October 17, 2023
"Then the elephant... rolled over her from right to left, like a steamroller. 'All my bones broke at once: my collarbone, my ribs, my pelvis'..."
"'I didn’t feel it, but I heard it. I thought: "Oh, shit. That’s my spine."' She believes that what saved her was that the ground was soft.... She remembers feeling the elephant’s short, bristly hair against her skin; the way it blocked out the sun as it went to roll over her again. She braced herself for the end, for her skull to be crushed...."
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51 comments:
Not the Gemma Jones I thought it was at first.
Was at that place 9 years ago. At that time, riding elephants was considered 'cruel' but people were still doing it.
It was an easy pass for me.
A friend of mine traveled in India and watched as an angry wild elephant destroyed some outbuildings in the ashram where she was staying. They look gentle, but if they lose it, there's no stopping them.
Right and left are called starboard and port on an elephant.
Freewill with momentum.
Gemma Jones writes, “You don’t realise, in your 20s, that just because you’re allowed to do something doesn’t necessarily mean it’s all going to be fine.”
Gemma should speak for herself. Most people learn this lesson before they turn 10.
As with people, it depends on the elephant. I knew an elephant who toured the festivals. She was a gentle and really sweet gal. OK, there's a variable, male/female.
While there are stories of elephants harming people, there are just as many if not more of them helping and saving people.
So many news stories are spoiled by the protagonist being a twit, and/or the reporter just not reporting very well.
When the North American circus gave up putting male elephants on show, I believe this was because the male is far more likely than the female to attack a human. Which was it in this case?
The initial description of injuries sounds life-threatening, then we learn there is intense pain from internal injuries, followed by a fairly rapid recovery. Enough of a physical recovery to go back to Asia, but scary stuff PTSD etc. Fine. Then don't go to Asia. No long period in a rehab hospital. No wheelchair.
Don't go BASE jumping. Especially in a wingsuit. Don't go free diving, as beautiful as it looks in a video. Don't climb Everest. Don't go to the most remote spot you can find for peace and quiet, or to struggle to communicate with people who are somehow simple and good. You might get sick or injured in this remote spot.
Bassist Leland Sklar was on vacation with his wife in Spain. They had gone to something like an Air B and B home, separating from a group of friends. There was a swing of some kind, which Lee's wife loves, so Lee pushed her. She fell, and was in excruciating pain for many days. Spanish doctors came up with a diagnosis involving verterbrae, but refused to give much painkiller. After more than one long flight, back in LA, better painkiller, better diagnosis. Lee has mentioned hiring attorneys, even though the owners of the home where they were staying did all they could to help get the patient to hospital.
Lee has turned 76, I assume his wife is of a comparable age.
Seems like you can make an elephant angry by riding it.
But how do you make an elephant float?
I did not ride an elephant when I was in Thailand. I hung out with a bunch of airline pilots and stewardesses, in a secret cove with a waterfall, and lots of cocaine. Thai women brought marijuana and sex right to my hotel room door, swearing to God they were good Buddhists (and Catholics) who did not "do this all the time." A German tourist offered me his wife (I declined). I did go to bed with three Swedish girls at the same time there. Who wouldn't? It was the very early '80s, so it was also the first time I'd played a coin-operated Pac Man game (they wouldn't arrive in the US for about 5 more years) or ate a burger with cucumber and Sriracha on it, beating the rest of America to the wonder of "Thai ketchup" by at least 10 years.
But, somehow, I missed riding an elephant.
Went on safari on back of Asian elephant in '87. Never occurred to me it could go rogue.
I blame Sabu for making it look so easy.
My daughter loved the elephant ride. Got up on the head and stroked the ears. Poor dad was in the wooden seat, holding on to the sides in sheer terror. Mom was smart - she refused to board.
Fortunately we had no rollovers.
He saw an animal as smooth as glass
Slithering his way through the grass
Saw him disappear by a tree near a lake . . .
'swearing to God they were good Buddhists (and Catholics) who did not "do this all the time."'
There are maybe 4 Thai Catholics in the country...amazing that they found you : )
'It was the very early '80s, so it was also the first time I'd played a coin-operated Pac Man game (they wouldn't arrive in the US for about 5 more years)...'
Pac Man was in the US in late 1980...maybe another game...
Warburton said that the elephant is the only animal having no ridiculous aspect.
But how do you make an elephant float?
With lots and lots of ice cream.
If an elephant chooses to roll over you, your best hope is if they choose to do it on soft ground. You should never ride elephants on asphalt surfaces. As an added safety measure, you should never ride elephants. Except for tiger hunts, of course.
The elephant in the room never does that.
If fact, the elephant in the room is so inconspicuously well behaved only some people seem him at all.
Maybe there ought to be a reevaluation about the treatment of elephants.
"But how do you make an elephant float?"
Beer mug
2 Scoops vanilla ice cream
Bourbon to taste
Fill up with Ginger Ale
If the elephant were charging, you could just take away its credit card.
We rode elephants in Laos around 5 years ago. I remember thinking on the ride it seemed a bit dangerous, not because the elephant could go crazy, but because the terrain was so rough and steep in places that the elephant could lose its footing. But all went well. I guess the elephants are adapted to making their way on that kind of surface. It didn't seem cruel (though I don't know what the elephant was thinking), and the place we went too was tied in with some kind of elephant preservation organization.
Therein exists a metaphor for our times. A tale of the braying Ass and trumpeting Pachy.
That was an amazing story. I was also surprised at the quick recovery time though the hospital can't do much with those cracked bones. I cracked 7 ribs a couple of years ago and I only spent a night in the hospital because there was nothing they could do for me besides give me painkillers. But my ribs hurt for at least 8 weeks.
Feeling a sneeze come on was terrifying.
Extremely disturbing video of the last minutes of Tyke, a circus elephant brought to Honolulu in 1994:
https://vimeo.com/489495278
"Feeling a sneeze coming on [after 7 broken ribs] was terrifying."
I have no doubt. Did it hurt when you laughed?
I see what you did there Kevin … @3:19
Her description of what happened, her injuries, and the recovery time make no sense. If her pelvis was shattered, no one could help her walk away from the place of injury. Nor would she be in PT the first week or leaving the hospital walking a few weeks after. I don’t buy it.
Blogger The Crack Emcee said...
I did not ride an elephant when I was in Thailand.
Sounds like you got to ride plenty of other things to make up for that.
"Feeling a sneeze come on was terrifying."
I had surgery to replace a heart valve. I can relate to that feeling.
This morning I shot an elephant in my pajamas.
[Gemma Jones] remembers the attack that began with an ominous growl.
The growl of the Tyrannosaurus in the original Jurassic Park was a remixed elephant vocalization.
Yes. Laughing was best avoided
"The most helpful thing Jones did for her own post-traumatic stress, she says, was learning and practising trauma-sensitive yoga. Today she has no lasting pain from the elephant encounter, and no scars; the only visible trace is a wonky collarbone."
A horse can and will do the same thing, lying down on its side (breaking the rider's leg) and/or continuing over onto its back to complete the job of crushing the rider's pelvis and other important parts. It happened to me many decades ago and fortunately I jumped clear and escaped injury before he hit the ground. My fault for not keeping his head up.
The same thing can happen on a cycle -- bicy or motor.
Be careful out there and wear a helmet.
Narr said...
This morning I shot an elephant in my pajamas
What was the elephant doing in your pajamas?
Fat horse big mad.
That video of the elephant Tyke taking all those bullets reminded me of Tony Montana at the end of Scarface.
Joe Smith said...
"Pac Man was in the US in late 1980...maybe another game..."
Nope - I obviously got my dates wrong (who forgets Pac Man?) it could've been 1979-early 1980. I just know I saw it, over there, in a way it hadn't exploded over here, yet, by the time I got back.
walter said...
"The most helpful thing Jones did for her own post-traumatic stress, she says, was learning and practising trauma-sensitive yoga."
"She says". Yet she obviously didn't use the relaxing poses recommended for when she was at the airport, or when she arrived at her hotel room, or before she left the room to interact with the rest of the world. I've heard yoga can also cure her cancer, AND make her fly, on top of saving her after being rolled upon by an elephant. Never think Medical Science is amazing. Pfffft. Science/Schmience, am I right?
What's amazing is anybody still believes these idiotic bullshitters,...
What's grey and comes in quarts?
(I'll see myself out)
MarcusB. THEOLDMAN
I've had a hankering to go to Thailand and have fun like Crack did. I'm deathly afraid of being arrested in a foreign country (remember Midnight Express?) so I did most of those things in Good Ol' America where it costs a lot more.
Remember, German wives may be sexy, but German children are kinder.
MarcusB THEOLDMAN
Cocaine, desperate hookers, hamburgers, and video games: sounds like a bad case of Western Imperialism.
Tina Trent said...
"Cocaine, desperate hookers, hamburgers, and video games: sounds like a bad case of Western Imperialism."
I didn't call anyone "desperate" - they were cute, and fun, and laughed coyly behind their hands like they'd never tried doing anything sexual before. As far as the rest of it, I was 18, military, in a foreign country, trying to fit in. Meeting those damn airline pilots and stewardesses just set everything on a road I had never traveled. And they left me with pleasant memories I will take to the grave.
That's what I want to know, Duke Dan.
Quit pestering the livestock.
Are you kidding, Crack? Do you think native impoverished women aren't going to show you a good time to feed their kids, rather than bring you down with the reality of their desperation and degradation?
What I'm saying quite clearly, and what you need to hear clearly, is that your bullshit oppression special status doesn't fly upon closer scrutiny. So stop crawling up our asses. You're fine without it.
Tina Trent said...
"Are you kidding, Crack? Do you think native impoverished women aren't going to show you a good time to feed their kids, rather than bring you down with the reality of their desperation and degradation?"
You keep sticking words in, I ever said or implied, like "impoverished". Thailand isn't the Philippines. Sorry to disappoint you, but poverty is not my aphrodisiac.
"What I'm saying quite clearly, and what you need to hear clearly, is that your bullshit oppression special status doesn't fly upon closer scrutiny. So stop crawling up our asses. You're fine without it."
There it is. You guys are so intent on trying to tear me down, you're no better than liberals. That "special status" drives you crazy. Thanks for letting me know. You love "the chosen people" though, right? Of course you do. Fucking hyypocrites.
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