All Tufts students know the story of a valiant elephant named Jumbo who saved his small friend, Tom Thumb, from an oncoming train. Unfortunately, this fantasy of voluntary sacrifice was shattered during the construction of Eaton Hall. Workers uncovered a diary belonging to a witness of Jumbo’s death, which revealed a far more disturbing story. Below is a transcript of that entry.
I don’t know what drew me to the train tracks that night. I’d been told my whole life to keep a safe distance, and I taught my son the same thing. The trains can’t stop quick enough. But that night, on my way home from the circus, I found myself peering over the embankment. I saw a figure in the moonlight: the silhouette of a familiar elephant standing on the tracks. Tom Thumb had stood in the background during the Barnum & Bailey performance, providing supporting tricks for his larger friend Jumbo, the star of the show. Aroused from my reminiscing by the sound of an approaching train, I opened my mouth to call out, to urge the elephant to move. That’s when I saw the calculating look in his eye. Tom Thumb turned his head, staring at the train as if gauging its distance from him. After a moment of silence, he began to trumpet urgently. I heard heavy footsteps behind me, from the direction of the circus, and lunged out of the way as Jumbo came barreling forward, answering the cry of his friend. I watched in horror as Jumbo ran to the tracks. Tom Thumb’s eyes darted between the train and Jumbo.
Then, at the last possible second, Tom Thumb stepped out of the way. Jumbo’s momentum carried him forward, into the train’s path. The sound of the train hitting his large body. The scream he made. I hear them in my nightmares to this day. I shouted in alarm and Tom Thumb turned his head towards me. His diabolical eyes found mine. Dread chilled my blood. He took a step in my direction. Fearing for my life, I turned and ran. He didn’t chase me, but to this day, I find myself glancing over my shoulder, looking for him.
The tragic ‘accident’ of Jumbo was in every newspaper. It seemed as if I was the only one who knew the truth. But who would believe me?
My son begged me to take him to the circus a week later. I was wracked with guilt. I wanted to teach my boy to be courageous and just. I watched him eat his popcorn and giggle in the stands that day. What a hypocrite I was. The circus began uneventfully as usual. There were acrobats and fire breathers and I thought for a second that maybe it was safe. Maybe they got rid of the animal act when Jumbo died. But then the curtain fell and I heard the stomping of hooves and the clicking of claws getting into position. My stomach lurched into my throat, and panic overwhelmed me. The curtain rose as the lion tamers walked on stage, just as they had a week ago. But tonight it was Tom Thumb under the spotlight. No longer in the shadow of his counterpart, larger in both size and fame. His beady little eyes locked on mine, and flashed in a way that could only suggest malice. I couldn’t focus on his act. I only saw his eyes. He recognized me. As he left the stage he gestured at me – a little flicking of his trunk, as if to say “follow me, or else.”
Hands shaking, I excused myself.
“Where are you going, daddy?” My son stood up as if to follow me.
“No!” I snapped, then collected myself when I saw that I had frightened him. “I’m just going to get more popcorn, junior, I’ll be right back.”
I stumbled out of the tent, following the elephant tracks in the mud. Tom Thumb reposed inside a velvet lined cage as a baboon hand fed him peanuts. His gluttony disgusted me. He stared me down through the bars with an arrogant expression that turned my disgust to rage.
“I know what you did,” I shouted. “I will tell the world!” In response, the beast merely trumpeted in a mocking tone. Never once breaking eye contact with me, his trunk slithered out through the bars of his cage. I gasped in horror, frozen in place as he slapped me across the face with his leathery gray snout. The force of the blow threw me to the ground. Mud filled my eyes and mouth. I felt as though I were choking, not only on mud but on the insult of his behavior and my own cowardice. The clicking of the cage lock roused me from my agony and I scrambled back to watch an oblivious trainer lead Tom Thumb back to the tent for his second act. He did not even bother to look at me, so convinced was he that I had been vanquished.
“You cannot frighten me Tom Thumb!” I shouted after him, more to convince myself than the undersized elephant. My exclamation caused him to pause pensively for a moment, but at the urging of the trainer he walked on. His tail flicked behind him merrily, as though he had come up with something very clever.
I sat in mud and shock for a minute longer until I remembered my son. My son! My darling boy! Left alone in the circus tent with that beast! I sprinted back, shoving my way past tightrope walkers and dogs in fancy hats. Thrusting aside the flap of the tent I ran inside just in time to see Tom Thumb’s final act. My son perched on his back.
He stood beside a ring of fire circled by dancing lions. Tom Thumb looked me in the eye, gloating as he began to rise up on his hind legs. He’d been waiting for me to see this. Tilting himself back, and farther still, as my boy began to slide towards the starving lions and their fire pit. Panic seized me. The crowd merely cheered at the show. My son slid closer to his doom and my love wrestled with my morality. Clapping and cheers, oh the overwhelming noise! The devil danced in the eyes of that elephant and I realized I could not beat him.
“You win!” I shouted. “You win, just leave my boy alone!”
Just as he stood fully on his hind legs and my son struggled to hold on, Tom Thumb shifted his weight forward and eased back to all fours, lying down so my son could climb off and run to me. My boy was laughing. He thought it was a game. In a twisted way, it was.
“What a nice elephant!” he said. I held him close to me. He would never know. No one would ever know. But when I close my eyes all I see are Tom Thumb’s eyes and the evil within them.
