History Dispatches

In November of 1874 the Central Park Zoo in New York City experienced an unprecedented escape. Dozens of animals broke free of their cages, and went on a rampage across the city. When the newspapers reported it the next day, 49 people were dead, hundreds injured, and the national guard called in. It was an unprecedented tragedy. The only problem was the entire thing was a hoax. This is the story of the Central Park Zoo Hoax.

Sources

https://hoaxes.org/archive/permalink/the_central_park_zoo_escape/

https://blog.newspapers.com/new-york-zoo-hoax-of-1874/

Image: Harpers Weekly, 1893

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On January 30, 1945, the German transport ship Wilhelm Gustloff - loaded with more than 10,000 passengers - sailed west from Gotenhafen on the Baltic Sea - to escape the advancing Red Army. That night a Soviet submarine spotted the ship - and what followed is the deadliest maritime incident in history.

Sources

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MV_Wilhelm_Gustloff

https://www.nationalww2museum.org/war/articles/sinking-wilhelm-gustloff

Image: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Bundesarchiv_Bild_183-H27992,_Lazarettschiff_%22Wilhelm_Gustloff%22_in_Danzig.jpg

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In 2010, a Nicaraguan dredging crew accidentally trespassed on a small island controlled by Costa Rica. Why? Because they were using Google Maps to navigate. Unfortunately, Costa Rica sent in the police, then Nicaragua sent in their military, and the whole thing turned into an international incident. This is the story of the Google Maps War.

Sources

https://web.archive.org/web/20151222112623/http://www.icj-cij.org/docket/files/150/18848.pdf

https://archive.nytimes.com/opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/02/28/the-first-google-maps-war/

Image: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Distintivo_avanzamento_merito_di_guerra_ufficiali_inferiori,_sottufficiali_e_truppa_(forze_armate_italiane).svg

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William Hoy - known as Dummy - was a celebrated major league baseball player in the early days of the game. He led the league in stolen bases, hit over .300, and was one of baseball’s finest centerfielders. The amazing thing about Dummy Hoy is that he was deaf.

Sources

Join the campaign to add Dummy Hoy to the Hall of Fame: https://www.signforhoy.com

https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/7610652/2026/09/20/deaf-mlb-dummy-hoy-hall-of-fame/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dummy_Hoy

https://sabr.org/bioproj/person/William-Hoy/

Image: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Dummy_Hoy.jpg

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Once called the Jewel of Central Asia, the Aral Sea was the third largest lake in the world, and supported a unique ecosystem, and millions of people. But after irrigation projects in the 1960s began diverting water, the Aral Sea started to shrink. Today it is almost completely gone, replaced by desert, in one of the greatest ecological catastrophes of modern times.

Sources

https://www.columbia.edu/~tmt2120/introduction.htm

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aral_Sea

https://growtheflowutah.org/2025/08/27/overview-of-the-aral-sea-disaster/

Image: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Ship_in_the_Aral_Sea,_Mo‘ynoq.jpg

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