Peter Benchley has said that his classic novel Jaws – which later served as the inspiration for the summer blockbuster starring Richard Dreyfuss – was not inspired by the very real story of the 1916 shark attacks on the New Jersey coast.

However, anyone reading any report about these shark attacks may doubt the author’s comments.

In the summer of 1916, swimming in the ocean was still a new idea, explains Michael Capuzzo in his book Close to Shore. And with the East Coast’s sweltering heat, people flocked to the Jersey Shore to escape not only the heat but also the diseases that were spreading in crowded cities.

The beach with its sea air and bathing in the sea promised to be a place that would do the body good.

But many people would ultimately disagree with this theory. As the film soon celebrates its 50th anniversary, here’s a look at the similarities.

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What were the 1916 shark attacks in New Jersey?

On July 1, 1916, Charles Epting Vansant of Philadelphia arrived at the Engleside Hotel, located on the New Jersey shore, according to the Matawan Historical Society. When he arrived, he was eager to get in the water and swam in the water near the hotel around 6 p.m.

And then he was attacked by a shark.

Lifeguard Alexander Ott tried to save him, but Vansant later succumbed to his injuries in the hotel.

Just five days later, Charles Bruder, 28, a bellboy at the Essex and Sussex Hotel in Spring Lake on the New Jersey shore, went swimming with friends in the early afternoon.

About 120 meters from shore, he was attacked by a shark. According to reports, Bruder’s legs were bitten off when lifeguards reached him. He died of blood loss.

A few days later, on July 8, a shark was spotted swimming just outside the barriers of a swimming area in Asbury Park.

“The lifeguard captain on duty took a boat out and hit the shark with an oar to scare it away. It was reportedly a 12-foot shark,” the Matawan Historical Society wrote.

On July 12, the shark moved inland.

On the day in question, 11-year-old Lester Stillwell went swimming in Matawan Creek to escape the heat. Earlier that day, retired Captain Thomas Cottrell had stated that he had seen “a dark, gray figure about eight feet long swimming westward up the creek with the incoming tide.” Shortly after 2 p.m. that day, Stilwell was attacked by a shark in front of his friends who were also swimming. When his body was recovered, he was dead, as was his supposed rescuer, Stanley Fisher.

Just a short time later that same day, 12-year-old Joseph Dunn was also attacked by a shark in the same creek. His wounds eventually recovered. Others were injured in the attempts to rescue the two boys.

That same day, outraged Matawan Mayor Arris B. Henderson “offered a $100 reward for ‘killing the shark.'”

Three days later, a shark was caught with this bait.

The historical society stated that “a large shark was caught in Raritan Bay and exhibited to over 3,000 people for 10 cents a piece.” It was believed that this was the shark involved in all the attacks, but no one was absolutely sure.

A total of four people died as a result of shark attacks this year.

What inspired Peter Benchley to write Jaws?

While Benchley acknowledged the 1916 shark attacks in interviews, he told the BBC that “the novel grew out of his lifelong interest in shark attacks, including the exploits of Frank Mundus, the sport fisherman from Montauk on Long Island who landed a record-breaking 3,427-pound great white shark.”

What are the similarities between Jaws and the shark attacks of 1916?

These are the parallels in the attacks:

• Benchley’s shark kills four people, including one victim in an estuary similar to Matawan Creek.

• The mayor of Matawan initially denied that such attacks had actually taken place, as did the mayor of Amity, the town where the film Jaws is mainly set.

• The fictional ichthyologist Matt Hooper from Jaws warns people that shark attacks occurred in 1916 and could happen again.

• According to the Historical Society, in 1916, mad men led a shark hunt in Matawan, and in Jaws, a crew of greedy fishermen did the same.

This article originally appeared on wickedlocal.com: Is Jaws a true story? Similar shark attacks in 1916 were true.