8. The Jersey Shore Shark Attacks of 1916.
In the sweltering hot summer of 1916, a spate of shark attacks rocked the coastal communities of New Jersey. The so-called Jersey Shore Shark Attacks left four people dead and forever changed how Americans see sharks. In fact, some historians note that this summer was the point when sharks really gained their fearsome reputation, and the attacks have been the subject of numerous books, movies and TV documentaries ever since.
The first attack happened on 1 July at Beach Haven, a popular resort town on Long Beach Island. The 25-year-old holiday maker Charles Epting Vansant went for a swim in the ocean. A shark grabbed his leg. Lifeguards managed to bring him to shore, with the shark closely following them all, but Charles quickly bled to death. Despite this fatal attack, life went on as usual in New Jersey’s resort towns. Just five days later, a 27-year-old male was killed in a second attack. Reports of his mutilated body being brought ashore shocked all of America.
On 12 July, a pair of attacks took place at Matawan Creek. Despite it being away from the ocean, a huge shark swam up the creek and killed a boy and then the man who had been attempting to recover his body. Finally, a week later, a 14-year-old was attacked but survived. The attacks sparked a media frenzy and was devastating for the local tourism industry. Numerous sea captains set out in search of the ‘Jersey Maneater’ and some claimed to have caught the shark responsible for the attacks. At the same time, the events caused scientists to rethink what they thought they knew about shark attacks. Now it was clear that they would attack humans unprovoked.