One day a high local political person was talking with us. Then he shared this very strange story but confirmed story. His Great Grandmother had married a much older man for money, much to the disapproval of her family. They lived in a large Victorian mansion in Washington D.C. Together they had 3 kids then the husband passed away.

     After a short time all the money was gone too. His great grandmother started to rent out rooms to ‘ladies of the night’. She also ran gambling games out of the mansions many rooms.

    At one of these poker games she won 2 monkeys. Our friends Grandmother remembers playing with the monkeys as a young girl. One of the monkeys started to grow and…. grow. It wasn’t a monkey but a gorilla!!! He was given his own room. One day the gorilla got out and walked down the street to a produce store. This was in the late 1890’s.

    The people had never seen a gorilla before. Some fainted, others screamed!!! The police were called. By the time they arrived the gorilla had left and went back to his room at the house. The police went to the home and proceeded up the stairs to arrest the gorilla. A few minutes later both officers were tossed down the stairs by the scared gorilla.

    The Washington D.C. National Zoo was called. They came out and tranquilized the poor scared animal. Told that they could not keep a Gorilla as a pet, the gorilla was donated to the National Zoo. This was the very first Gorilla at the Washington D.C. National Zoo. The gorilla lived many years and was a huge hit with the children. Funny enough the family went to visit and mingle with the family raised gorilla at the zoo for years.