Aug. 4, 2025
Episode 169: When Lightning Struck the Big Top
Wahpeton’s 1897 Circus Tragedy
Step beneath the canvas and into a summer storm as host Shane Waters unearths the electrifying true story of June 10, 1897, when a bolt of lightning shattered the Ringling Brothers’ Big Top in Wahpeton, North Dakota. Hear how a day that promised exotic animals, brass‑band parades, and wonder turned to chaos in a heartbeat—claiming two lives, shaking a frontier town, and forging a bond between locals and traveling showfolk that still echoes through the granite “tent‑pole” monument overlooking the prairie cemetery today.
More than a tale of disaster, this episode explores community resilience, the origins of the circus credo “the show must go on,” and the timeless reminder that every hometown holds a story waiting to be unearthed. Perfect for fans of forgotten Americana, circus lore, and true‑history twists, “When Lightning Struck the Big Top” brings 19th‑century North Dakota vividly—and thunderously—to life.
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WEBVTT
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[SPEAKER_00]: out of local boys and circus roused about, heave on thick ropes, trying to raise a massive canvas tint under a stormy morning sky.
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[SPEAKER_00]: The air smells of wet grass and electricity.
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[SPEAKER_00]: Canvas flaps snap and a gust of wind, as mallets drive wooden stakes into soggy earth.
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[SPEAKER_00]: twelve-year-old Edward Williams, grips a rope with all his might, feet slipping in the mock.
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[SPEAKER_00]: A grizzled circus worker rushes over to help.
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[SPEAKER_00]: Edward stumbles back, wide-eyed, suddenly, a blinding flash of lightning engulfs the big top.
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[SPEAKER_00]: The main tent pole shatters under the bolt, men are thrown to the ground.
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[SPEAKER_00]: For an instant, everything and everyone is stunned into silence.
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[SPEAKER_00]: Rain drips through a gaping hole in the canvas as smoke and steam rise from the splintered pole.
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[SPEAKER_00]: Two workers lie motionless in the mud, and others groan in pain.
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[SPEAKER_00]: The joyous circus morning has exploded into chaos.
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[SPEAKER_00]: Hello friend, welcome back to hometown history.
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[SPEAKER_00]: The podcast that takes a stroll down the main streets and back alleys of the past to uncover how local stories shaped the world.
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[SPEAKER_00]: I'm Shane Waters, and today we're exploring the day.
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[SPEAKER_00]: The circus came to a pet in North Dakota and met with a shocking tragedy.
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[SPEAKER_00]: In June of eighteen ninety seven, a lightning strike turned a small town anticipation into horror under the big top.
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[SPEAKER_00]: But to understand how a traveling circus spectacle became a hometown nightmare, we need to go back to that era of grand parades, exotic animals, and a community thrilled by the circus's arrival.
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[SPEAKER_00]: Let's step back to the summer of eighteen ninety-seven.
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[SPEAKER_00]: When the wringling brother circus rolled into town, amid ring clouds and high hopes,
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[SPEAKER_00]: In the late nineteenth century, traveling circuses were the Super Bowl, state fair, and Broadway show all rolled into one.
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[SPEAKER_00]: When the circus train pulled into a small town, it was if the world wonders how to ride overnight.
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[SPEAKER_00]: In Wappetton, a tiny frontier town on the Dakota Prairie, June tenth, eighteen ninety-seven, was circus day.
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[SPEAKER_00]: The ringing brother circus train chug dinner dawn.
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[SPEAKER_00]: Fresh from performances around North Dakota.
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[SPEAKER_00]: Towns folk gathered at the Great Northern Depot to watch cages unload white horses and wild animals most had never seen before.
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[SPEAKER_00]: young Edward Williams only twelve years old was among those all struck that was the first time I saw hippopotamus he later remembered describing the creature lying in its cage like a big hog he would say
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[SPEAKER_00]: For form kids like Edward, a circus was more than entertainment.
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[SPEAKER_00]: It was a ticket to adventure.
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[SPEAKER_00]: In fact, Ringling Brothers offered free show tickets to local children who helped set up tents.
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[SPEAKER_00]: So Edward had leapt from his bed before dawn that day.
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[SPEAKER_00]: Eager to be the first in line, for a job.
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[SPEAKER_00]: He and dozens of others were hired to assist the rostobouts, in whisting the big top.
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[SPEAKER_00]: A huge canvas tint that would seat thousands.
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[SPEAKER_00]: Despite persistent rain that began in the morning, the excitement was palpable.
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[SPEAKER_00]: What petting's population was only a few thousand, but circus stay would draw farmers and families from miles around.
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[SPEAKER_00]: Newspapers called this the Golden Age of the Circus, and for good reason.
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[SPEAKER_00]: The five ringling brothers, Owl, Owl, Otto, John, and Charles, had built a dazzling, traveling show.
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[SPEAKER_00]: Every stop on their tour began with a spectacular parade through downtown, a moving preview of exotic beasts, acrobatts, clowns, and brass bands.
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[SPEAKER_00]: By afternoon, up to seven thousand people were expected to pack the enormous tent for the performance
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[SPEAKER_00]: an astonishing turnout in eighteen ninety-seven, far outnumbering with petting's own residents, rain or shine this was the biggest event of the year.
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[SPEAKER_00]: But that morning, dark clouds gathered over what petting.
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[SPEAKER_00]: As circus workers and local boys wrestled with ropes and poles at the muddy figurehounds, few imagined the danger, brewing overhead
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[SPEAKER_00]: In an age before modern weather forecasts, a fast building thunderstorm was just another obstacle to push through.
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[SPEAKER_00]: The cruise foreman determined to get the tent raised on schedule, sliced a few holes in the hanging canvas to dump out pulling ring water and lighten the load.
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[SPEAKER_00]: still, the water-locked tent refused to budge, until more than a dozen adult circus workers joined the effort.
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[SPEAKER_00]: Edward and his friends strained at the ropes.
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[SPEAKER_00]: Alongside the season roastabouts, hearts pounding with excursion and excitement.
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[SPEAKER_00]: The big top had to go up.
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[SPEAKER_00]: The show must go on.
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[SPEAKER_00]: With a mighty effort, the crew finally began to lift the center pole of the big top.
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[SPEAKER_00]: Edward small hands burned from the wet rope, slipping through his fingers.
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[SPEAKER_00]: Suddenly, a burly canvas man intervened, nudging the boy aside.
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[SPEAKER_00]: This is a man's work he growled.
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[SPEAKER_00]: Edward stumbled back, catching his breath.
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[SPEAKER_00]: And in that split second,
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[SPEAKER_00]: the sky exploded, a searing white flash in a boom of thunder struck simultaneously, so close that it defends those beneath the tent.
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[SPEAKER_00]: The main pole, now almost fully upright, took a direct hit from a lightning bolt.
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[SPEAKER_00]: The massive wooden beam shattered under nature's fury.
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[SPEAKER_00]: In the stunned heartbeat after the strike, there was eerie silence.
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[SPEAKER_00]: Then came the screams.
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[SPEAKER_00]: Men lay strewn on the ground, around the collapsed pole.
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[SPEAKER_00]: Edward stared in shock at the spot where he'd been pulling just moments before.
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[SPEAKER_00]: The two workers who had taken over his rope were now lifeless on the trampled grass
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[SPEAKER_00]: One was likely the very man who had told him to step aside.
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[SPEAKER_00]: Nearby, the tense cruise foreman, Charles Miller, was collapsed and badly injured, smoke rising from his clothes.
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[SPEAKER_00]: At least a dozen other men were knocked out cold by the blasts force.
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[SPEAKER_00]: Rain poured through the torn canvas overhead, pattering on faces both dead and unconscious.
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[SPEAKER_00]: Panic and confusion swept the circus grounds.
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[SPEAKER_00]: Survivors shouted for help and tried to rouse their comrades.
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[SPEAKER_00]: Some of the local boys who have been helping ran for cover or stood frozen.
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[SPEAKER_00]: White as sheets.
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[SPEAKER_00]: Edward would later admit he was as white as a sheet for two days afterwards.
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[SPEAKER_00]: Pale was shocked at how close he'd come to death.
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[SPEAKER_00]: In an instant, what petan's joyous morning had transformed into a scene of tragedy.
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[SPEAKER_00]: The lightning's flash that struck the big top left two men dead.
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[SPEAKER_00]: Their names, it would turn out, were Charles Smith and Charles Walters, and many more injured or stunned.
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[SPEAKER_00]: It was a catastrophe unlike anything the ringling brother circus had ever experienced on tour.
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[SPEAKER_00]: As the initial fright subsided, the circus workers sprang into action to help their own.
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[SPEAKER_00]: Admit the rain and accurate smell of ozone.
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[SPEAKER_00]: They carried the injured out from under the sagging tent canvas.
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[SPEAKER_00]: Some employees recalling old field remedies for lightning strikes, removed the victim's shoes, and pound at the bottoms of their feet and palms, to try to revive them.
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[SPEAKER_00]: Historian Lowell-Torgason, later noted that several men were brought back to consciousness by these desperate measures.
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[SPEAKER_00]: Slowly, groans were placed silence, as the stunned rostobouts came to.
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[SPEAKER_00]: clutching aching heads and chests, but no amount of pounding or pleading could stir Charles Smith or Charles Walters.
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[SPEAKER_00]: They were gone.
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[SPEAKER_00]: Their lives snuffed out in a millisecond by that bolt from the sky.
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[SPEAKER_00]: The gathered workers and the local boys, like Edward, could only look on and grief and disbelief.
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[SPEAKER_00]: Word of the disaster spread quickly through a pattern.
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[SPEAKER_00]: A messenger likely rushed to town to fetch doctor, and locals arriving for the morning parade heard whispers that lightning had struck the circus.
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[SPEAKER_00]: Imagine the collective heartbreak and confusion.
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[SPEAKER_00]: The circus had promised a day of magic, yet now death hung in the air.
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[SPEAKER_00]: The ringing brothers themselves, seasoned shoman, faced a grave decision.
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[SPEAKER_00]: With two men dead and others injured, should they cancel the show?
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[SPEAKER_00]: Could the parade still march after such a horrifying accident?
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[SPEAKER_00]: In true circus tradition, it was decided that the show would go on, postponing or canceling might have spelled financial ruin for the troops season.
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[SPEAKER_00]: And perhaps the management believed continuing was a way to honor the fallen by not disappointing thousands of awaiting spectators
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[SPEAKER_00]: So even as the victims were tended to, preparations continued for the grand parade through a petan's muddy streets.
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[SPEAKER_00]: That afternoon, the town witnessed one of the most surreal parades in its history.
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[SPEAKER_00]: The were petan parade rolled out on schedule, defying both the tragedy and the weather.
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[SPEAKER_00]: According to the local Richland County Gazette, it was the largest and finest ever seen in the city.
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[SPEAKER_00]: Omlookers watched an awe as two hundred and five beautiful horses, transpired by drawing fifty-one gilded carriages in animal cages.
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[SPEAKER_00]: There were thirty-one ponies, twelve elephants, five camos, four bands, blaring lively tunes, a coliopee stream organ whistling, and even a chime of bells, a spectacle of collar and sound marching right down Dakota Avenue.
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[SPEAKER_00]: Children perched on shoulders, and neighbors pressed together under umbrellas, as the procession passed
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[SPEAKER_00]: Few could guess from the pageantry that anything was a miss, except perhaps for the mud.
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[SPEAKER_00]: The morning's downpour had turned the streets too much, and more than once the mighty elephants had to shove a stuck wagon free of the gumbo mud.
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[SPEAKER_00]: Behind the scenes, grief was palpable, among the circus folk.
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[SPEAKER_00]: But outwardly, they maintained a show of normalcy,
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[SPEAKER_00]: The afternoon performance under the big top preceded, likely in a repaired or smaller tent, since the main pole had been destroyed.
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[SPEAKER_00]: astonishingly, over seven thousand people crowded in to watch that day show.
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[SPEAKER_00]: They gasped an acrobat on the high wire, and roared with laughter at clowns, perhaps not knowing that just hours before.
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[SPEAKER_00]: This very tent had been a sight of fatal tragedy.
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[SPEAKER_00]: The Ringling Brothers Circus was demonstrating its resilience, the only way it knew how, by delivering wonder and joy, even on a dark day.
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[SPEAKER_00]: Local newspapers took note of the circus management's integrity during the crisis.
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[SPEAKER_00]: A week later, the North Dakota Globe reported that everything was under control at the show, and that ringling's management forbade its windling or profanity on the circus grounds, implying our respectability not always seen in traveling shows
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[SPEAKER_00]: Most tellingly, the globe wrote that the concern shown for the workmen in the wake of the lightning strike proved the circus out of heart.
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[SPEAKER_00]: They shared the management has the interest of the workmen at heart, the paper observed, evidenced by the genuine grief at the death of two crewmen.
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[SPEAKER_00]: In other words, the ringling brothers did not treat this as a mere inconvenience.
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[SPEAKER_00]: They mourned their loss men as family
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[SPEAKER_00]: Perhaps one of the most pointed moments came during the parade itself.
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[SPEAKER_00]: Young Edward Williams still shaken but alive, spotted an important looking man on a white horse, possibly one of the ringling brothers leading the procession.
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[SPEAKER_00]: Gathering his courage, Edward shouted out that he worked at the tent but didn't get a ticket.
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[SPEAKER_00]: The gentleman on horseback turned to the boy and asked, well where's your foreman?
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[SPEAKER_00]: Edward had to reply, his voice was trembling when he said, he's dead.
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[SPEAKER_00]: The man on the horse simply shook his head and said that's hard luck before riding on.
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[SPEAKER_00]: And that brief exchange, a child asking for his promised reward in the realization that the man who was to grant it had been killed.
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[SPEAKER_00]: The enormous human cost of the morning's tragedy hit home.
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[SPEAKER_00]: Edward never did get to see the circus show he'd labored for.
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[SPEAKER_00]: Instead, he carried the memory of that day's horror for the rest of his life.
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[SPEAKER_00]: When the last act ended and the crowds dispersed, the circus workers finally had a moment to reckon with their loss.
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[SPEAKER_00]: The men who died, Charles Smith and Charles E. Walters were not anonymous roostabouts.
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[SPEAKER_00]: They were colleagues, friends, perhaps fathers and husbands.
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[SPEAKER_00]: As the sun dipped low on June tenth, eighteen ninety seven, the circus community and the people of Wapetton came together to ensure these men received a proper farewell.
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[SPEAKER_00]: After the afternoon show, Ringling employees passed a hat among themselves, and possibly among sympathetic townsfolk and showgoers.
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[SPEAKER_00]: They raised over five hundred dollars, a hefty sum at the time, to cover funeral costs in a lasting memorial.
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[SPEAKER_00]: It's unclear if some donations came from local attendees, but the circus crew certainly gave generously, from their day's earnings,
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[SPEAKER_00]: The decision was made, with the blessing of the men's families, to bury Charles Smith and Charles Walters in Wippeten, the very town where they met their fate.
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[SPEAKER_00]: In a sense, Wippeten adopted these two strangers as its own, showing a remarkable act of community compassion.
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[SPEAKER_00]: That evening or the next day, a somber burial service was held.
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[SPEAKER_00]: One can imagine the scene at the cemetery on the edge of town, a small gathering of circus performers, still in their work clothes, standing alongside curious and sorrowful townspeople.
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[SPEAKER_00]: Perhaps a local preacher offered prayers over simple wooden coffins.
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[SPEAKER_00]: Rain might have drizzled, as final words were spoken.
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[SPEAKER_00]: the circus band, which hours before had blared cheerful tunes.
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[SPEAKER_00]: May have stood in silence, or played a low, durge, in respect.
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[SPEAKER_00]: Grief hung heavy in the gray air.
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[SPEAKER_00]: Many of those itinerant showmen had no fixed home.
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[SPEAKER_00]: But here they were, laying two of their brethren, to rest, far from any family plot,
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[SPEAKER_00]: in the absence of a proper tombstone ready.
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[SPEAKER_00]: The circus workers created a makeshift memorial that was as poignant as it was in genius.
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[SPEAKER_00]: They took the very symbol of the tragedy, the shattered center tent pole, and turned it into a grave marker.
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[SPEAKER_00]: from June tenth until the fall of eighteen ninety-seven, a section of that lightning splintered pole stood vigil over the fresh graves of Smith and Walters.
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[SPEAKER_00]: They even left part of the rope and pulley system attached.
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[SPEAKER_00]: The same ropes the men had been pulling, when fate struck
19:58.202 --> 20:05.589
[SPEAKER_00]: This broken timber, scarred by lightning and wrapped in a rain soaked rope, served as a poignant tribute.
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[SPEAKER_00]: It was as if to say, here like the men who died, raising this tent, and here stands the very pole that took their lives.
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[SPEAKER_00]: For the circus family, it was important that the world remember not just that these men died, but how they died, working together to bring joy to a small town.
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[SPEAKER_00]: Petton citizens too were deeply moved by the incident.
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[SPEAKER_00]: Local papers treated Smith and Walters, with the respect usually reserved for hometown sons.
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[SPEAKER_00]: Their funerals were attended by townsfolk, who never knew them in life, but were united in mourning.
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[SPEAKER_00]: In that moment, the line between outsider and local blurred, all felt the fragility of life, when confronted with nature's wrath.
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[SPEAKER_00]: This collective empathy and action marked a turning point
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[SPEAKER_00]: a tragedy that could have been quickly forgotten in a traveling show.
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[SPEAKER_00]: Instead forced a lasting bond between a community and a circus.
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[SPEAKER_00]: The commitment to honor the fallen did not end with the burial.
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[SPEAKER_00]: The money collected was more than sufficient for the funerals, so the remainder went toward a permanent tribute.
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[SPEAKER_00]: A monument unlike any other
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[SPEAKER_00]: Over the next several weeks, plans were made to immortalize the story of June tenth, eighteen ninety-seven in stone.
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[SPEAKER_00]: The result would ensure that Charles Smith and Charles Walters, though buried far from their birthplaces, would never be lost to time.
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[SPEAKER_00]: a granite monument now stands tall in what pet and cemetery designed in the likeness of the very broken tent pole that was struck by lightning.
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[SPEAKER_00]: Chiseled into the stone is a winding rope and pulley, frozen in time as it coils around the pole.
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[SPEAKER_00]: An even jagged streaks to mimic the path of the fatal lightning bolt
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[SPEAKER_00]: the base of the monument, a sculpted hammer, and tent stake, jut out.
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[SPEAKER_00]: Symbolizing the labor of circus rousedabouts, the inscription on that base is simple and heartfelt.
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[SPEAKER_00]: Reading, he erected by the employees of Ringling Brothers Circus.
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[SPEAKER_00]: at lists the fallen, Charles Smith, June tenth, eighteen ninety-seven, and Charles E. Walters, September fifteenth, eighteen seventy, to June tenth, eighteen ninety-seven.
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[SPEAKER_00]: In essence, the circus workers themselves, the extended family of these men, claimed responsibility for this memorial, ensuring their comrades would be remembered
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[SPEAKER_00]: That permanent circus monument was erected in late September, eighteen ninety-seven, replacing the weather worn wooden pole marker.
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[SPEAKER_00]: Locals say its design was likely inspired by a photograph of the original makeshift tribute.
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[SPEAKER_00]: Faithfully preserving every detail into stone.
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[SPEAKER_00]: Over time, the monument has loomed over the modest headstones of what petons Bohemian cemetery, also known as Riverside Cemetery, like a Sentinel of History.
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[SPEAKER_00]: It dwarfs the nearby graves, immediately catching the eye of any visitor wandering through.
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[SPEAKER_00]: Many have been struck by the sight of a broken granite pole wrapped in stone ropes and wondered what tragedy lies beneath.
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[SPEAKER_00]: For the circus community, the memory of a pet in eighteen ninety-seven became almost legendary.
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[SPEAKER_00]: The Ringling Brothers' own route book for that year, recorded the incident somberly.
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[SPEAKER_00]: at this town the saddest accident of the season occurred.
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[SPEAKER_00]: It described how a monument was later placed over the graves.
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[SPEAKER_00]: A shattered center pole under a substantial base, properly inscribed to commemorate the sad affair, as well as to perpetuate the memories of those whose lives went out at the lightning's flash
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[SPEAKER_00]: True to those words, the story did not die with Charles Smith and Charles Walters.
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[SPEAKER_00]: For decades afterwards, whenever a circus troupe passed through eastern North Dakota, the farmers and crew would make a quiet pilgrimage to a pet and circus monument.
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[SPEAKER_00]: clowns, acrobats, animal trainers, generations of show people have stood before that stone pole, reading the names of two men who died in the line of show business duty.
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[SPEAKER_00]: They leave flowers or simply a moment of respectful silence.
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[SPEAKER_00]: In nineteen forty eight tragedy struck again when another circus performer Herbert Duke Walker died during a show in what pattern he too was laid to rest only a few yards from the ringling monument it does if this ground has become hollowed for circus folk a reminder that the show may go on but not without cost
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[SPEAKER_00]: Today many residents of a petton passed by the Old Cemetery, unaware of the drama that unfolded there over a century ago.
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[SPEAKER_00]: The lonely monument stands, weathered by planes winters, telling its story to those who stopped to look.
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[SPEAKER_00]: On one side of the granite pole, you can still decipher the carved outlines of a lightning bolt, jagged and fierce, splitting the pole from top to midway down.
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[SPEAKER_00]: The rope and chain carved into the stone look ready to be grabbed by unseen hands.
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[SPEAKER_00]: Even the broken top of the monument, rugged and irregular.
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[SPEAKER_00]: It evokes the splintered wood that the tent pole after the strike.
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[SPEAKER_00]: It's a piece of art, history, and folklore all in one.
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[SPEAKER_00]: For Repetent, the circus lightning tragedy of eighteen ninety-seven has become a tale of community and remembrance.
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[SPEAKER_00]: What could have been a forgotten footnote?
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[SPEAKER_00]: Two itinerant workers, killed by a freak accident, instead lives on as a local legend.
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[SPEAKER_00]: The monument is often simply called, Circus Tent Pole, as it embodies the resilience born from that day.
27:31.107 --> 27:37.249
[SPEAKER_00]: It represents how a community and a traveling circus family refused to forget their own
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[SPEAKER_00]: The people of Wappetton cared for those men and death as if they were their longtime neighbors.
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[SPEAKER_00]: In the circus employees, despite packing up and moving on to the next town, left a piece of their heart behind and Wappetton's soil.
27:58.661 --> 28:05.486
[SPEAKER_00]: The story of repentance lightning tragedy resonates far beyond a century old circus freak accident.
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[SPEAKER_00]: At its core, it's a story of community resilience and unity in the face of tragedy.
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[SPEAKER_00]: When lightning struck that tent pole, it also struck the hearts of everyone present, and the echo of that moment bound people together.
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[SPEAKER_00]: In our modern world, we've seen how communities rally after disasters, whether natural or man-made, a tornado hit the town, and neighbors emerge to rebuild together.
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[SPEAKER_00]: a sudden accident claims local lives, and people gather for vigils, fundraisers, and memorials.
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[SPEAKER_00]: This impulse to come together to support, to remember.
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[SPEAKER_00]: It's the same now as it was in eighteen ninety-seven.
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[SPEAKER_00]: What Patton's response to the circus tragedy shows how human empathy transcends time and circumstance.
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[SPEAKER_00]: These were not towns folk who died, they were traveling laborers, outsiders.
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[SPEAKER_00]: Yet the town opened its arms and claimed them, saying, you will rest with us, and we will honor you.
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[SPEAKER_00]: In doing so, we'll pet and set an example of compassion that we can still learn from today.
29:29.259 --> 29:32.521
[SPEAKER_00]: There's also a lesson of carrying on through hardship
29:33.940 --> 29:38.582
[SPEAKER_00]: The old saying the show must go on, isn't just about circuses or theaters.
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[SPEAKER_00]: It's about life.
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[SPEAKER_00]: The ringling brother circus continued their performance that day.
29:45.305 --> 29:51.908
[SPEAKER_00]: Not out of callousness, but perhaps out of a determination to not let tragedy defeat them.
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[SPEAKER_00]: In our own lives when we face sudden loss or adversity, we too find ways to push forward.
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[SPEAKER_00]: Not to forget what happened, but to persevere in spite of it.
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[SPEAKER_00]: The key is doing so with heart, as the Ringling Management did by caring for their workers and memorializing them.
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[SPEAKER_00]: perseverance and compassion can coexist.
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[SPEAKER_00]: We see this in how communities handle tragedies today, continuing with school or work, or community events to maintain normalcy, while also creating space to mourn and remember those lost.
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[SPEAKER_00]: the circus monument in what patent is a physical reminder that even something as transient as a one day circus stop can leave a permanent mark on a community's heritage.
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[SPEAKER_00]: How many other small towns have monuments or plaques commemorating events that outsiders have never heard of.
30:57.134 --> 31:00.697
[SPEAKER_00]: Countless hometowns have their own broken tent pole stories
31:02.304 --> 31:10.407
[SPEAKER_00]: moments of disaster and heroism, of loss and solidarity that are part of a local identity.
31:12.488 --> 31:19.491
[SPEAKER_00]: It might be a mining accident memorial in a cold town or a plaque for a fallen volunteer firefighter.
31:20.691 --> 31:27.734
[SPEAKER_00]: These markers tell us that every hometown has its story of resilience, waiting to be discovered
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[SPEAKER_00]: Visiting that graveyard in what pit in today, one might feel a kinship, with those who stood there in eighteen ninety-seven under the drizzle, vowing the Charles Smith and Charles Walters would not be forgotten.
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[SPEAKER_00]: In our present day, we're often focused on the next big thing.
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[SPEAKER_00]: The newest entertainment, the constant rush of progress,
31:54.455 --> 32:01.532
[SPEAKER_00]: that were pet and tragedy invites us to pause and reflect on the human stories that like quietly and are missed.
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[SPEAKER_00]: It encourages us to remember that the past was full of ordinary people who faced extraordinary challenges with courage and kindness.
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[SPEAKER_00]: And it reminds us that community isn't defined by how long you've lived somewhere.
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[SPEAKER_00]: On that faithful day, a community was formed in an instant.
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[SPEAKER_00]: Forged by a shared experience of shock and grief,
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[SPEAKER_00]: As we reflect on this tale, we might also consider how we memorialize events today.
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[SPEAKER_00]: We build monuments for wars and national tragedies.
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[SPEAKER_00]: But local stories can slip away, unless we make the effort to preserve them.
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[SPEAKER_00]: The circus monument is a success story in historical memory.
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[SPEAKER_00]: It has kept the Wappetton Lightning Strike of eighteen ninety-seven, a live and local lore.
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[SPEAKER_00]: It challenges us.
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[SPEAKER_00]: What stories from our own hometowns deserve to be remembered and retold.
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[SPEAKER_00]: By learning about this unusual monument in the event, it commemorates.
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[SPEAKER_00]: We participate in keeping that memory alive
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[SPEAKER_00]: In a way through this podcast, we two are laying a figure to flower at the graves of those circus workers, acknowledging their story in its meaning.
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[SPEAKER_00]: Ultimately, the saga of the Ringling Brothers Circus Lightning Tragedy is more than just a bizarre incident.
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[SPEAKER_00]: It's a tale of humanity.
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[SPEAKER_00]: We feel the excitement of young Edward, seeing hippo for the first time.
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[SPEAKER_00]: the terror of the lightning bolt, the sorrow of the makeshift funeral, in the hope embedded in that granite monument, reminded that life can change in an instant, as it did for Edward and the circus crew.
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[SPEAKER_00]: But what indoors is how we respond
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[SPEAKER_00]: will pet and responded with generosity and remembrance.
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[SPEAKER_00]: The circus family responded with loyalty and love.
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[SPEAKER_00]: These are values as relevant now as they were in eighteen ninety seven.
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[SPEAKER_00]: So the next time you drive past an old cemetery, or a historic marker in your town, think of what patents tint poll monument.
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[SPEAKER_00]: Remember that behind each of those silent stones is a story of people who laughed, cried, hoped, and persevered.
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[SPEAKER_00]: Our hometown histories are built on such stories, some tragic, some triumphant, all worth telling.
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[SPEAKER_00]: I'm Shane Waters, every hometown has a story.
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[SPEAKER_00]: Tonight, it's etched into a broken circus tent pole, standing lonely against the North Dakota Sky, reminding us of community, resilience, and the bonds we share in tragedy and memory.
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[SPEAKER_00]: Good night, friend.
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[SPEAKER_00]: out of local boys and circus roused about, heave on thick ropes, trying to raise a massive canvas tint under a stormy morning sky.
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[SPEAKER_00]: The air smells of wet grass and electricity.
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[SPEAKER_00]: Canvas flaps snap and a gust of wind, as mallets drive wooden stakes into soggy earth.
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[SPEAKER_00]: twelve-year-old Edward Williams, grips a rope with all his might, feet slipping in the mock.
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[SPEAKER_00]: A grizzled circus worker rushes over to help.
00:45.177 --> 00:55.301
[SPEAKER_00]: Edward stumbles back, wide-eyed, suddenly, a blinding flash of lightning engulfs the big top.
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[SPEAKER_00]: The main tent pole shatters under the bolt, men are thrown to the ground.
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[SPEAKER_00]: For an instant, everything and everyone is stunned into silence.
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[SPEAKER_00]: Rain drips through a gaping hole in the canvas as smoke and steam rise from the splintered pole.
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[SPEAKER_00]: Two workers lie motionless in the mud, and others groan in pain.
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[SPEAKER_00]: The joyous circus morning has exploded into chaos.
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[SPEAKER_00]: Hello friend, welcome back to hometown history.
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[SPEAKER_00]: The podcast that takes a stroll down the main streets and back alleys of the past to uncover how local stories shaped the world.
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[SPEAKER_00]: I'm Shane Waters, and today we're exploring the day.
01:52.231 --> 01:57.557
[SPEAKER_00]: The circus came to a pet in North Dakota and met with a shocking tragedy.
02:00.140 --> 02:08.870
[SPEAKER_00]: In June of eighteen ninety seven, a lightning strike turned a small town anticipation into horror under the big top.
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[SPEAKER_00]: But to understand how a traveling circus spectacle became a hometown nightmare, we need to go back to that era of grand parades, exotic animals, and a community thrilled by the circus's arrival.
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[SPEAKER_00]: Let's step back to the summer of eighteen ninety-seven.
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[SPEAKER_00]: When the wringling brother circus rolled into town, amid ring clouds and high hopes,
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[SPEAKER_00]: In the late nineteenth century, traveling circuses were the Super Bowl, state fair, and Broadway show all rolled into one.
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[SPEAKER_00]: When the circus train pulled into a small town, it was if the world wonders how to ride overnight.
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[SPEAKER_00]: In Wappetton, a tiny frontier town on the Dakota Prairie, June tenth, eighteen ninety-seven, was circus day.
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[SPEAKER_00]: The ringing brother circus train chug dinner dawn.
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[SPEAKER_00]: Fresh from performances around North Dakota.
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[SPEAKER_00]: Towns folk gathered at the Great Northern Depot to watch cages unload white horses and wild animals most had never seen before.
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[SPEAKER_00]: young Edward Williams only twelve years old was among those all struck that was the first time I saw hippopotamus he later remembered describing the creature lying in its cage like a big hog he would say
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[SPEAKER_00]: For form kids like Edward, a circus was more than entertainment.
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[SPEAKER_00]: It was a ticket to adventure.
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[SPEAKER_00]: In fact, Ringling Brothers offered free show tickets to local children who helped set up tents.
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[SPEAKER_00]: So Edward had leapt from his bed before dawn that day.
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[SPEAKER_00]: Eager to be the first in line, for a job.
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[SPEAKER_00]: He and dozens of others were hired to assist the rostobouts, in whisting the big top.
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[SPEAKER_00]: A huge canvas tint that would seat thousands.
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[SPEAKER_00]: Despite persistent rain that began in the morning, the excitement was palpable.
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[SPEAKER_00]: What petting's population was only a few thousand, but circus stay would draw farmers and families from miles around.
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[SPEAKER_00]: Newspapers called this the Golden Age of the Circus, and for good reason.
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[SPEAKER_00]: The five ringling brothers, Owl, Owl, Otto, John, and Charles, had built a dazzling, traveling show.
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[SPEAKER_00]: Every stop on their tour began with a spectacular parade through downtown, a moving preview of exotic beasts, acrobatts, clowns, and brass bands.
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[SPEAKER_00]: By afternoon, up to seven thousand people were expected to pack the enormous tent for the performance
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[SPEAKER_00]: an astonishing turnout in eighteen ninety-seven, far outnumbering with petting's own residents, rain or shine this was the biggest event of the year.
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[SPEAKER_00]: But that morning, dark clouds gathered over what petting.
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[SPEAKER_00]: As circus workers and local boys wrestled with ropes and poles at the muddy figurehounds, few imagined the danger, brewing overhead
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[SPEAKER_00]: In an age before modern weather forecasts, a fast building thunderstorm was just another obstacle to push through.
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[SPEAKER_00]: The cruise foreman determined to get the tent raised on schedule, sliced a few holes in the hanging canvas to dump out pulling ring water and lighten the load.
06:10.965 --> 06:19.327
[SPEAKER_00]: still, the water-locked tent refused to budge, until more than a dozen adult circus workers joined the effort.
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[SPEAKER_00]: Edward and his friends strained at the ropes.
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[SPEAKER_00]: Alongside the season roastabouts, hearts pounding with excursion and excitement.
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[SPEAKER_00]: The big top had to go up.
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[SPEAKER_00]: The show must go on.
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[SPEAKER_00]: With a mighty effort, the crew finally began to lift the center pole of the big top.
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[SPEAKER_00]: Edward small hands burned from the wet rope, slipping through his fingers.
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[SPEAKER_00]: Suddenly, a burly canvas man intervened, nudging the boy aside.
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[SPEAKER_00]: This is a man's work he growled.
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[SPEAKER_00]: Edward stumbled back, catching his breath.
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[SPEAKER_00]: And in that split second,
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[SPEAKER_00]: the sky exploded, a searing white flash in a boom of thunder struck simultaneously, so close that it defends those beneath the tent.
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[SPEAKER_00]: The main pole, now almost fully upright, took a direct hit from a lightning bolt.
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[SPEAKER_00]: The massive wooden beam shattered under nature's fury.
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[SPEAKER_00]: In the stunned heartbeat after the strike, there was eerie silence.
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[SPEAKER_00]: Then came the screams.
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[SPEAKER_00]: Men lay strewn on the ground, around the collapsed pole.
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[SPEAKER_00]: Edward stared in shock at the spot where he'd been pulling just moments before.
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[SPEAKER_00]: The two workers who had taken over his rope were now lifeless on the trampled grass
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[SPEAKER_00]: One was likely the very man who had told him to step aside.
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[SPEAKER_00]: Nearby, the tense cruise foreman, Charles Miller, was collapsed and badly injured, smoke rising from his clothes.
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[SPEAKER_00]: At least a dozen other men were knocked out cold by the blasts force.
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[SPEAKER_00]: Rain poured through the torn canvas overhead, pattering on faces both dead and unconscious.
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[SPEAKER_00]: Panic and confusion swept the circus grounds.
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[SPEAKER_00]: Survivors shouted for help and tried to rouse their comrades.
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[SPEAKER_00]: Some of the local boys who have been helping ran for cover or stood frozen.
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[SPEAKER_00]: White as sheets.
08:53.959 --> 08:58.741
[SPEAKER_00]: Edward would later admit he was as white as a sheet for two days afterwards.
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[SPEAKER_00]: Pale was shocked at how close he'd come to death.
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[SPEAKER_00]: In an instant, what petan's joyous morning had transformed into a scene of tragedy.
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[SPEAKER_00]: The lightning's flash that struck the big top left two men dead.
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[SPEAKER_00]: Their names, it would turn out, were Charles Smith and Charles Walters, and many more injured or stunned.
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[SPEAKER_00]: It was a catastrophe unlike anything the ringling brother circus had ever experienced on tour.
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[SPEAKER_00]: As the initial fright subsided, the circus workers sprang into action to help their own.
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[SPEAKER_00]: Admit the rain and accurate smell of ozone.
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[SPEAKER_00]: They carried the injured out from under the sagging tent canvas.
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[SPEAKER_00]: Some employees recalling old field remedies for lightning strikes, removed the victim's shoes, and pound at the bottoms of their feet and palms, to try to revive them.
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[SPEAKER_00]: Historian Lowell-Torgason, later noted that several men were brought back to consciousness by these desperate measures.
10:15.806 --> 10:21.710
[SPEAKER_00]: Slowly, groans were placed silence, as the stunned rostobouts came to.
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[SPEAKER_00]: clutching aching heads and chests, but no amount of pounding or pleading could stir Charles Smith or Charles Walters.
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[SPEAKER_00]: They were gone.
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[SPEAKER_00]: Their lives snuffed out in a millisecond by that bolt from the sky.
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[SPEAKER_00]: The gathered workers and the local boys, like Edward, could only look on and grief and disbelief.
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[SPEAKER_00]: Word of the disaster spread quickly through a pattern.
10:56.136 --> 11:06.405
[SPEAKER_00]: A messenger likely rushed to town to fetch doctor, and locals arriving for the morning parade heard whispers that lightning had struck the circus.
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[SPEAKER_00]: Imagine the collective heartbreak and confusion.
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[SPEAKER_00]: The circus had promised a day of magic, yet now death hung in the air.
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[SPEAKER_00]: The ringing brothers themselves, seasoned shoman, faced a grave decision.
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[SPEAKER_00]: With two men dead and others injured, should they cancel the show?
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[SPEAKER_00]: Could the parade still march after such a horrifying accident?
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[SPEAKER_00]: In true circus tradition, it was decided that the show would go on, postponing or canceling might have spelled financial ruin for the troops season.
11:50.327 --> 11:58.915
[SPEAKER_00]: And perhaps the management believed continuing was a way to honor the fallen by not disappointing thousands of awaiting spectators
12:00.893 --> 12:08.519
[SPEAKER_00]: So even as the victims were tended to, preparations continued for the grand parade through a petan's muddy streets.
12:10.140 --> 12:15.384
[SPEAKER_00]: That afternoon, the town witnessed one of the most surreal parades in its history.
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[SPEAKER_00]: The were petan parade rolled out on schedule, defying both the tragedy and the weather.
12:25.227 --> 12:31.155
[SPEAKER_00]: According to the local Richland County Gazette, it was the largest and finest ever seen in the city.
12:32.676 --> 12:43.310
[SPEAKER_00]: Omlookers watched an awe as two hundred and five beautiful horses, transpired by drawing fifty-one gilded carriages in animal cages.
12:44.829 --> 13:05.005
[SPEAKER_00]: There were thirty-one ponies, twelve elephants, five camos, four bands, blaring lively tunes, a coliopee stream organ whistling, and even a chime of bells, a spectacle of collar and sound marching right down Dakota Avenue.
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[SPEAKER_00]: Children perched on shoulders, and neighbors pressed together under umbrellas, as the procession passed
13:15.778 --> 13:21.963
[SPEAKER_00]: Few could guess from the pageantry that anything was a miss, except perhaps for the mud.
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[SPEAKER_00]: The morning's downpour had turned the streets too much, and more than once the mighty elephants had to shove a stuck wagon free of the gumbo mud.
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[SPEAKER_00]: Behind the scenes, grief was palpable, among the circus folk.
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[SPEAKER_00]: But outwardly, they maintained a show of normalcy,
13:46.139 --> 13:55.760
[SPEAKER_00]: The afternoon performance under the big top preceded, likely in a repaired or smaller tent, since the main pole had been destroyed.
13:57.637 --> 14:03.143
[SPEAKER_00]: astonishingly, over seven thousand people crowded in to watch that day show.
14:04.705 --> 14:13.995
[SPEAKER_00]: They gasped an acrobat on the high wire, and roared with laughter at clowns, perhaps not knowing that just hours before.
14:15.096 --> 14:18.180
[SPEAKER_00]: This very tent had been a sight of fatal tragedy.
14:20.632 --> 14:30.796
[SPEAKER_00]: The Ringling Brothers Circus was demonstrating its resilience, the only way it knew how, by delivering wonder and joy, even on a dark day.
14:32.906 --> 14:38.048
[SPEAKER_00]: Local newspapers took note of the circus management's integrity during the crisis.
14:39.289 --> 14:58.296
[SPEAKER_00]: A week later, the North Dakota Globe reported that everything was under control at the show, and that ringling's management forbade its windling or profanity on the circus grounds, implying our respectability not always seen in traveling shows
14:59.917 --> 15:08.582
[SPEAKER_00]: Most tellingly, the globe wrote that the concern shown for the workmen in the wake of the lightning strike proved the circus out of heart.
15:10.283 --> 15:20.209
[SPEAKER_00]: They shared the management has the interest of the workmen at heart, the paper observed, evidenced by the genuine grief at the death of two crewmen.
15:21.850 --> 15:26.193
[SPEAKER_00]: In other words, the ringling brothers did not treat this as a mere inconvenience.
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[SPEAKER_00]: They mourned their loss men as family
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[SPEAKER_00]: Perhaps one of the most pointed moments came during the parade itself.
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[SPEAKER_00]: Young Edward Williams still shaken but alive, spotted an important looking man on a white horse, possibly one of the ringling brothers leading the procession.
15:49.606 --> 15:55.829
[SPEAKER_00]: Gathering his courage, Edward shouted out that he worked at the tent but didn't get a ticket.
15:57.828 --> 16:03.054
[SPEAKER_00]: The gentleman on horseback turned to the boy and asked, well where's your foreman?
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[SPEAKER_00]: Edward had to reply, his voice was trembling when he said, he's dead.
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[SPEAKER_00]: The man on the horse simply shook his head and said that's hard luck before riding on.
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[SPEAKER_00]: And that brief exchange, a child asking for his promised reward in the realization that the man who was to grant it had been killed.
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[SPEAKER_00]: The enormous human cost of the morning's tragedy hit home.
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[SPEAKER_00]: Edward never did get to see the circus show he'd labored for.
16:39.101 --> 16:43.683
[SPEAKER_00]: Instead, he carried the memory of that day's horror for the rest of his life.
16:46.189 --> 16:53.591
[SPEAKER_00]: When the last act ended and the crowds dispersed, the circus workers finally had a moment to reckon with their loss.
16:55.111 --> 17:01.973
[SPEAKER_00]: The men who died, Charles Smith and Charles E. Walters were not anonymous roostabouts.
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[SPEAKER_00]: They were colleagues, friends, perhaps fathers and husbands.
17:07.700 --> 17:19.664
[SPEAKER_00]: As the sun dipped low on June tenth, eighteen ninety seven, the circus community and the people of Wapetton came together to ensure these men received a proper farewell.
17:22.135 --> 17:31.080
[SPEAKER_00]: After the afternoon show, Ringling employees passed a hat among themselves, and possibly among sympathetic townsfolk and showgoers.
17:32.441 --> 17:40.205
[SPEAKER_00]: They raised over five hundred dollars, a hefty sum at the time, to cover funeral costs in a lasting memorial.
17:41.645 --> 17:50.090
[SPEAKER_00]: It's unclear if some donations came from local attendees, but the circus crew certainly gave generously, from their day's earnings,
17:51.735 --> 18:03.398
[SPEAKER_00]: The decision was made, with the blessing of the men's families, to bury Charles Smith and Charles Walters in Wippeten, the very town where they met their fate.
18:05.038 --> 18:12.360
[SPEAKER_00]: In a sense, Wippeten adopted these two strangers as its own, showing a remarkable act of community compassion.
18:14.001 --> 18:18.002
[SPEAKER_00]: That evening or the next day, a somber burial service was held.
18:19.817 --> 18:33.640
[SPEAKER_00]: One can imagine the scene at the cemetery on the edge of town, a small gathering of circus performers, still in their work clothes, standing alongside curious and sorrowful townspeople.
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[SPEAKER_00]: Perhaps a local preacher offered prayers over simple wooden coffins.
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[SPEAKER_00]: Rain might have drizzled, as final words were spoken.
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[SPEAKER_00]: the circus band, which hours before had blared cheerful tunes.
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[SPEAKER_00]: May have stood in silence, or played a low, durge, in respect.
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[SPEAKER_00]: Grief hung heavy in the gray air.
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[SPEAKER_00]: Many of those itinerant showmen had no fixed home.
19:06.357 --> 19:12.842
[SPEAKER_00]: But here they were, laying two of their brethren, to rest, far from any family plot,
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[SPEAKER_00]: in the absence of a proper tombstone ready.
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[SPEAKER_00]: The circus workers created a makeshift memorial that was as poignant as it was in genius.
19:26.319 --> 19:33.382
[SPEAKER_00]: They took the very symbol of the tragedy, the shattered center tent pole, and turned it into a grave marker.
19:35.263 --> 19:46.274
[SPEAKER_00]: from June tenth until the fall of eighteen ninety-seven, a section of that lightning splintered pole stood vigil over the fresh graves of Smith and Walters.
19:47.996 --> 19:51.079
[SPEAKER_00]: They even left part of the rope and pulley system attached.
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[SPEAKER_00]: The same ropes the men had been pulling, when fate struck
19:58.202 --> 20:05.589
[SPEAKER_00]: This broken timber, scarred by lightning and wrapped in a rain soaked rope, served as a poignant tribute.
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[SPEAKER_00]: It was as if to say, here like the men who died, raising this tent, and here stands the very pole that took their lives.
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[SPEAKER_00]: For the circus family, it was important that the world remember not just that these men died, but how they died, working together to bring joy to a small town.
20:32.782 --> 20:35.985
[SPEAKER_00]: Petton citizens too were deeply moved by the incident.
20:37.326 --> 20:43.092
[SPEAKER_00]: Local papers treated Smith and Walters, with the respect usually reserved for hometown sons.
20:44.814 --> 20:51.398
[SPEAKER_00]: Their funerals were attended by townsfolk, who never knew them in life, but were united in mourning.
20:53.239 --> 21:02.124
[SPEAKER_00]: In that moment, the line between outsider and local blurred, all felt the fragility of life, when confronted with nature's wrath.
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[SPEAKER_00]: This collective empathy and action marked a turning point
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[SPEAKER_00]: a tragedy that could have been quickly forgotten in a traveling show.
21:15.227 --> 21:20.172
[SPEAKER_00]: Instead forced a lasting bond between a community and a circus.
21:22.093 --> 21:25.316
[SPEAKER_00]: The commitment to honor the fallen did not end with the burial.
21:26.197 --> 21:32.423
[SPEAKER_00]: The money collected was more than sufficient for the funerals, so the remainder went toward a permanent tribute.
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[SPEAKER_00]: A monument unlike any other
21:38.068 --> 21:46.618
[SPEAKER_00]: Over the next several weeks, plans were made to immortalize the story of June tenth, eighteen ninety-seven in stone.
21:48.140 --> 21:57.190
[SPEAKER_00]: The result would ensure that Charles Smith and Charles Walters, though buried far from their birthplaces, would never be lost to time.
21:59.719 --> 22:09.967
[SPEAKER_00]: a granite monument now stands tall in what pet and cemetery designed in the likeness of the very broken tent pole that was struck by lightning.
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[SPEAKER_00]: Chiseled into the stone is a winding rope and pulley, frozen in time as it coils around the pole.
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[SPEAKER_00]: An even jagged streaks to mimic the path of the fatal lightning bolt
22:26.776 --> 22:32.138
[SPEAKER_00]: the base of the monument, a sculpted hammer, and tent stake, jut out.
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[SPEAKER_00]: Symbolizing the labor of circus rousedabouts, the inscription on that base is simple and heartfelt.
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[SPEAKER_00]: Reading, he erected by the employees of Ringling Brothers Circus.
22:46.517 --> 23:00.004
[SPEAKER_00]: at lists the fallen, Charles Smith, June tenth, eighteen ninety-seven, and Charles E. Walters, September fifteenth, eighteen seventy, to June tenth, eighteen ninety-seven.
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[SPEAKER_00]: In essence, the circus workers themselves, the extended family of these men, claimed responsibility for this memorial, ensuring their comrades would be remembered
23:16.082 --> 23:24.965
[SPEAKER_00]: That permanent circus monument was erected in late September, eighteen ninety-seven, replacing the weather worn wooden pole marker.
23:26.746 --> 23:32.748
[SPEAKER_00]: Locals say its design was likely inspired by a photograph of the original makeshift tribute.
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[SPEAKER_00]: Faithfully preserving every detail into stone.
23:39.015 --> 23:51.748
[SPEAKER_00]: Over time, the monument has loomed over the modest headstones of what petons Bohemian cemetery, also known as Riverside Cemetery, like a Sentinel of History.
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[SPEAKER_00]: It dwarfs the nearby graves, immediately catching the eye of any visitor wandering through.
24:01.030 --> 24:09.497
[SPEAKER_00]: Many have been struck by the sight of a broken granite pole wrapped in stone ropes and wondered what tragedy lies beneath.
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[SPEAKER_00]: For the circus community, the memory of a pet in eighteen ninety-seven became almost legendary.
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[SPEAKER_00]: The Ringling Brothers' own route book for that year, recorded the incident somberly.
24:27.385 --> 24:30.568
[SPEAKER_00]: at this town the saddest accident of the season occurred.
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[SPEAKER_00]: It described how a monument was later placed over the graves.
24:36.474 --> 24:51.308
[SPEAKER_00]: A shattered center pole under a substantial base, properly inscribed to commemorate the sad affair, as well as to perpetuate the memories of those whose lives went out at the lightning's flash
24:53.228 --> 24:58.750
[SPEAKER_00]: True to those words, the story did not die with Charles Smith and Charles Walters.
25:00.351 --> 25:12.356
[SPEAKER_00]: For decades afterwards, whenever a circus troupe passed through eastern North Dakota, the farmers and crew would make a quiet pilgrimage to a pet and circus monument.
25:14.211 --> 25:27.658
[SPEAKER_00]: clowns, acrobats, animal trainers, generations of show people have stood before that stone pole, reading the names of two men who died in the line of show business duty.
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[SPEAKER_00]: They leave flowers or simply a moment of respectful silence.
25:34.946 --> 26:01.427
[SPEAKER_00]: In nineteen forty eight tragedy struck again when another circus performer Herbert Duke Walker died during a show in what pattern he too was laid to rest only a few yards from the ringling monument it does if this ground has become hollowed for circus folk a reminder that the show may go on but not without cost
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[SPEAKER_00]: Today many residents of a petton passed by the Old Cemetery, unaware of the drama that unfolded there over a century ago.
26:13.141 --> 26:21.192
[SPEAKER_00]: The lonely monument stands, weathered by planes winters, telling its story to those who stopped to look.
26:23.347 --> 26:35.097
[SPEAKER_00]: On one side of the granite pole, you can still decipher the carved outlines of a lightning bolt, jagged and fierce, splitting the pole from top to midway down.
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[SPEAKER_00]: The rope and chain carved into the stone look ready to be grabbed by unseen hands.
26:44.167 --> 26:48.009
[SPEAKER_00]: Even the broken top of the monument, rugged and irregular.
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[SPEAKER_00]: It evokes the splintered wood that the tent pole after the strike.
26:54.653 --> 26:59.256
[SPEAKER_00]: It's a piece of art, history, and folklore all in one.
27:01.277 --> 27:08.801
[SPEAKER_00]: For Repetent, the circus lightning tragedy of eighteen ninety-seven has become a tale of community and remembrance.
27:10.162 --> 27:11.962
[SPEAKER_00]: What could have been a forgotten footnote?
27:13.003 --> 27:20.185
[SPEAKER_00]: Two itinerant workers, killed by a freak accident, instead lives on as a local legend.
27:22.185 --> 27:29.807
[SPEAKER_00]: The monument is often simply called, Circus Tent Pole, as it embodies the resilience born from that day.
27:31.107 --> 27:37.249
[SPEAKER_00]: It represents how a community and a traveling circus family refused to forget their own
27:38.988 --> 27:44.852
[SPEAKER_00]: The people of Wappetton cared for those men and death as if they were their longtime neighbors.
27:46.113 --> 27:55.640
[SPEAKER_00]: In the circus employees, despite packing up and moving on to the next town, left a piece of their heart behind and Wappetton's soil.
27:58.661 --> 28:05.486
[SPEAKER_00]: The story of repentance lightning tragedy resonates far beyond a century old circus freak accident.
28:07.068 --> 28:12.592
[SPEAKER_00]: At its core, it's a story of community resilience and unity in the face of tragedy.
28:13.653 --> 28:22.660
[SPEAKER_00]: When lightning struck that tent pole, it also struck the hearts of everyone present, and the echo of that moment bound people together.
28:24.219 --> 28:37.850
[SPEAKER_00]: In our modern world, we've seen how communities rally after disasters, whether natural or man-made, a tornado hit the town, and neighbors emerge to rebuild together.
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[SPEAKER_00]: a sudden accident claims local lives, and people gather for vigils, fundraisers, and memorials.
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[SPEAKER_00]: This impulse to come together to support, to remember.
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[SPEAKER_00]: It's the same now as it was in eighteen ninety-seven.
28:58.555 --> 29:05.461
[SPEAKER_00]: What Patton's response to the circus tragedy shows how human empathy transcends time and circumstance.
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[SPEAKER_00]: These were not towns folk who died, they were traveling laborers, outsiders.
29:13.269 --> 29:20.433
[SPEAKER_00]: Yet the town opened its arms and claimed them, saying, you will rest with us, and we will honor you.
29:21.734 --> 29:27.438
[SPEAKER_00]: In doing so, we'll pet and set an example of compassion that we can still learn from today.
29:29.259 --> 29:32.521
[SPEAKER_00]: There's also a lesson of carrying on through hardship
29:33.940 --> 29:38.582
[SPEAKER_00]: The old saying the show must go on, isn't just about circuses or theaters.
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[SPEAKER_00]: It's about life.
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[SPEAKER_00]: The ringling brother circus continued their performance that day.
29:45.305 --> 29:51.908
[SPEAKER_00]: Not out of callousness, but perhaps out of a determination to not let tragedy defeat them.
29:53.400 --> 29:59.327
[SPEAKER_00]: In our own lives when we face sudden loss or adversity, we too find ways to push forward.
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[SPEAKER_00]: Not to forget what happened, but to persevere in spite of it.
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[SPEAKER_00]: The key is doing so with heart, as the Ringling Management did by caring for their workers and memorializing them.
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[SPEAKER_00]: perseverance and compassion can coexist.
30:18.739 --> 30:34.088
[SPEAKER_00]: We see this in how communities handle tragedies today, continuing with school or work, or community events to maintain normalcy, while also creating space to mourn and remember those lost.
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[SPEAKER_00]: the circus monument in what patent is a physical reminder that even something as transient as a one day circus stop can leave a permanent mark on a community's heritage.
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[SPEAKER_00]: How many other small towns have monuments or plaques commemorating events that outsiders have never heard of.
30:57.134 --> 31:00.697
[SPEAKER_00]: Countless hometowns have their own broken tent pole stories
31:02.304 --> 31:10.407
[SPEAKER_00]: moments of disaster and heroism, of loss and solidarity that are part of a local identity.
31:12.488 --> 31:19.491
[SPEAKER_00]: It might be a mining accident memorial in a cold town or a plaque for a fallen volunteer firefighter.
31:20.691 --> 31:27.734
[SPEAKER_00]: These markers tell us that every hometown has its story of resilience, waiting to be discovered
31:29.315 --> 31:42.984
[SPEAKER_00]: Visiting that graveyard in what pit in today, one might feel a kinship, with those who stood there in eighteen ninety-seven under the drizzle, vowing the Charles Smith and Charles Walters would not be forgotten.
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[SPEAKER_00]: In our present day, we're often focused on the next big thing.
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[SPEAKER_00]: The newest entertainment, the constant rush of progress,
31:54.455 --> 32:01.532
[SPEAKER_00]: that were pet and tragedy invites us to pause and reflect on the human stories that like quietly and are missed.
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[SPEAKER_00]: It encourages us to remember that the past was full of ordinary people who faced extraordinary challenges with courage and kindness.
32:13.830 --> 32:17.831
[SPEAKER_00]: And it reminds us that community isn't defined by how long you've lived somewhere.
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[SPEAKER_00]: On that faithful day, a community was formed in an instant.
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[SPEAKER_00]: Forged by a shared experience of shock and grief,
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[SPEAKER_00]: As we reflect on this tale, we might also consider how we memorialize events today.
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[SPEAKER_00]: We build monuments for wars and national tragedies.
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[SPEAKER_00]: But local stories can slip away, unless we make the effort to preserve them.
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[SPEAKER_00]: The circus monument is a success story in historical memory.
32:51.707 --> 32:57.289
[SPEAKER_00]: It has kept the Wappetton Lightning Strike of eighteen ninety-seven, a live and local lore.
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[SPEAKER_00]: It challenges us.
33:00.331 --> 33:05.233
[SPEAKER_00]: What stories from our own hometowns deserve to be remembered and retold.
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[SPEAKER_00]: By learning about this unusual monument in the event, it commemorates.
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[SPEAKER_00]: We participate in keeping that memory alive
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[SPEAKER_00]: In a way through this podcast, we two are laying a figure to flower at the graves of those circus workers, acknowledging their story in its meaning.
33:28.065 --> 33:34.947
[SPEAKER_00]: Ultimately, the saga of the Ringling Brothers Circus Lightning Tragedy is more than just a bizarre incident.
33:35.847 --> 33:37.067
[SPEAKER_00]: It's a tale of humanity.
33:38.248 --> 33:42.809
[SPEAKER_00]: We feel the excitement of young Edward, seeing hippo for the first time.
33:44.332 --> 33:59.540
[SPEAKER_00]: the terror of the lightning bolt, the sorrow of the makeshift funeral, in the hope embedded in that granite monument, reminded that life can change in an instant, as it did for Edward and the circus crew.
34:01.160 --> 34:04.422
[SPEAKER_00]: But what indoors is how we respond
34:06.198 --> 34:09.364
[SPEAKER_00]: will pet and responded with generosity and remembrance.
34:10.205 --> 34:13.311
[SPEAKER_00]: The circus family responded with loyalty and love.
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[SPEAKER_00]: These are values as relevant now as they were in eighteen ninety seven.
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[SPEAKER_00]: So the next time you drive past an old cemetery, or a historic marker in your town, think of what patents tint poll monument.
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[SPEAKER_00]: Remember that behind each of those silent stones is a story of people who laughed, cried, hoped, and persevered.
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[SPEAKER_00]: Our hometown histories are built on such stories, some tragic, some triumphant, all worth telling.
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[SPEAKER_00]: I'm Shane Waters, every hometown has a story.
34:53.619 --> 35:08.755
[SPEAKER_00]: Tonight, it's etched into a broken circus tent pole, standing lonely against the North Dakota Sky, reminding us of community, resilience, and the bonds we share in tragedy and memory.
35:10.457 --> 35:11.078
[SPEAKER_00]: Good night, friend.
