So fact or fiction?

[Go Vandy!]

[AuricGoldfinger]

Fiction. I haven't seen this anywhere else.

Sorta funny, though.

[Versus75]

Next thing you know, some radio game show — let’s say, Truth or Consequences — Will find a town willing to change its name.

[AuricGoldfinger]

Next thing you know, some radio game show — let’s say, Truth or Consequences — Will find a town willing to change its name.

You'll have to explain that one to the youngsters on here, Versus.

[Seadog73]

Subway copycat.

[commadore]

Subway copycat.

You beat me to it.

[historybill]

I suppose this is a good time to mention that the Unicoi county town of Erwin was originally called VANDERBILT, because they were trying to get George Vanderbilt to build his big house there.

After George chose Asheville, North Carolina, the town went with Erwin.

True story. I've got the original town announcement that was published in the 1876 Jonesborough newspaper to prove it.

So for a brief moment, there was a place called Vanderbilt, Tennessee.

[docdore]

erwin....the town that hung an elephant (but that belongs on the circus forum, i guess).

[HarpoMarx]

I had a Business Law class that had the case where they sentenced an elephant to death for killing its trainer. There was even a picture of the townfolk trying to hang the elephant from a big crane. Crane broke. Go figure. They still killed him. Deterrent to other elephants thinking about murdering someone.

[Go Vandy!]

...and i thought "elephants are kindly but they're dumb". I must have been misinformed.

[geeznotagain]

I think the average elephant is probably more intelligent than the average UT fan.

[docdore]

...and i thought "elephants are kindly but they're dumb". I must have been misinformed.

i think the trainer had abused mary (the pachyderm) iirc. the hanging was completed in spite of the broken chain....what a gruesome site it must have been.

[Go Vandy!]

"elephants are kindly but they're dumb".

Quote from an obscure Paul Simon song "At the Zoo"

[Versus75]

After George chose Asheville, North Carolina, the town went with Erwin.

So, did Erwin build a big house there?

[Versus75]

"elephants are kindly but they're dumb".

Quote from an obscure Paul Simon song "At the Zoo"

I knew that. From the “Bookends” album my sister left behind when she went off to college.

“And the zookeeper is very fond of rum.”

[FayetteDore]

Has this thread turned into a Dangling Conversation?