Journalism has changed a lot in the past 150 years, but one thing is still true today: most people only read the headlines, and the rest stop somewhere along the way. On November 9, 1874, readers were astonished by a full page story in the New York Herald that described a catastrophe at the Central Park Zoo in Manhattan. A rhinoceros had broken out of its enclosure and proceeded to destroy other pens, freeing all kinds of animals. The wild beasts moved into city streets, and had killed 49 people and injured hundreds of others!
Panic spread through the city when people read the paper. Schools closed, and people rushed to get their children safely inside. Only when they were hunkered down at home did some finally finish reading the story. The last paragraph revealed that the entire account was fiction, to make a point about zoo safety. That did not go over well. Read about the panic and the fallout that came afterward at Fishwrap. -via Strange Company
(Image credit: Shadow Ayush)
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Reminds me of those tests some teachers would give you with the instruction to read the entire test before writing in your answers. The ones who read the entire test first found out at the bottom that all they needed to do was write their name at the top of the page and hand it in.
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