In 2001 Peter Benchley denied that his novel Jaws had anything to do with a strange sequence of attacks on the Jersey shore in 1916.

The most prolific novel about shark attacks had nothing to do with one of the most unique set of shark attacks to ever occur? I don’t buy it Peter Benchley.

Regardless, Steven Spielburg, a nervous reck of a kid with nothing really going for him at the time, took over and made everyone ask the question “What the hell is out there?”.

A question largely today, still unanswered. Which is honestly astonishing. 102 years later, and people still don’t understand why sharks attack. We don’t even really know their migration patterns or why a 10 foot shark would be swimming in 4 feet of water in the first place! And why on earth can one species go in fresh water and the others can’t?! Mind you thats also the species with the most testosterone of any animal on the planet.

But when talking about sharks, it’s always important to note that there are about 50-70 shark attacks a year, out of which only 6 may be fatal.

On the other hand 20-100 million sharks die every year because of human involvement in their habitat.

But today, lets close our eyes and imagine its July 12th 1916 on the Jersey shore. Sun bathers are out in force, women wearing bathing attire that today look like conservative  rompers and are all the rage. In the past few years alone, swimming has become an acceptable sport for them to partake in, and today the water is cool and refreshing. But no one is going in.

Only 11 days ago A prominent Philadelphia business man had just bled out. “The shark didn’t let him go” Someone had whispered to you in passing “The lifeguards drug his maimed body all the way to the shore, and the shark still tried to claim him. Only until his belly was scrapping on the sand did he relent”. The scene haunts your dream, and you know there was nothing that could have saved Charles Vansant. Not even Alexander Ott, the first lifeguard on the scene. He had been in the Olympics for swimming just 6 years ago, but he couldn’t save him. 

Only 6 days ago Charles Bruder was on his routine afternoon swim when a force pulled him underwater. By the time the lifeguards got to him, he was missing both his legs, and he died shortly after of the wounds.

This morning the shore was abuzz with the latest news. A 10-year-old boy had been eaten alive in Matawan Creek. The popular swimming spot was 16 miles inland, an no one would have suspected any danger for Lester Stillwell, and his group of friends who were taking a break from the heat.

Watson Fisher had owned a shop not to far from the creek, and had heard the boys running by screaming of a shark. He knew Lester Stillwell to be epileptic, and thought a seizure while swimming could easily be mis-interpreted as a shark attack, and the boy would drown. He went with two other men to look for the Lester’s body. In waste deep water he was attacked at the thigh and bled out on the shore of the creek.

About 1/2 mile to the east of where Mr. Fisher and Lester Stillwell had been attacked, there were another group of boys playing in the water. It had barely been 30 minutes since the shark attack and the word hadn’t gotten out that there was blood in the water. Joseph Dunn, a 14 year old boy, would be the last victim of the attacks on the Jersey shore, and the only one to survive. His brother, with the help of a nearby boater, would drag him out of the water where the shark had torn his left calf into pieces.

In two days someone will capture an 8-foot juvenile white shark, cut him open, and find  body parts from two of the victims, and in 102 years, we still won’t know why it attacked.

Since the Jersey shore attacks, we have learned more about sharks and triggers that might make them confuse us with their common prey. It’s scientifically believed and commonly accepted that shark attacks are a one-off, there isn’t a man-eating shark prowling coast lines looking for his next victim.

But 102 years ago today, it did seem that way.