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The Real Life Mystery of the Kidnapped Pancake Eating Turtle From Long Island
A New York woman went to great lengths 100 years ago to try and get back her unique pet
It’s never easy when someone loses a pet. It’s especially worse when a beloved animal is taken and not returned. Such was the sadness and terror felt by Mrs. Edward Raynor, who conducted a campaign through the media to get her pancake-eating pet turtle back nearly a century ago when it was kidnapped by a mysterious motorist.
The August 21, 1925 issue of the New York Times detailed the story of Mrs. Raynor of Brookhaven, Long Island, who had enjoyed the regular company of a turtle that made a daily trek on spring and summer days to her back door for a meal of pancakes. The benevolent woman whipped up a batch of hot cakes for her shelled friend each day, using a recipe that had been in her family for 200 years. The animal loved them so much that the allure of the meal drew him back for four years.
Older turtles of the time sometimes had initials carved into its shells by property owners who found them. Raynor was convinced that the “B” etched on the back of her regular visitor, who she named Cedric, had once visited her ancestors, the Barteau family, which also lived in the area.
