09-02-2024 - On This Day in Insane History

On the 2nd of September in the year 1698, the people of Barcelona were thrown into a panic of bewilderment and fear when four rabid swine came charging through the narrow streets in a bizarre stampede. According to eyewitness accounts, the hogs had somehow escaped their pens that morning in a fevered state of hydrophobia, rabid with the madness that would come to be known as hog hysteria. Snarling wildly and snapping their immense jaws, the crazed swine raced through the alleyways, terrorizing anyone unfortunate enough to cross their path.

Church bells wildly clanged the alarm as the townsfolk scrambled up the sides of buildings to avoid contact with the berserk boars below. One gentleman hardly escaped with his life when he slipped upon a stray pig's apple core, only narrowly avoiding being bitten and kicked into a slop-filled canal. The town guard were quickly summoned but found themselves at a loss, as bullets seemed only to further enrage the rabid animals. After causing widespread mayhem for several hours and chewing through two wagon wheels, the crazed quadrupeds were finally corralled by an intrepid butcher who managed to lure them into an empty pigsty with promises of acorns. Though order was restored to Barcelona's streets that eventful day, the strange affair of the rampaging swine was long debated and remained the prime topic of tavern speculation for months to come.