Putting the Bear in Context

Muggins the bear fell to her death in Clifton Gorge. However, this is not the most tragic part of her story. Living along the roadside, Muggins was a tourist attraction who was gawked at, and had a diet similar to that of Buddy the elf. One night she escaped her cage and fell into the nearby gorge. If you are wondering, “how could this possibly get any worse,” well, it does. The men who found her, somehow came up with the idea to light her body on fire. Shortly afterwards, members of the Dayton Society of Natural History heard about this black bear, and made their way to Clifton. In the name of science, or maybe to brag to other museums that they had the skull of a black bear, they chopped off her head and added Muggins’ skull to their collection.

Photo Courtesy of Clifton Gorge State Nature Preserve

Today, the skull of this black bear resides in the Biology Collection at the Boonshoft Museum of Discovery. Having heard the story and seen the skull, I wonder about these events and think something like this would never happen today. Two month old Muggins was a gift for Mr. and Mrs. Grindle from a friend and owned her for forty-one years before her death in 1968. Society has since recognized the dangers and wrongfulness of owning a wild animal and people would be appalled if their neighbor kept a bear caged along the roadside for any passersby to feed it junk food. Muggins was a pet very much loved by her owners, which sheds light on the fact that society did not see anything wrong with this.

Then, for someone to set the corpse on fire, sounds like the persons were inebriated, and lighting the body on fire seemed like a good idea at the time or they just wanted to see what would happen. Additionally, the men from the Dayton Society of History thought it more important to chop off the head for preservation rather than find a way to put out the fire. A person today would likely find these events strange and horrific and hard to believe that someone would do such a thing. But forcing ones judgement on past people is unfair, and history requires us to view the past within the context of the times in which people lived.

By Julie Hale

Source:

Burns, Bob. “‘Muggins’ is Loose in Clifton Gorge.” Xenia Daily Gazette, June 7, 1968.