Richard Parker

Richard Parker was the name of a character in Poe's novel The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket, published in 1838, who is shipwrecked and cannibalized by other survivors.

Richard Parker was the name of an actual cabin boy who was killed and eaten by others in their lifeboat in 1884. This led to the R v Dudley and Stephens criminal case that set the precedent that necessity is never a defense for murder.

Richard Parker was the name of the Bengal tiger in Life of Pi.

Richard Parker was also the name of one of the characters in Weekend at Bernie's.

Evidently, both truth and fiction are very strange. Q.E.D.