Everybody loves the circus, from three to ninety-three. From the cotton candy to the clowns, the folks flying through the air with the greatest of ease on the trapeze to the tigers and lions and bears, oh my!

It's nothing but 100% fun.

That is until the elephant gets grumpy. In fact, beyond grumpy. This little South Dakota town had one big old angry pachyderm.

KYBB-FM / B102.7 logo
Get our free mobile app

The Tale Of Hero the Elephant in the Wilds of South Dakota

Elephant Was On The Loose In Elkton South Dakota
Google Maps
loading...

It was over a hundred years ago, May 1916, that the circus came to the South Dakota town of Elkton, near Brookings. The circus featured a five-ton (normally) docile elephant named Hero. Except, Hero was not a happy camper for some reason.

Hero went what some folks said was 'insane', destroyed a bunch of circus equipment, and thundered off into the countryside. Can you imagine what some of the farmers thought when they looked up and saw an elephant on the horizon?

"Grandpa Strubbe always told the story of an elephant running through the streets of Elkton!" - Mary York via <a href="https://www.facebook.com/ElktonCommunityMuseum/photos/a.514715268609069/1034520743295183" target="_blank">Facebook</a>

Anyway, off the townspeople went chasing mad 'ol Hero. Now, this is going to sound mean and certainly not politically correct. These days he may have been taken down with some sort of tranquilizer gun.

But this was, as they say, the old days. And so it was bullets and buckshot, which only served to make 'ol Hero even angrier. But finally, he was 'brought down' after about 12 hours on the run.

Turns out his bones were put on display at far-away Vermillion, South Dakota in the W. H. Over Museum of Natural and Cultural History.

The Elkton Community Museum does have some interesting relics from the day there was a mad elephant in town, including the gun that fired the fatal shot and a travel bag made out of part of 'ol Hero.

The community has even celebrated Hero Days, "...a celebration of Hero the elephant."

So when you traverse the great state of South Dakota, pull on into Elkton, have a nice meal and coffee, and ask the folks about the tale of when the mad elephant came to town.

RoadsideAmerica Dot Com Contributed To This Article

Do You Know What Is Inside The Giant 60 Foot Tall Bull Head Off I-90?

Do You Know What Is Inside The Giant 60 Foot Tall Bull Head Off I-90 in South Dakota?

If you've traveled on I-90 about 30 minutes west of Sioux Falls you have probably noticed the great big giant bull horns reaching high into the South Dakota horizon.

8 Celebrities You May to Run Into In South Dakota

You may not think of South Dakota as the crossroads of celebrity life. That's a good thing, we kind of like to live under the radar here on the upper plains.

But, living in South Dakota we are just a few degrees away from stardom. Not just because the author of the Little House on the Prairie books is from here. Or because every time Tom Brokaw shows up on TV, someone will say, "You know he's from Yankton."

We may not have as much of a chance at a celebrity sighting in South Dakota as we would in Minneapolis, but there are some famous personalities you may run into in the 605.