More photos from Memphis

This is the photograph of the original Peabody duckmaster. Everyday at 11, the ducks are marched from the roof, by way of the elevator, to the fountains in the lobby. At 5, the process is reversed.

The original owner of the hotel came back from a hunting trip with his live duck decoys, and probably as drunk as someone coming home from a hunting trip usually is, he decided to keep them in the fountain. I remember stories of hunting parties in my family that ended with a person of high repute shooting a buck decoy and not being able to figure out why it didn't fall. For either one of these stories, my first instinct is: drunk? And hunting? And only ducks in fountains and shot-ridden decoys as collateral damage? It could be much, much worse.