Some older readers – hi, Aunt Shirley! — may have childhood memories of Longfellow Gardens, a zoo adjacent to Minnehaha Falls. It opened in 1907 and attracted thousands of visitors each year before closing in 1934.

At its peak the Minneapolis zoo boasted a variety of animals: hippos, zebras, camels, elephants and, of course, lions and tigers and bears. Most were kept in small pens, pits or cages, but deer, elk, flamingos and sea lions were allowed to roam the grounds, at least in the early years.

In 1907, one sea lion decided he’d had enough of the place and found a way out. The Tribune took a fanciful approach to Paupukeewis’ escape, with reports suggesting that the animal “flip-flopped” over Minnehaha Falls and made his way down the Mississippi River, stopping briefly at a houseboat in “Lillydale” on his way south in search of “sunny climes.”

In this initial report, the Tribune informed readers that the escapee “wore a plain suit of shiny black” and answered readily to the name of Paupukeewis. The clever mammal proved elusive. Despite numerous sightings in the days that followed, Paupukeewis was never recaptured.

Roaring Sea Lion
Is Rolling Along
to Sunny Climes

Paupukeewis, the sea lion which R.F. Jones thought was tame enough to stand without being hitched, has neglected to wire its master since it left its beautiful suburban home in Longfellow Gardens and went splashing down the Mississippi. Thinking it might have decided to spend a few days at that delightful down-the-river bathing place, Harriet Island, Mr. Jones has forwarded its description that it may be apprehended, but thus far no one seems to have seen the animal there.

Mr. Jones is afraid Paupukeewis is intending to make his way to the gulf and then wait around until the completion of the Panama canal, when it will cross to the Pacific to visit relatives at its former home, Santa Barbara, Cal.

The sea lion is said to have made a friendly overture to one John Knutson, a sorter on the St. Paul boom, to the extent of biting a piece out of his trousers and to have paddled away with the sample. Another report of the missing animal described him loitering lazily at the mouth of the Minnesota river, but plain-clothes men sent out from Longfellow Gardens failed to locate Paupukeewis.

Mr. Jones is afraid the animal will be the target of some sportsman who will mistake him for a great river monster, and to hasten the return of the pet he has offered rewards.

When it left home the sea lion wore a plain suit of shiny black, and it answers readily to the name of Paupukeewis.

Wearing his trademark top hat, zoo founder and owner Robert (Fish) Jones fed some of the sea lions that still roamed the grounds in about 1910. Click here for more photos of the zoo. (Photo courtesy mnhs.org)

The Minnesota State Fair has featured many unusual attractions in its 150-year history: death-defying aerial acts, colliding locomotives, freak shows, live animal births, the Minnesota Iceman and premature babies in incubators. Wait … what? The Minneapolis Morning Tribune was there:

Tiny Baby Is Fair Marvel

Midget 11 Inches in Length, One
of Five Infants in
Incubator

Five premature babies, “all of good birth,” as the lecturer assures his audiences, are already in the infant incubators of the state fair, and as a feature of universal human interest the incubator holds its own, for from the moment the doors of the cottage where the babies are housed opened to the public a goodly crowd of spectators has been maintained.

Eleven inches in length and weighing one and a half pounds sizes up the smallest infant, which is kept in the end incubator and gives the impression of a much larger creature, by reason of its wrappings. A large pink satin bow is tied conspicuously below its armpits, and matches with remarkable accuracy its tiny face and hands.

The children are fed by wet nurses by means of a tube. Special scales, special self-rocking baskets are among the newest scientific devices for saving the tots, and padded dressing tables make easy, for the nurses, the task of handling and clothing the under-sized babies. They are kept in high temperature and their baths, which are daily, are 96 degrees Fahrenheit. Gradually the temperature and feeding is brought to the normal.

These resourceful lads found a way to get into a sideshow at the fair in about 1910. (Photo courtesy mnhs.org)

I was unable to track down the key people in this Minneapolis Star story. They’ve all moved on to the great beyond.

CHECKS ON STORIES HERE

Ghost Hunter Begins Search

By WILLIAM MOFFETT
Minneapolis Star Staff Writer

A man who seeks proof of the existence of ghosts and other supernatural phenomena came to Minneapolis over the weekend to hear ghost stories.

	Nandor Fodor

Dr. Nandor Fodor, who calls himself a para-psychologist (a person who studies the supernatural) was here as part of a stunt to plug a new Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer movie, The Haunting.

He personally interviewed three of “nearly 100” persons in the Minneapolis area who answered a newspaper advertisement run by M-G-M asking for accounts of experiences with the supernatural. The ad, which was run nationally, brought some 1,300 replies.

Fodor, who earns a living as a psychoanalyst in New York, has been an interested believer in the supernatural “over 40 years.” He will write his fifth book on the subject of poltergeists (mischievous spirits) and other mysterious phenomena from information derived from the nation-wide round of interviews.

The first interview in Minneapolis was with Mr. and Mrs. Charles J. Organ, 3213 18th Av. S. The couple claimed they had lived in a haunted house 30 years ago.

“The ghost had a peg leg,” Mrs. Organ said. “He’d walk from the attic to the basement at night. You could hear his peg thumping, but you couldn’t see him. Doors would open when they should have been closed. A set of long underwear appeared in the doorway one night. We saw footprints in the snow …”

Not Afraid

“The house had been owned by a man who had his leg amputated. He hanged himself one night after he told his wife he’d haunt the house if she ever sold it. People told us it was haunted before we bought it.”

“Were you afraid?” Fodor asked.

“I’ve never been afraid of anything in my life,” she said.

“Me neither,” said her husband.

	A poster for 1963’s “The Haunting”

“We cut down the rope and burned the chair he had stood on to hang himself.”

“Did the ghost stop?”

“Yep. Never saw him again.”

“Remove the props and you often remove the ghost,” Fodor advised.

Another interview was with a woman who forecasted the reception of a gift.

Another was with a man who felt his wife’s fear at the same instant her life was jeopardized miles away.

Does he consider these accounts of the supernatural genuine?

“Often these things are hallucinatory. The mind refuses to be stunted,” he said.

“They are a kind of reality because what exists in the mind is real.”

Born in Hungary, Fodor was a journalist in England and Europe 20 years. He has a law degree from the University of Budapest.

He became interested in the supernatural over 40 years ago when he communicated with his dead father in a séance. He considers this one of three occasions of his “evidential” to the existence of supernatural powers.

“There is no logic in this business,” he said.