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TJ_Fox OP t1_jd9j0a3 wrote

Reply to comment by Chillchinchila1 in TIL that on April 1st, 1906, American newspapers ran prank articles reporting that Chicago had been "invaded by hordes of prehistoric monsters dealing death and destruction", illustrated with doctored photos showing dinosaurs attacking the Windy City. by TJ_Fox

I was wondering the same thing. I mean, I guess the idea of dinosaurs attacking a city is inherently dramatic so it makes sense as a story trope, but as far as I know this article was the first major visual representation of that idea. When Doyle came out with The Lost World (novel) in 1912, the only creature that gets transported to London is a pterodactyl. Then by the time the movie's produced in the '20s, it's a brontosaur, and the rest is history.

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