| Fighting Bob | |
|---|---|
| |
| "He's just like any other bird. Immortal and filled with rage." - Pete Lattimer | |
|
Origin |
Boise's White City Park |
|
Type |
Stuffed Ostrich |
|
Effects |
Animation |
|
Downsides |
Temper |
|
Activation |
Always Active |
|
Collected by |
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|
Section |
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|
Aisle |
9123-4564 |
|
Date of Collection |
February 3 1949 |
| [Source] | |
Origin[]
Fighting Bob was an ostrich brought to Boise, Idaho's White City Park in 1911. White City was an amusement park named after and because of the amusement section of the Columbian Exhibition of 1893, which inspired dozens of similar parks around the country during the 20th century. Boise's iteration was owned by G.W. Hull and had a half-mile long wooden rollercoaster, carousel, miniature railroad, boating pond, dance pavilion/roller rink, photography studio, concession stands and a penny arcade, as well as several animal exhibits, and operated between 1910 and 1943.
Fighting Bob, as well as an ostrich named Desdemona, were purchased by Hull and two business partners with the intention of breeding them. They were to be kept in White City as attractions until their hatchlings would necessitate them to be moved to a ranch.
Unfortunately, Fighting Bob's name was no misnomer, and he had no interest in Desdemona, except to attack her until someone would separate them. He ultimately broke through a fence and killed her, and shortly after her death nearly killed himself while shadow boxing, slicing open his own neck with his talon. This wound required 90 stitches.
Though small compared to other male ostriches (Bob was just shy of six feet), Bob brought in a fair amount of popularity to White City, due to his impressive, vocal, and violent personality. People would feed him fair food like hot dogs, oranges, and gum, as well as inedible objects like cigars, marbles, and golfballs - his personal favorite - and on one memorable occassion, a horseshoe. This behavior caused him to be kidnapped in 1924 by a group of young pranksers, who fed him a sedative and walked him out of his pen, then took turns riding him. The prank ended when the bird fell into the Boise River and had to be fished out.
Full Display
Fighting Bob eventually died in 1927, and was memorialized by being stuffed and donated to the Idaho State Historical Museum, before being moved to the Orma J. Smith Museum of Natural History decades later, along with a few of Desdemona's own eggs.
Effects[]
Imbued with his anger in life, the stuffed body of Fighting Bob comes to life whenever he is not contained, and he will visciously chase, attack, and eat at anything he sets his eyes on. For everyone's safety, he is permanently sealed in a large wooden crate in Lupis-912F.
2018 Release and Recapture[]
An incident in 2018 accidentally released Fighting Bob into the Warehouse, where he and several other roaming artifacts wreaked havoc until they were neutralized.