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Down the rabbit hole

Other Aquatic · Seguin, Texas · 1843

6 documents · 1 independent account · 1 cited source we haven't found yet

6 documents tell this story. They trace back to 1 independent account. 1 cited source we haven't found yet.

The route

  1. One encounter the reported sighting this case is about
  2. 6 documents that tell it, as we collected them
  3. 1 independent account behind those documents
  4. 5 copies reprints or cross-posts of the same text: not extra witnesses
  5. 1 cited source named in the documents: 1 not found yet

Copies are not confirmations: thirty papers printing one story is still one account.

Rabbit hole: Other Aquatic · Seguin, Texas · 18436 documents tell this story. They trace back to 1 independent account. 1 cited source we haven't found yet. Each independent account is one row; time runs left to right. The earliest document we hold in each account is ringed. A full list follows the picture.Account 16 documents · 5 reprintsTIME (when each document was published) →Sep 24, 1843Oct 1Oct 8Oct 15Reprint · The Daily Madisonian (Washington City [I.E. Washington, D.C.]) · Image 2 of The daily Madisonian (Washington City [i.e. Washington, D.C.]), October 7, 1843 · Newspaper, Oct 7, 1843The Daily MadisonianReprint · Alexandria Gazette (Alexandria, D.C.) · Newspaper, Oct 7, 1843Alexandria GazetteReprint · The Madisonian (Washington City [I.E. Washington, D.C.]) · Image 4 of The Madisonian (Washington City [i.e. Washington, D.C.]), October 9, 1843 · Newspaper, Oct 9, 1843The MadisonianReprint · Danbury Times (Danbury, Conn.) · Image 2 of Danbury times (Danbury, Conn.), October 11, 1843 · Newspaper, Oct 11, 1843Danbury TimesReprint · Richmond Enquirer (Richmond, Va.) · Image 2 of Richmond enquirer (Richmond, Va.), October 17, 1843 · Newspaper, Oct 17, 1843Richmond Enquirercited, not yet found · Wiscasset Republican · Newspaper, undated · search for itWiscasset Republican · not yet foundEarliest found · The Liberator (Boston, Mass.) · Newspaper, Sep 22, 1843EARLIEST FOUNDThe LiberatorNewspapersame text (reprint)Earliest foundcited, not yet found

Each shape is one document; open it to go to where we found it. The same graph as a list is below.

Why these records are connected

  • 5 copies: the copy detector found the same words in a later document, so it sits in the same row as the account it copies.
  • Why these documents are one case. The case matcher joined them because:
    • The Madisonian & The daily Madisonian: the copy detector found the same text in both; their quotes overlap; they describe the same details; same place, same month
    • The daily Madisonian & Danbury times: the copy detector found the same text in both; their quotes overlap; they describe the same details; same place, same month
    • The Madisonian & Richmond enquirer: a person reviewed them and joined them
    • The daily Madisonian & Richmond enquirer: a person reviewed them and joined them
    • The Madisonian & Danbury times: the copy detector found the same text in both; they describe the same details; same place, same month

Every document, as a list

  1. Account 1 6 documents

How to read this

  • Time runs left to right by publication date. Very long empty stretches are cut short (the axis shows how many years were skipped); undated documents sit in their own column.
  • One row per independent account. A reprint, re-upload or cross-post carries the same text, so it stays in its account's row and never counts as a second witness.
  • Earliest found (ringed) is the earliest document we hold for that account. It is not proof of the first telling: an earlier one may exist that we haven't collected.
  • Arrows run from a document to a source it names. A dashed shape is a source a document cites that we haven't found yet; its link searches a public archive for it, and a hit there is a lead, not a confirmation.

About the numbers

  • Only documents we've collected are counted; retellings elsewhere on the web aren't counted yet.
  • Documents are matched by shared text and by the sources they name, by plain rules with no model in the loop. A match can be wrong; tell us.

The deepest rabbit holes →

Where next

Every rabbit hole → · How we tell copies from independent accounts