After being brought into the play area, the shark became irritable, crashed into the window and vomited up human body parts.
Today, visitors to Coogee, Sydney, Australia still refer to the famous incident: a shark vomiting a human arm that happened 83 years ago at a local aquarium. To this day, it remains one of the most famous murders in Australia.
At the time of its inauguration, Coogee Aquarium was one of the attractions that attracted many visitors. (Photo: Dictionary of Sydney).
In mid-April 1935, Bert Hobson, a local fisherman, caught a 4.2m-long shark in Coogee waters, according to Atlasobscura. Bert and his son brought the fish to the aquarium.
At first, the shark showed no signs of abnormality. But just a few days later, the animal became irritable and acted strangely. It continuously crashed into the glass tank walls and then dived to the bottom of the tank. The animal just swam around slowly.
Eventually, the shark started vomiting. What came out of its mouth included a bird, a rat, digested food, and a human arm with a cord wrapped around it.
Immediately, the police and experts were called in for an autopsy. The results showed that this arm was not bitten by a shark, there were no teeth marks, but instead was cut by a sharp object, such as a blade.
The animal’s indigestion has led the police to the lead of a murder investigation. Police allowed Sydney’s Truth, a local newspaper, to publish a description of the incident along with a tattoo on his arm in the hope that someone would provide information.
Sydney’s Truth covered the case. (Photo: Dictionary of Sydney).
Not long after, a man recognized this tattoo of his brother, amateur boxer James Smith . This person went missing a few weeks before the article was published.
The police quickly stepped in to find Smith. The character was last seen at the Cronulla Hotel, located on the outskirts of Sydney. At that time, Smith was drinking tea and playing dominoes with his friend Patrick Brady.
The hotel owner said that after that night, Brady disappeared and left the rented room empty. The strange thing is that the entire bed and mattress have been changed. The walls and furniture in the room are also cleaned.
At this point, Brady is the number one suspect of the police. A taxi driver who took Brady the day after Smith went missing provided more information. Brady, looking confused and worried, asked to be driven to an apartment north of Sydney, owned by Reginald Lloyd Holmes.
Holmes is a businessman but also a gangster. He hired Brady and Smith to transport illegal drugs and cigarettes. These two people were also directed to damage, burn or sink the ship or boat so that the owner could be insured. When one of these missions failed, Smith was “interrogated”.
After vomiting up a human arm, the shark was dissected to find more evidence. However, in the belly of the animal did not have any more human parts. (Photo: Atlas Obscura).
Both Brady and Holmes were questioned, but refused to cooperate. Brady was charged with murder, and Holmes was released for lack of evidence. Holmes then accused Brady of killing Smith, cutting the victim’s body into pieces and throwing it into the sea.
But the night before he testified, Holmes was shot dead in his car. This death caused all charges against Brady to be dropped. Brady’s attorney also argued that the shark had swallowed only one arm. An arm is not a complete human body and a person can still survive if only this part is lost. The court agreed to that part of the defense and acquitted Brady. However, before being released in court, Brady continued to be arrested by the police for fraud. In 1965, Brady died and was still not charged with murder.