These days, even the mention of sharks can strike fear into the hearts of many—but it wasn’t always this way. Decades before Steven Spielberg’s Jaws (1975) convinced beachgoers not to go into the water, there was one fateful summer when a series of shark attacks led to widespread panic and earned these giant fish a bad reputation for good.
It was the summer of 1916 when ocean swimming was still a relatively new way to pass the time and a heat wave attracted more people than usual to the beach. People knew there were sharks in the ocean but were fairly unconcerned—all those sharp teeth were for catching prey, and humans were much too big to prey upon. However, everything changed over the course of 12 days, when a series of shark attacks along the New Jersey shore left four dead and one gravely injured. The first victim was 25-year-old Charles Vansant, who went out for an evening swim in Beach Haven, New Jersey. Something grabbed his leg and tore away a huge chunk of flesh. He eventually bled out from the injury. At the time, there was uncertainty about whether the man-eating creature was actually a shark. Some even suggested it might have been a sea turtle, an animal thought to have a penchant for snapping at people. As far as most people knew, sharks in those waters were generally harmless.
Just five days after the first attack, 45 miles north of Beach Haven in Spring Lake, a shark (likely the same one) claimed another victim. At this point, fear began to spread. Newspapers started running headlines about the shark attacks, and beachgoers took to the water with more hesitation. Unfortunately, two more people were to lose their lives. Surprisingly, the next attacks took place in an inland creek, more than a mile from the closest bay. An 11-year-old boy was taken by a shark, and then a man in his would-be rescue party was also fatally attacked. Later that same day a teen was injured after a shark attacked his leg. He would be the only survivor. It was not until two days later when two men out fishing near Matawan Creek killed a shark (almost certainly the perpetrator) in self-defense that the reign of terror ended.
Scientists confirmed that the deadly fish captured by the fishermen was a white shark, and it was reported that upon examining the shark’s stomach they discovered nearly 15 pounds of human flesh (the veracity of these claims is still in question). Although the attacks that summer ended, the sense of fear and foreboding it engendered lingers. Although shark attacks are rare and it is extremely unlikely for sharks to prey on humans, beachgoers are still constantly on the lookout. The initial view of a shark as just a fish has perhaps forever changed, despite efforts on the part of scientists to dispel the negative stereotype.