WHEN THE MAGIC GOT TRAGIC
DURING the early hours of Roy Horn’s 59th birthday, on Oct. 3, 2003, the performer celebrated with a ritzy, post-show bash at the Mirage in Las Vegas. Some 500 guests dined and danced and marveled at the ice sculpture of a roaring white tiger on its haunches. The soulpatched magician, then the toast of Sin City — along with his personal and professional partner, Siegfried Fischbacher — blew out candles on an ivory-iced sheet cake, fittingly adorned with tiny models of big cats.
Revved up, he announced to the crowd: “I’m celebrating and celebrating and celebrating . . . ”
Some eight hours later, onstage at the casino’s custom-built Siegfried & Roy Theater, Horn was viciously attacked by one of his beloved white tigers, a 400-pound Bengal named Mantecore. The moniker translates from Persian and Latin as “man eater” — “a bizarre name,” admitted Francisco Rodriguez, director of the Guadalajara Zoo, where Horn and Fischbacher purchased the cat.
Conspiracy theories swirl
Medical magic saved the life of Roy Horn, but Siegfried & Roy’s show at the Mirage — which grossed a reported $45 million per year — shut down permanently as allegations circulated that the tiger attack may not have been random.
“There were theories that it was not an accident and that somebody triggered the tiger,” Steven Leckart told The Post. He’s the executive-producer and host of the Apple TV+ podcast “Wild Things: Siegfried & Roy,” which premieres Jan. 12 and hones in on the tragic night. “You wonder why somebody would try to turn a tiger against a magician.”
Among the possibilities floated on the podcast: animal activists seeking revenge, someone attempting to financially hobble the city of Las Vegas and even homophobia.
“It was viewed as a potential hate crime,” Leckart said. “[Authorities] have to explore lots of possibilities, no matter how far-fetched. Motives that were explored seemed bananas — and they are.”
The Mirage received an e-mail which read: “If there is audio & video of the tiger attack it should be analyzed for far-UV and or high ultrasonics, as well as other triggers that might be the work of a terrorist aiming at a high profile GAY target.”
That tip, like others, was included in a government report.
Said Leckart: “It was the wildest case investigators ever worked on.”
Almost immediately after the mauling, Las Vegas Metro Police Department arrived on the scene and began to sift through evidence.
“They viewed it as an actual crime. There were crime-scene investigators, like on the ‘CSI’ TV shows,” said Leckart. “The [United States Department of Agriculture] had a person going undercover and the Homeland Security Division got called in. Investigators spent a lot of time on it.”
Michael Game, who was sergeant of counterterrorism for the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department, reveals his directive in the podcast: “Did someone in the audience do something to cause the animal to react the way it did and can we prove it? That was the bottom line, plain and simple.