Editing Slaughter Beach, Delaware (section)

==History==
Slaughter Beach was founded in 1681 and incorporated in 1931. There are at least three stories of where the town's name came from: The first is that it was named after William Slaughter, a local postmaster in the mid-19th century.<ref name="Healey">{{Cite book |last=Healey |first=David |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/1202464123 |title=Delmarva Legends & Lore |date=2010 |publisher=Arcadia Publishing Inc |isbn=978-1-61423-196-7 |location=Chicago |oclc=1202464123}}</ref> The second story claims "the name may stem from the annual springtime appearance of hordes of [[horseshoe crab]]s that emerge from the waters of Delaware Bay to lay their eggs on the beach. Changing tides leave many crabs stranded, so that they fall victim to the beating sun or marauding foxes and raccoons—hence the name 'Slaughter Beach.'"<ref name="Healey"/> The third story, and the most contested source of the town's name, stems from a local legend which tells of a man named Brabant who, in the mid-18th century, "slaughtered" several indigenous inhabitants by cannon in order to prevent an impending massacre.<ref>Delaware: A Guide to the First State, by the Federal Writers Project of 1938, p 404</ref><ref>{{cite book|last=Rundquist|first=Thomas J.|title=Substitute Teacher Survival Activities Vol 1|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=u0SQKH7d1hYC&pg=PA47|date=August 1, 2000|publisher=Nova Media Inc|isbn=978-1-884239-51-9|page=47}}</ref> In 2018, [[People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals|PETA]] wrote to the mayor and followed up with a press release requesting the town change its name to "Sanctuary Beach" and offered to help pay for new signage if the name was adopted.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://delawarestatenews.net/news/peta-slaughter-beach-should-change-name-to-sanctuary-beach/|title=PETA: Slaughter Beach should change name to 'Sanctuary Beach'|date=May 2, 2018|access-date=December 8, 2018}}</ref>