidents and again deemed unmanageable. She performed at the Forepaugh Circus for 25 years, and after killing a spectator in 1902, she wound up at Coney Island. As Wikipedia so tersely describes, “…in front of a small crowd of invited reporters and guests, Topsy was fed poison, electrocuted, and strangled, the electrocution ultimately killing her.” The short film, titled Electrocuting an Elephant, would later be featured in coin-operated kinetoscopes. \"Topsy\" was a female Asian elephant put to death at a Coney Island, New York amusement park by electrocution in January 1903.
The author or publisher does not guarantee the accuracy of the content presented in this video. However, the efforts by Edison and his company to disparage the Westinghouse system failed as a competitive strategy because AC proved to be more efficient for transmitting electricity over large distances.
Electrocuting an Elephant (also known as Electrocution of an Elephant) is a 1903 American, short, black-and-white, silent documentary film of the killing of the elephant Topsy by electrocution at a Coney Island amusement park.
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During her 25 years at Forepaugh, Topsy gained a reputation as a "bad" elephant and, after killing a spectator in 1902, was sol… Sidenote: The first electric chair was created by Harold P. Brown and Arthur Kennelly, under the employ of Thomas Edison.
The execution, chiefly by electrocution, has since been the subject of articles, books, and television documentaries, and in recent times has become something of a cause célèbre. Did Edison really electrocute Topsy the Elephant? Once Luna Park officials had decided that electrocution would be used on Topsy, they required the cooperation of the local electric power company— the Edison Electric Illuminating Co. of Brooklyn, which under the supervision of electrician P. D. Sharkey provided technical assistance and 6,600 volts of power relayed from new General Electric AC generators in nearby Bay Ridge. These experiments were also undertaken at the behest of a commission established by the State of New York to find a more humane method of executing criminals and led to the institution of the electric chair as a common method of execution in the United States. Wired magazine’s online edition, for instance, ran a story on Topsy with the headline “Edison Fries an Elephant to Prove His Point.” The point ostensibly was that the Westinghouse AC electrical system was much more dangerous to consumers than Edison’s DC system. Like so many local illuminating companies across the United States, the Brooklyn company used the Edison name because it originally employed the Edison system of electric power generation under license from the Edison Electric Light Co. of New York. Born in Southeast Asia around 1875, Topsy was secretly brought into the United States soon thereafter and added to the herd of performing elephants at the Forepaugh Circus, who fraudulently advertised her as the first elephant born in America. Study: Nearly Two-Thirds Of Europeans Would Consider Becoming Cyborgs, Video: Successful Flight Tests of Ehang 184 Manned Passenger Drone, Mysterious “Radar Anomaly” Haunting Lincoln, IL, This Game Boy Is Powered by the Sun and Your Own Fingertips, Astronomers Observe Possible Sign Of Microbial Life On Venus. Their film of the electrocution part was released to be viewed in coin-operated kinetoscopes under the title \"Electrocuting an Elephant\". Did Geomagnetic Storms Play A Role In the Titanic Tragedy?
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