The shortest, the account says, suffered three broken ribs as the other two trampled him in their panic.

This detail is highly specific, and its specificity is part of what lends the story an air of authenticity.

General stories tend to remain general; specific details suggest specific memory or specific documentation.

Three broken ribs is not the kind of detail one invents without a reason, because it is not the kind of detail that adds dramatic effect (it is actually somewhat comic rather than terrifying), and it suggests something observed or reported by someone with firsthand knowledge.

The reference in the 1955 account to Dr.