Some accounts indicate the plot of "Jaws" was inspired by events that took place on the New Jersey coast in 1916 (via History). First, a shark attacked a man, with the shark biting the man's leg as he swam in the water. Despite a dramatic rescue by onlookers, he bled to death on shore. Five days later, another man was killed when a shark bit off his legs. A few days after that, two young boys were attacked by sharks — one was killed, and the other had his leg bitten Was it all the work of the same murderous creature?
One thing seemed clear to the angry community: Sharks were the enemy. Mobs of shark hunters set off for the beach. Frightened citizens urged the government to jump in. President Woodrow Wilson organized an actual "war on sharks."
But before the government took much action, one of the shark hunters apparently caught the offending creature. After killing a particular shark, he reportedly gutted it to find human bones inside. After that, the attacks ceased. Fact vs. fiction aside, it was all great stuff for the perfect horror movie plot decades later.
