It was the summer that changed how humans look at the ocean forever. Before the 1916 shark attacks New Jersey residents and tourists didn't really think of sharks as man-eaters. Not really. Scientists at the time—including experts from the American Museum of Natural History—actually told the public that sharks were basically harmless cowards. They thought a shark’s jaw wasn't even strong enough to snap a human bone.
They were dead wrong.
Between July 1 and July 12, 1916, a series of attacks left four people dead and one seriously injured. It sparked a nationwide panic. It led to a literal "war on sharks" where hundreds of the animals were slaughtered by vengeful fishermen. It even caught the attention of President Woodrow Wilson, who convened a cabinet meeting to deal with the "shark problem." Honestly, looking back, the level of chaos is hard to wrap your head around. Imagine a quiet beach town turning into a scene from a horror movie overnight. That's what happened.
The First Strike: Beach Haven and Spring Lake
It all started on July 1 at Beach Haven. Charles Vansant, a 25-year-old from Philadelphia, was staying at the Engleside Hotel. He went for a quick swim before dinner. Most people think of shark attacks happening way out in the deep, but Vansant was in about five feet of water.
People on the shore watched in horror as a dark fin approached. A lifeguard managed to pull him out, but the shark had stripped the flesh from Vansant's legs. He bled out on the manager's desk of the hotel. It was gruesome. But here's the kicker: the world didn't stop. Most people figured it was a fluke. A "mad" fish. Five days later, 45 miles north in Spring Lake, Charles Bruder, a bell captain at the Essex and Sussex Hotel, was swimming when a shark bit him in the abdomen and severed his legs.
He died on the way back to shore.
Even then, some experts were skeptical. Dr. Frederic Lucas, who was the director of the American Museum of Natural History, still argued that a shark couldn't have done this. There was even talk that it might have been a sea turtle or a killer whale. People really didn't want to believe that a shark—a common fish—was hunting humans.
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The Matawan Creek Mystery: A Shark in the Woods?
If the first two attacks were shocking, the events of July 12 were straight-up unbelievable. Matawan Creek is a tidal inlet. It’s brackish water. It’s miles away from the open ocean. It feels like a place where you'd find catfish or blue crabs, not a massive predator.
Captain Thomas Cottrell, a local sea captain, actually saw a shark swimming up the creek toward the town. He ran through the streets of Matawan warning people. Nobody believed him. They laughed. They thought he was an old man seeing ghosts in the water.
Then came the afternoon.
Lester Stilwell, an 11-year-old boy, was swimming with his friends near Wyckoff Dock. A shark pulled him under. It wasn't a quick bite; the shark stayed there. A local businessman named Stanley Fisher jumped in to recover the boy's body. He found Stilwell’s remains, but as he was trying to climb out, the shark attacked him too. Fisher fought it off, but his thigh was ravaged. He died on an operating table at Monmouth Memorial Hospital.
Less than an hour later, half a mile downstream, Joseph Dunn was bitten. He was only 14. Luckily, his brother and friends pulled him out of the shark's mouth in a literal tug-of-war. He was the only one of the five victims that summer to survive.
Was it a Great White or a Bull Shark?
For decades, the 1916 shark attacks New Jersey debate has centered on the species. Peter Benchley, who wrote Jaws, was heavily inspired by these events. In the book and the movie, the culprit is a Great White.
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Two days after the Matawan attacks, a taxidermist named Michael Schleisser caught a 7.5-foot Great White in Raritan Bay. When he opened its stomach, he found human remains and bones. Case closed, right?
Maybe not.
Modern biologists like George Burgess, the former director of the Florida Program for Shark Research, have pointed out some major holes in the "Great White" theory. Specifically regarding Matawan Creek. Great Whites are salt-water animals. They don't typically do well in low-salinity, murky creek water.
Why the Bull Shark Theory Makes Sense
- Freshwater Tolerance: Bull sharks have unique kidneys that let them thrive in freshwater and brackish environments.
- Aggression: They are notoriously territorial and aggressive in shallow, murky water.
- The Location: Matawan Creek is narrow and miles from the sea—classic Bull shark territory.
But then you have the Schleisser shark. It was a Great White, and it did have human remains in it. Was there more than one shark? Was the Great White just a scavenger that happened to be caught? Or was it a "rogue shark" that had developed a taste for humans, as some theorists suggested at the time? We’ll likely never know for sure, but the scientific community remains split. It’s a cold case that refuses to stay buried.
The Cultural Impact: How One Summer Birthed a Phobia
Before 1916, the word "shark" wasn't even common in the American lexicon. People called them "sea lawyers" or just big fish. The 1916 shark attacks New Jersey changed the psychology of the American vacation.
The media went into a frenzy.
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Newspapers used sensationalist headlines that would make a modern tabloid blush. This was the birth of the "Monster" narrative. Suddenly, the ocean wasn't a place for health and recreation; it was a place where hidden demons waited.
The economic hit was massive. New Jersey resorts lost an estimated $250,000 in 1916 dollars—that’s millions today—as tourists fled. To get people back, towns installed steel nets across beaches. They hired "shark hunters" to patrol the shoreline with shotguns. It was the first time we saw a large-scale human attempt to "cleanse" the ocean of a specific predator.
Lessons Learned and How to Stay Safe Today
Look, the odds of being attacked by a shark are still incredibly low. You're more likely to be struck by lightning while winning the lottery. But the 1916 shark attacks New Jersey taught us that we have to respect the ecosystem.
If you're heading to the Jersey Shore—or any beach—there are actual, practical things you should do based on what we learned from history.
First, stop swimming in tidal inlets or creeks during peak shark season. Matawan proved that "inland" doesn't mean "safe." Second, avoid swimming at dawn or dusk. That’s "feeding time," and the low light makes it harder for sharks to distinguish a human foot from a fish.
Also, ditch the shiny jewelry. To a shark, a silver anklet looks exactly like the scales of a wounded baitfish.
The 1916 attacks weren't a movie plot. They were a collision between a growing human population and an apex predator that had been there for millions of years. We entered their world without knowing the rules. Now we know them.
What to do next
If you're interested in the deeper history, check out the archives of the New York Times from July 1916. The reporting is wild. You can also visit the Matawan Historical Society; they have an entire exhibit dedicated to the 1916 attacks, including artifacts from the era. Seeing the actual creek where it happened really puts the scale of the tragedy into perspective. Just don't go for a dip in the creek while you're there—some legends are better left unproven.