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Speaker 1: This Day in History Class is a production of I

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Speaker 1: Heart Radio, Hello and Welcome to This Day in History Class,

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Speaker 1: a show that demystifies history one day at a time.

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Speaker 1: I'm Gay Bluesier, and today we're looking at the traumatic

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Speaker 1: day when Americans learned that, despite what the circus said,

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Speaker 1: unicorns still didn't exist. The day was April twelfth. The

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Speaker 1: Chief veterinarian of the U S Department of Agriculture announced

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Speaker 1: that a famous circus animal alleged to be a unicorn,

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Speaker 1: was in fact a goat. Earlier that month, the Ringling

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Speaker 1: Brothers and Barnum and Bailey circus had revealed the supposedly

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Speaker 1: myss pickle creature during a show at Madison Square Garden.

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Speaker 1: The unicorn, known as Lancelot, was introduced with appropriate fanfare.

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Speaker 1: He marched across a path of rose pedals as the

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Speaker 1: theme song from Rocky played in the background. The circus

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Speaker 1: claimed that the unicorn had simply wandered into one of

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Speaker 1: its tents after a show in Houston the previous summer.

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Speaker 1: According to Lancelot's handler, Heather Harris, no one knew where

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Speaker 1: the animal came from or quote whether it flew here

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Speaker 1: or walked or took a train. Most audiences didn't mind

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Speaker 1: that cryptic backstory. They were just thrilled to see a real,

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Speaker 1: live unicorn, even if it did look suspiciously like a

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Speaker 1: goat with a shaggy mane and a weird horn. But

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Speaker 1: not everyone was happy to see the so called living unicorn.

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Speaker 1: After the New York debut in early April, animal rights

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Speaker 1: groups such as the Humane Society and the A s

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Speaker 1: p c A voiced concerns about the animals welfare. They

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Speaker 1: were pretty sure that Lancelot wasn't a real unicorn, and

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Speaker 1: they wondered what the circus might have done to make

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Speaker 1: a normal goat look more like a storybook creature. Representatives

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Speaker 1: from the A s p c A went to the

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Speaker 1: circus to investigate. They expected to find a fake horn

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Speaker 1: strapped to the goat's head, but once they got up close,

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Speaker 1: they could tell the horn wasn't a prop. This was

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Speaker 1: even more troubling to animal rights advocates. It suggested that

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Speaker 1: a real horn had somehow been implanted or grafted to

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Speaker 1: the center of the animal's head. Such a process would

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Speaker 1: not only be painful, but could potentially affect the animal's

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Speaker 1: long term health as well. In light of that, discovery,

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Speaker 1: The president of the a s p c A implored

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Speaker 1: the public to boycott the circus. He also demanded the

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Speaker 1: chance to examine Lancelot, as well as the three other

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Speaker 1: unicorns that served as stand ins for the show's star. However,

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Speaker 1: as you might expect, Ringling Brothers said no. A spokesman

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Speaker 1: for the circus refused to comment on the origin of

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Speaker 1: Lancelot's horn or his status as a possible goat. Instead,

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Speaker 1: he stuck to the company script, saying, quote, the animal

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Speaker 1: arrived at our show in Houston in July. We don't

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Speaker 1: know how or why, but they were just there. As

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Speaker 1: the cry for boycott's grew louder, Ringling Brothers fought back

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Speaker 1: by taking out full page newspaper ads urging fans to

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Speaker 1: come see the living unicorn for themselves. The text warns, quote,

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Speaker 1: don't let the grinches steal the fantasy. It was at

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Speaker 1: this point that the Department of Agriculture decided to step in.

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Speaker 1: It dispatched a team of veterinarians led by doctor Gerald

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Speaker 1: Toms to determine whether the animals in question were some

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Speaker 1: kind of goat or something else, as the circus claimed.

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Speaker 1: After inspecting Lancelot and his stand ins up close, Dr

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Speaker 1: Tom's announced that they were indeed goats. He then added quote,

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Speaker 1: but if you want to surrender to whimsy, then their

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Speaker 1: unicorns too. More importantly, the vet was able to confirm

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Speaker 1: that the goats were in good health, their horns were

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Speaker 1: not implants or artificial additions, and the animals didn't seem

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Speaker 1: bothered by them at all. The next day, Ringling Brothers

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Speaker 1: held a press conference celebrating the all clear from the

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Speaker 1: U s d A. They showed X rays to prove

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Speaker 1: that Lancelot's horn was a natural extension of his body,

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Speaker 1: and even encouraged reporters to pull on it to show

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Speaker 1: that it wouldn't come off. The circus felt vindicated, but

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Speaker 1: it wasn't a complete victory. After all, Dr Tom's confirmed

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Speaker 1: that the animals were officially goats, not unicorns. Some people

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Speaker 1: thought that constituted a bait and switch. The circus had

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Speaker 1: promised a living unicorn and instead delivered a one horned goat. However,

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Speaker 1: Wringling Brothers had an answer to that criticism as well.

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Speaker 1: Spokeswoman Debbie Lynde said quote, as far as we're concerned,

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Speaker 1: it's a unicorn. A unicorn is an animal with one horn,

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Speaker 1: and hey, she's not wrong by now, though, you're probably

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Speaker 1: wondering what the deal is with Lancelot's horn. How did

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Speaker 1: he and his three stand ins, Galahad, Avalon, and Perceval

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Speaker 1: all wind up with one central horn instead of two

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Speaker 1: lateral ones. The answer, as doctor gerald Tom's deduced, was

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Speaker 1: that the goats had undergone a surgical procedure at a

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Speaker 1: very young age. When a goat is less than a

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Speaker 1: week old, the buds of its horns are still a

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Speaker 1: part of the skin and are not yet connected to

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Speaker 1: the animal skull. Because of this, someone was able to

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Speaker 1: maneuver the unfixed horns into the middle of the goat's

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Speaker 1: forehead and then stitch them close together. Over time, as

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Speaker 1: the horns grew and intertwined, they gradually fused into a

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Speaker 1: single horn. If anesthesia was used during that procedure, then

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Speaker 1: it's unlikely the animals felt any pain or suffered from

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Speaker 1: any lasting effects. But even if they felt no discomfort,

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Speaker 1: there's something inherently distasteful about altering the biology of a

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Speaker 1: developing animal purely for the sake of esthetics or to

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Speaker 1: make some money. To be clear, though, the Ringling brothers

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Speaker 1: and Barnum and Bailey Circus didn't have anything to do

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Speaker 1: with the actual surgeries, and for that matter, neither did

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Speaker 1: any doctor. Instead, the horn manipulation was carried out by

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Speaker 1: Oberon Zell, an artist, writer, and self proclaimed wizard who

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Speaker 1: had a passion for cryptozoology and neo paganism. Zell became

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Speaker 1: fixated on historical references to unicorns, the horse like creatures

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Speaker 1: whose single horn was said to have purifying effects on

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Speaker 1: whatever it touched. Zell's studies eventually led him to the

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Speaker 1: research of Franklin Dove, a biologist who had developed a

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Speaker 1: method for fusing the horns of a goat back in

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Speaker 1: the nineteen thirties. Intrigued by the prospect of crafting his

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Speaker 1: own unicorns, Zell, who had taken biology and pre med

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Speaker 1: in college, decided to give it a try. With a

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Speaker 1: bit of effort and the help of his life partner

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Speaker 1: Morning Glory, Zell pulled off the procedure. Pretty soon. He

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Speaker 1: had nine single horned goats or unicorns, and from nineteen

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Speaker 1: eighty to nineteen eighty four he made a living displaying

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Speaker 1: the animals at Renaissance fairs. During these appearances, he was,

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Speaker 1: of course dressed like a wizard. Eventually, Zell was put

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Speaker 1: in touch with Ringling Brothers, who were always looking for

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Speaker 1: new acts to freshen up the show. The Circus was

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Speaker 1: impressed with Zell's unicorns and signed a four year licensing

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Speaker 1: deal to take four of the animals on a national tour.

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Speaker 1: It was reportedly worth about five hundred thousand dollars, but

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Speaker 1: as part of the deal, Zell had to keep quiet

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Speaker 1: about his role, including the methods by which the horns

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Speaker 1: had been grown. Although the Circus had signed a four

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Speaker 1: year deal with Zell, it ultimately cut Lancelot from the

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Speaker 1: show after just two years. The decision was largely meant

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Speaker 1: to keep the show from getting stale, as rotating acts

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Speaker 1: ensured that repeat visitors wouldn't see the same circus every time,

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Speaker 1: but you have to imagine that all of that negative

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Speaker 1: publicity was a factor as well in either case. Once

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Speaker 1: public interest in unicorns had cooled, the Circus moved on

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Speaker 1: to promoting its next big act, and that was King Tusk,

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Speaker 1: a twelve foot tall elephant whose tusks were thankfully in

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Speaker 1: the right places. As for Lancelot and the backup goats,

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Speaker 1: they returned back to Oberon, Zell and Morning Glory in

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Speaker 1: According to an interview Zell gave years later, the star

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Speaker 1: animal was never the same after his time in the spotlight.

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Speaker 1: Zell said, quote, he was generally pretty depressed because he

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Speaker 1: loved being a show animal. I built a barn in

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Speaker 1: corral just for him that we dubbed Fort Unicorn. We

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Speaker 1: took care of him until his eventual death a few

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Speaker 1: years later in nineteen ninety one at the age of eleven.

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Speaker 1: Wringling Brothers in Barnum and Bailey's circus carried on itself

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Speaker 1: until twenty seventeen, when declining interest and long standing concerns

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Speaker 1: about animal rights finally forced the show to close for good.

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Speaker 1: In today's world, unicorns are firmly back in the realm

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Speaker 1: of fantasy where they belong, meaning that fans of symmetrical

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Speaker 1: goats can finally rest easy. I'm Gabe Louzier and hopefully

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Speaker 1: you now know a little more about unicorn history today

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Speaker 1: than you did yesterday. If you want to learn even

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Speaker 1: more about today's topic and see Lancelot for yourself, look

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Speaker 1: can write to us directly at this Day at I

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Speaker 1: heart media dot com. Thanks to Chandler Mays for producing

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Speaker 1: the show, and thank you for listening. I'll see you

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Speaker 1: back here again tomorrow for another day in History class