Image courtesy of Niagara Falls Public Library
Each second over Horseshoe Falls two million liters flood,
And many a macabre tale pollutes the flow with blood,
From suicides, to murders, to barrel stunts gone bad,
All the trauma, gore and death, it’s terrible and it’s sad.
But what tale could be the worst upon the raging water.
A tale of human cruelty, a tale of needless slaughter.
The tale that fills me up the most with sorrow and with rage,
At the bottom of the Falls, there’s a bison in a cage.
A plan was hatched two centuries past when tourism was down,
By three hotel business men named Forsyth, Whitney and Brown.
Forsyth mused “We need a way to bring people to our town,”
“We could send a pirate ship over Horseshoe falls,” said Brown.
“An empty ship,” said Whitney, “Isn’t wild enough I find.”
“On board shall be ferocious beasts of every different kind.”
“Yes!” the men exclaimed at once, then they shook hands and agreed.
“A ruined Noah’s Arc is just the spectacle we need!”
Of the trio, not one man stopped to think this might be wrong.
An old schooner, the Michigan, was purchased for a song.
It was a British navy boat in the 1812 war,
And then a merchant vessel traveling from shore to shore.
By 1827, the time of this dark tale,
The ship was old and broken down, not even fit to sail.
Tied to the Michigan’s foremast the Jolly Roger flew,
And secured upon the deck was a dummy pirate crew.
With Union Jack on the stern, Stars and Stripes on the bow,
They showed our post war countries were friendly and peaceful now.
Though they wanted lions and tigers for their floating zoo,
They got raccoons, fox, and geese, and a couple of bears too.
Some say there was an eagle, some say a dog and a cat.
The reporters of the time didn’t all agree on that.
They promised this would be the spectacle of the age.
In the middle of the ship was a bison in a cage.
Ten thousand people came to watch and business was good.
The pubs ran out of beer; the restaurants ran out of food.
The people gathered by the edge to get a better view,
And marvel at the fate of our frightened animal crew.
A steamship called Chippewa had the Michigan in tow
A kilometer from the edge it let the old ship go.
The raging river moved the boat astonishingly fast
The geese all honked and ran about, the raccoon climbed the mast.
The spectators agreed it looked like chaos on the deck,
As fur and fowl tried as they might to get off of the wreck.
But in amidst the madness as the river war did wage,
Remaining stoic and serene, a bison in a cage.
Two bears leapt off the fated boat and swam towards the shore
They made it to Goat Island then despite the river’s roar
Some say the bears lived out their lives while some say they did not
Some local hunters tracked them down and they were promptly shot.
The Michigan was tossed about and soon was smashed to pieces
Fragments were swept down the falls with the racoons and geeses.
Amongst all this destruction, at a speed that’s hard to gauge.
Soaring o’er Niagara Falls, a bison in a cage.
A single goose was found alive, the rest fated to die
The bird was badly battered and she only had one eye.
She was lucky to have survived, at least that’s how it looked.
Until a fancy dinner feast when our poor goose was cooked.
Some say a cat survived as well, I guess we’ll never know
How many lives were dashed that day in the Falls mighty flow.
And Forsyth, Brown and Whitney all made out with wealth abound.
Neither the bison nor the cage was ever even found.
Source: Jennifer Filipowicz, 2026
This poem was entered into the Niagara Falls Poetry Project’s 25th Anniversary Poetry Contest.
Read about the Michigan spectacle
Jennifer Filipowicz moved to the Niagara area in 2025 with her husband, two teenage children and their dogs. When she’s not working as a background performer on a film set, or manning the front desk at a retirement home, Jennifer can be found hiking the Bruce Trail, swimming at Sunset Beach, or reading a book by her backyard pond.
