Everyone from Dillon knows about the elephant struck by lightning and buried on the spot in what’s now the fairgrounds. But few are as obsessed with telling and remembering the story of Old Pit as Jack Kirkley, who taught for many years at the college there. He thought it would be a good idea to dig up the bones and display Dillon’s elephant in a history museum, but he found out others might dig him up one day if he tried that. Pit came by circus train to Dillon and never left. This is her story.

Reported and narrated by Jacob Baynham, alum of UM Journalism and current Adjunct Professor there

Everyone from Dillon knows about <a href="https://tphistoricalsociety.org/the-last-robinson-elephant">the elephant struck by lightning and buried on the spot</a> in what&rsquo;s now the fairgrounds. But few are as obsessed with telling and remembering the story of Old Pit as Jack Kirkley, who taught for many years at the college there. He thought it would be a good idea to dig up the bones and display Dillon&rsquo;s elephant in a history museum, but he found out others might dig him up one day if he tried that. Pit came by circus train to Dillon and never left. This is her story.
Reported and narrated by Jacob Baynham, alum of UM Journalism and current Adjunct Professor there

Stories about the lives of real Montanans after they die. Co-hosted by old friends and colleagues Jad Abumrad (founder of Radiolab and creator of Dolly Parton’s America and 2025’s Fela Kuti: Fear No Man) and University of Montana professor and journalist Jule Banville (An Absurd Result). This 12-episode production of the Montana Media Lab at the UM School of Journalism started with a class of college students learning about the long tradition of obituary writing. It culminated with them and other journalists creating a new form that explores universal truths, legacies and reckoning with the memories of those we love. Hear the stories wherever you get your podcasts and on Montana Public Radio. 

Stories about the lives of real Montanans after they die. Co-hosted by old friends and colleagues Jad Abumrad (founder of Radiolab and creator of Dolly Parton&rsquo;s America and 2025&rsquo;s Fela Kuti: Fear No Man) and University of Montana professor and journalist Jule Banville (An Absurd Result). This 12-episode production of the Montana Media Lab at the UM School of Journalism started with a class of college students learning about the long tradition of obituary writing. It culminated with them and other journalists creating a new form that explores universal truths, legacies and reckoning with the memories of those we love. Hear the stories wherever you get your podcasts and on Montana Public Radio.&nbsp;