Electrocuting an Elephant (1903) - WARNING: Viewer Discretion - Disturbing Footage - Thomas Edison

Topsy the Elephant belonged to the Forepaugh Circus and spent the last years of her life at Coney Island’s Luna Park. Because she killed one trainer (who burned her trunk with a lit cigar), and subsequently became aggressive towards two other keepers who had struck her with a pitchfork, Topsy was deemed a threat to people by her owners and killed by electrocution on January 4, 1903 at the age of 36. Inventor Thomas Edison oversaw and conducted the electrocution, and he captured the event on film. Edison us