10 Darkly Disturbing Disney Movie Theories

Dumbo, as we all know, is a fatherless young heffalump born to a single mother in a travelling circus. We also know that the poor little pachyderm was ridiculed from birth by the other elephants on account of his especially large ears.

One fan theory suggests that there’s something a little deeper going on with regards to exactly it is that makes Dumbo so different from the other elephants and – newsflash! – it’s not really about his ears. Apparently Dumbo is a product of biracial parentage or, within this elephantine context, the result of a coupling between an Asian elephant (Mrs. Jumbo) and a male African elephant, which happen to have much bigger ears.

Hence Dumbo’s big ears and hence why he’s ridiculed for being different.

But who exactly is Dumbo’s dad and why exactly is he absent from Dumbo’s life? The truth lies in his mother’s name, evidently. Could it be that Mrs. Jumbo is the widow of the real-life Jumbo, the huge African bush elephant made famous by P. T. Barnum’s travelling circus in the late 1800s who died a horrible death after being struck by a locomotive train?

If true, this means not only is the poor baby elephant dealing with the racist attitudes of his fellow species but also growing up without his dad because of a tragic accident. Bet you won’t be watching Dumbo in the same light after this.