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The Elephant Man

Town of Somers Historical Society and The William and Nancy Bailey Collection

The first circus elephant in America didn’t start with Barnum & Bailey. It was more than a generation earlier. And it ended in bloodshed – not once, but twice. The saga began in the early 1800s with a man who came from the town of Somers, New York.

Off the Path is produced by WSHU Public Radio. Subscribe online at iTunes or wherever you get your podcasts.

Davis Dunavin loves telling stories, whether on the radio or around the campfire. He started in Missouri and ended up in Connecticut, which, he'd like to point out, is the same geographic trajectory taken by Mark Twain.