# And you thought there were no superheroes...
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/and-you-thought-there-were-no-superheroes/71763
**Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
**Created:** [July 9, 2001, 1:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/and-you-thought-there-were-no-superheroes/71763 "2001-07-09T01:33:37Z")
**Posts on this page:** 19
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Scylla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scylla)
#### Post date: [July 9, 2001, 1:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/and-you-thought-there-were-no-superheroes/71763/1 "2001-07-09T01:33:37Z")
[http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/nm/20010708/ts/life\_shark\_dc\_1.html](http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/nm/20010708/ts/life_shark_dc_1.html)
Apparently a boy got attcked by a 7 foot bull shark in knee deep waters. It bit off his arm.
His uncle rescued the boy. He got Cpr and was choperred to a hospital.
Then, in what I can only describe as a superhuman feat, the Uncle went in after the shark for a reckoning.
He “wrestled” the 7 foot monster to the beach, where a ranger shot it in the head a bunch of times.
They then pried open the jaws, retrieved the arm, and it’s been reattached.
It’s so unbeleivable that if you saw it in a movie you’d laugh at how unrealistic and corny it was.
But, he did it.
I’d buy him a beer in a minute.
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### Author:  [@China\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/China_Guy)
#### Post date: [July 9, 2001, 1:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/and-you-thought-there-were-no-superheroes/71763/2 "2001-07-09T01:40:38Z")
Make mental note to add shark wrestling to resume.
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### Author:  [@Nefarious\_Chipmunk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nefarious_Chipmunk)
#### Post date: [July 9, 2001, 1:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/and-you-thought-there-were-no-superheroes/71763/3 "2001-07-09T01:49:54Z")
Now there is a guy I want to take to MY next visit to the beach. I wonder if he is hiring 😉
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### Author:  [@Scylla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scylla)
#### Post date: [July 9, 2001, 1:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/and-you-thought-there-were-no-superheroes/71763/4 "2001-07-09T01:51:51Z")
On bull sharks…
[http://www.boattalk.com/sharks/bullshark.htm](http://www.boattalk.com/sharks/bullshark.htm)
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### Author:  [@Silver\_Fire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Silver_Fire)
#### Post date: [July 9, 2001, 1:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/and-you-thought-there-were-no-superheroes/71763/5 "2001-07-09T01:58:41Z")
Truly amazing. Poor kid though. Ouch.
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### Author:  [@fireman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fireman)
#### Post date: [July 9, 2001, 2:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/and-you-thought-there-were-no-superheroes/71763/6 "2001-07-09T02:26:07Z")
True heroes are just like this guy, an otherwise normal person who rises to the occasion. I’d buy the second round of beer.
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### Author:  [@Drastic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Drastic)
#### Post date: [July 9, 2001, 3:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/and-you-thought-there-were-no-superheroes/71763/7 "2001-07-09T03:10:54Z")
I hope the reattachment takes, and full function is regained.
In later life, people will never believe his story of where that scar came from, though.
I wonder what was done with the shark’s body once they got the arm back? I’d want to have it taken to a taxidermist pronto and keep it in the house as a conversation piece. “Yeah, this scar around my arm is where a shark bit it off. That’s him right there.”
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### Author:  [@MEBuckner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MEBuckner)
#### Post date: [July 9, 2001, 3:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/and-you-thought-there-were-no-superheroes/71763/8 "2001-07-09T03:52:38Z")
I have this picture of a guy who looks a lot like [Nate, the big bearded pirate from the _Overboard_ comic strip](http://www.gographics.com/funnies/going_overboard_in_style.htm).
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### Author:  [@Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Barbarian)
#### Post date: [July 9, 2001, 12:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/and-you-thought-there-were-no-superheroes/71763/9 "2001-07-09T12:27:41Z")
unfortunately the kid is now in kidney failure. Good thing we have dialysis.
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### Author:  [@slortar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/slortar)
#### Post date: [July 9, 2001, 1:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/and-you-thought-there-were-no-superheroes/71763/10 "2001-07-09T13:11:19Z")
For some reason, whenever I try to picture the man, I imagine the janitor from the Simsons. 🙂
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### Author:  [@Simetra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Simetra)
#### Post date: [July 9, 2001, 1:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/and-you-thought-there-were-no-superheroes/71763/11 "2001-07-09T13:37:41Z")
This story, for some reason, makes me swell up with manly pride. Something about diving back into the water and kicking a sharks ass.
Makes ya want to eat meat, make a fire, and grunt doesn’t it?
I’d get the third round.
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### Author:  [@Mullinator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mullinator)
#### Post date: [July 9, 2001, 1:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/and-you-thought-there-were-no-superheroes/71763/12 "2001-07-09T13:44:24Z")
Sheesh, I want to name my first born after that guy. That may be the manliest thing I have ever read.
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### Author:  [@Jonathan\_Chance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jonathan_Chance)
#### Post date: [July 9, 2001, 2:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/and-you-thought-there-were-no-superheroes/71763/13 "2001-07-09T14:25:27Z")
Serve that man up an official ‘non=poseur’ award.
I heard about this on NPR over the weekend. Man, women want him, men want to BE him. Never before has it been so true.
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### Author:  [@lno](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lno)
#### Post date: [July 9, 2001, 2:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/and-you-thought-there-were-no-superheroes/71763/14 "2001-07-09T14:35:35Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by Scylla \*
> \*\*[http://www.boattalk.com/sharks/bullshark.htm](http://www.boattalk.com/sharks/bullshark.htm) \*\*
From that site:
> [@](#):
>
> Bull Sharks have been found up to 1,750 miles up the Mississippi River in the USA
When I was a kid, I was afraid of swimming in the Mississippi because of sharks. My parents pointed out that we lived in Minnesota, and there were many, many, MANY locks and dams along the Mississippi, and that there was no way a shark would swim _upriver_ that far. I will now officially whine like a little girl when I get close to the Mississippi.
And I’ll get the fourth round for that guy.
As an aside, this reminds me of the 1916 shark attacks at Matawan, NJ. At one point, a small boy jumped off a pier and was taken by the shark; a bystander dove in to wrestle the child’s body from the shark. He recovered the body but died from his injuries.
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### Author:  [@Spoke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoke)
#### Post date: [July 9, 2001, 3:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/and-you-thought-there-were-no-superheroes/71763/15 "2001-07-09T15:39:10Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by slortar \*
> \*\*For some reason, whenever I try to picture the man, I imagine the janitor from the Simsons. 🙂 \*\*
Thing is, he’s just an ordinary-looking guy. (I saw a brief interview with the guy on a local newscast.)
Adrenaline is powerful stuff.
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### Author:  [@ChoosyChipsAndCeilingWhacks](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ChoosyChipsAndCeilingWhacks)
#### Post date: [July 9, 2001, 3:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/and-you-thought-there-were-no-superheroes/71763/16 "2001-07-09T15:50:09Z")
\
My hero!!
\
-L
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### Author:  [@Morrison\_s\_Lament](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morrison_s_Lament)
#### Post date: [July 9, 2001, 4:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/and-you-thought-there-were-no-superheroes/71763/17 "2001-07-09T16:32:23Z")
That is one COOL dude! I’d buy him beer, but it seems he’s already got that covered.
Oh, well, I still like his heroism 😃
— G. Raven
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### Author:  [@rocking\_chair](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rocking_chair)
#### Post date: [July 9, 2001, 11:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/and-you-thought-there-were-no-superheroes/71763/18 "2001-07-09T23:00:35Z")
while uncle was wrestling the shark, aunt was doing cpr on nephy. quite a team.
my prayers go out to the boy he has quite a long recovery ahead. the doctor’s seem to be concerned about the amount of time he was clinically dead, huge blood loss, and possible brain damage. his aunt and uncle did all they could and more to keep him alive and whole. i hope things work out well.
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### Author:  [@Rilchiam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rilchiam)
#### Post date: [July 11, 2001, 7:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/and-you-thought-there-were-no-superheroes/71763/19 "2001-07-11T07:37:13Z")
He was in “knee-deep water”! Jeez, I would have thought if one stayed above the dropoff point, sharks wouldn’t come in that far!
Candygram…