| Ourang-Outang | |
|---|---|
 | |
|
Real Name |
Unknown |
|
First Appearance |
The Murders in the Rue Morgue (1841) |
|
Original Publisher |
Graham's Magazine |
|
Created by |
Edgar Allan Poe |
Origin[]
C. Auguste Dupin is a man in Paris who solves the mystery of the brutal murder of two women. Numerous witnesses heard a suspect, though no one agrees on what language was spoken. At the murder scene, Dupin finds a hair that does not appear to be human.
Dupin concludes that an "Ourang-Outang" (orangutan) killed the women. He places an advertisement in the newspaper asking if anyone has lost such an animal, and a sailor arrives looking for it.
The sailor offers a reward, but Dupin is interested only in learning the circumstances behind the two murders. The sailor explains that he captured the orangutan while in Borneo and brought it back to Paris, intending to sell it, but had trouble keeping it under control. When he saw the orangutan attempting to shave its face with his straight razor, imitating his morning grooming, it fled into the streets and reached the Rue Morgue, where it climbed up and into the house. The orangutan seized the mother by the hair and was waving the razor, imitating a barber; when she screamed in fear, it flew into a rage, ripped her hair out, slashed her throat, and strangled Camille. The sailor climbed up the lightning rod in an attempt to catch the animal, and the two voices heard by witnesses belonged to it and him. Fearing punishment by its master, the orangutan threw the mother's body out the window and stuffed Camille into the chimney before fleeing.
The sailor sells the orangutan, Le Bon is released from custody, and an embarrassed G– sarcastically remarks that people should mind their own business. Dupin comments to the narrator that G– is "somewhat too cunning to be profound", but admires his ability "de nier ce qui est, et d'expliquer ce qui n'est pas" (a quote from Julie; or, The New Heloise by Jean-Jacques Rousseau: "to deny that which is, and explain that which is not").
Public Domain Appearances[]
All published appearances of Ourang-Outang from before January 1, 1931 are public domain in the US.
Public Domain Literary Appearances[]
- The Murders in the Rue Morgue (1841)
Public Domain Film Appearances[]
- The Murders in the Rue Morgue (1914)
Public Domain Films Inspired by the Orang-Outang[]
- The Orang-Outang (1915)
Public Domain Comic Appearances[]
- Scream #10
Public Domain Comic Appearances Inspired by Orang-Outang[]
- Cow Puncher Comics #6 : Kit West solves the mystery of a series of murders of women at Fort Gresham. An orangutan belonging to Sailor Ben is exposed as the culprit. Sailor Ben never had romantic success because "women hate him because he's so ugly," so he took out his anger on young women at the fort.
Notes[]
- The use of the phrase "orang-outang" does not refer to members of the orangutan genus Pongo, but rather uses the phrase to refer to the habitat of the subject; that is, a "person of the forest" (orangutan translates from Malay as "person of the forest/jungle".)