Tale of the Cottingley Fairies

 Author: Mesha

Fairies, what are fairies? As we would normally describe, fairies are mythical creatures that can take the form of many creatures like, dwarfs, spirits, or mischievous creatures. The are reported looking like tiny humans who have wings, magical abilities, and playful nature. They found in European cultures like the French, Slavic, Germanic, and Celtic. Fairies are rarely spotted and when they are, mostly children report having seen them.

One of these phenomena is the story of the Cottingley Fairies. It started of as one young girl Frances Griffith playing by the creek and her shoes getting dirty then she confronted by her mother. Her explanation was she was “playing with the fairies.” Her cousin Elsie Wright wanted to help her, so she suggested to her father to hold his camera to capture the fairies Frances were playing with. In the image below it shows Frances surrounded by dancing fairies.

Frances and the dancing fairies

Shockingly the girls came back with two photos to show the family, they could not believe it. But the photos were there. Two years later Elsie’s mother took the photos to a fairy talk which was being taught by Edward Gardener and the photos the girls took then caught his eye. The photos then got back to Conan Doyle, the creator of Sherlock Holmes, who took an interest in the supernatural. From then Doyle was adamant about proving wither the photos were fake or not, so he had many experts look at the photos and get their input before publishing them in 1920.

After the publishing of the two photos, Doyle wanted more photos so he bought cameras for the girls so they could produce more evidence. They went on to capture three more photos.

As time went on the story would fade then come back, and the cousins would say the same thing every time, “the photos were real.” Then in the 1980’s Frances and Elsie had an interview where they admitted the photos were fake and how the fairies were made.

They said they did not trick anyone because the people choose to believe, they wanted to believe in the supernatural. One mystery still remains, the two cousins say all the photos were faked, all except the fifth and final photo.

Wright, Elsie. The first Cottingley captured on photo. Photograph. BBC News. 4 December 2020. Web. 7 November 2024

Wright, Elsie. “Frances and the Leaping Fairy.” Photograph. Wikipedia.org. 26 September 2024. Web. 7 November 2024

HistorianR42. “Story behind the Cottingley fairies (includes interview with Frances Griffiths and Elsie Wright).” YouTube.com. 15 July 2022. Web. 30 October 2024

Links to further research:

The story of the Cottingley Fairies hoax.

This YouTube video goes into depth of life during that time and the people involved with making the story so big.

The Cottingley Fairies.

https://www.historic-uk.com/CultureUK/The-Fairies-of-Cottingley/.

This article tells us why Doyle was so easy to believe in the photos because of this belief of the supernatural.

1976: COTTINGLEY FAIRIES: FACT or FANTASY?

https://youtu.be/1Z7zSGzdgTU?si=kJ4_M6FDQUERWa5k

This YouTube video has a first had video of Elsie Wright giving an interview in the very place the fairy photos were taken

The Pacific Northwest Tree Octopus

 Author: Makayla

The Pacific Northwest Tree Octopus is a 33-centimeter cephalopod found in the Olympic Peninsula on the west coast. Contradictory to the anatomy of most octopus, the Pacific Northwest Tree Octopus, also known as the Octopus paxarbolis, is amphibious, living on both water and land. To survive in both aquatic and terrestrial environments, it uses a form of locomotion called tentaculation and has the ability to express itself and communicate with other octopus through skin color change.

Photo by Gus Andrews

Unfortunately, this extraordinary creature is losing its home in the trees to the building of roads and suburban sprawl, which is cutting off its access to the water. It is also targeted by loggers, foreign animals, and its national predators, the bald eagle and the sasquatch. Loggers view the octopus as a nuisance and often kill them at logging sights to eradicate the amphibian. As a result of the countless hunting and killings and the destruction of their homes due to manmade geography, the number of Pacific Northwest Tree Octopus is critically low, and they are endangered.

Luckily for the octopus, it does not exist. The Pacific Northwest Tree Octopus was a hoax, created on March 8, 1998, by a person who’s created multiple other fake articles under the pseudonym of Lyle Zapato. Zapato made up the octopus and the website to mock gullible internet users. Many fell for the fake website, and it prompted research, studies, and other attempts to replicate Zapato’s work. According to Hana LaRock, a journalist who was a high school student in a computer class when the website was posted, stated that, “The site was used to teach young internet users the importance of “doing your research” - of understanding that anything could be found online”. Though this wasn’t the exact purpose behind Zapato’s website, the biggest impact of his website was its appearance in internet literacy tests. In an NBC Connecticut news article, in 2011, It was reported that The University of Connecticut was recreating the hoax to see how many students would believe it without fact checking first. They stated that, “Most people who took part in the study, fell for it, hook, line and tentacle. In fact, not only did the students believe that the tree octopus was real, they actually refused to believe researchers when they told them the creature was fake.” While Zapato aimed to belittle and mock internet users, he instead helped many with his Pacific Northwest Tree Octopus hoax, and further encouraged internet literacy.

Works Cited:

Beaulieu, Scott. An Octopus in a Tree Seems Real, Doesn't It?  https://www.nbcconnecticut.com/news/local/an-octopus-in-a-tree-seems-real/1871501/. 7 February 2011

Andrews, Gus. The Pacific Northwest Tree Octopus in repose. 26 December 2004. Flickr, 20 March 2016  

LaRock, Hana. The Pacific Northwest Tree Octopus: A Virtual Artifact of Misinformation, https://misbar.com/en/editorial/2021/05/04/the-pacific-northwest-tree-octopus-a-virtual-relic-of-internet-misinformation. 3 May 2021.

Zapato, Lyle. Save the Pacific Northwest Tree Octopus, https://zapatopi.net/treeoctopus/. 8 Mar 1998

Zapato, Lyle. TERROR OF LOGGERS AND FOREST RANGERS’. 29 December 2014. ZPi, 1998

Links for Further Research:

“Only In Your State”, https://www.onlyinyourstate.com/washington/pacific-northwest-tree-octopus-wa/. Explains more about the Pacific Northwest Tree Octopus as it was experienced by people in Washington, the state of the hoax origin.

“What does The Pacific Northwest Tree Octopus Eat?” https://justagric.com/what-does-the-pacific-northwest-tree-octopus-eat/. This article is the story of the Pacific Northwest Tree Octopus through the eyes of an animal scientist who believes in the hoax and explains its background thoroughly.

 “ENDANGERED: Pacific Northwest tree octopus might soon disappear”, https://www.columbiatribune.com/story/lifestyle/family/2015/08/26/endangered-pacific-northwest-tree-octopus/985741007. This article is one of the many ones that goes along with the hoax, trying to convince readers, but also debunks the hoax as well. 

The Appearance of the Clearwater Monster

Author: B. Holt

“30+ Things to do in Clearwater Beach"

 In 1948, random, strange footprints began to appear on Clearwater Beach in Clearwater, Florida. It was said that the footprints appeared to be 14 inches long and 11 inches wide with only three toes. The people of the small town were confused and bewildered by the appearance of the footprints. After a year passed, the “monster” began to start a path. The pathway started on Clearwater Beach, but the monster’s footprints ended up in Indian Rocks, Sarasota, St Petersburg, and Courtney Campbell Causeway. One night, in 1949, according to an article written by Rick Spillman called, “Old-Three Toes- The Giant Penguin of Clearwater Beach, Florida” stated that the monster went on a 100-mile rampage, knocking over lifeguard stands and leaving feathers or “something unearthly.”

"Remember the Clearwater Monster? Its Having a Moment."

It wasn’t very long before people started filing reports claiming that they saw the monster. An article by Lenny Flank entitled “The Clearwater Beach Monster” stated that a local couple saw a “15-foot, bird-like, creature floating in the water”. Another report from Flank’s article stated that another couple “encountered a large, hairy creature with a head like a rhinoceros.” Another report of the creature from the article said the creature looked like a “wild boar.” 

No one knew what this creature could possibly be. That’s where Ivan T. Sanderson, came into play. Sanderson was a well-known zoologist who gave an expert opinion on the monster.  Sanderson state that the monster was a pre-historic, giant penguin. In an article about the Clearwater Monster by James Felton called, “The Giant Penguin Hoax That Fooled Florida for 10 Whole Years” stated that Sanderson ruled that a hoax was very unlikely and the tracks couldn’t have been hand-made. Ever since Sanderson ruled that a hoax was unlikely, the monster caught the attention of the world and the monster was basically a celebrity. 

A Reddit post by Ivan Zlax entitled “The Clearwater Monster” stated that the monster was a hoax and was revealed 40 years later. You’re probably thinking, how was this monster with several different sightings a hoax? Well, local pranksters and employees at an auto repair store, Tony Signorini and his boss Al Williams ended up admitting decades later that they were the Clearwater Monster. In another article by Jefferey Scott called, “Clearwater’s Giant Penguin Mystery” explained that Signorini and Williams made the tracks with iron castings and would leave imprints on the wet sand. 

Even though Signorini and Williams admitted to being the Clearwater Monster, according to that same article by Jeffery Scott, there were people saying they saw the monster standing in the tracks imprinted on the beach. So, I guess some things are still unexplained.

To show you that the Clearwater Monster was actually compared to a giant penguin, in 2007, a student at North Carolina State University named Julia Clarke described the fossils of the giant penguin as a monster. It was stated that the giant penguin was supposedly “1.5 meters tall and weighed the same as a human.” No modern creature or penguin is that large, so it would have to had existed millions of years ago. The Clearwater Monster and the giant penguin share a lot of similarities, such as their size, they both have three toes, and had feathers or bird-like structures. Also, a paleontologist named Leigh Love actually discover the fossils of the giant penguin. Researchers say that these enormous penguins were probably evolved in Palaeocene epoch, which was 56-66 million years ago. There have also been multiple fossils of similar giant penguin such as, the Crossvailla species which was found in New Zealand.

“The Oldest Fossilized Giant Penguin” 

Works Cited:

“30+ Things to do in Clearwater Beach”, GuidedbyDestiny 5 October. 2022, https://www.guidedbydestiny.com/your-ultimate-guide-to-clearwater-beach-activities/

Spilman, Rick. “Old Three Toes- The Giant Penguin of Clearwater Beach, Florida.” Oldsaltblog. September.20.2020. http://www.oldsaltblog.com/2020/09/old-three-toes-the-giant-penguin-of-clearwater-beach-florida/. Accessed 17 Oct. 2022.

Scott, Jeffery. “Clearwater’s Giant Penguin Mystery.” Florida Zone Blogspot. April.3.2014. http://floridazone.blogspot.com/2014/04/clearwaters-giant-penguin-mystery.html. Accessed 17 Oct. 2022.

Felton, James. “The Giant Penguin Hoax That Fooled Florida for 10 Whole Years.” Iflscience. August. 24. 2022. https://www.iflscience.com/the-giant-penguin-hoax-that-fooled-florida-for-ten-whole-years-65020. Accessed Oct 17. 2022.

Flank, Lenny. “The Clearwater Beach Monster.” LennyFlankWordPress. January. 13. 2022. https://lennyflank.wordpress.com/2022/01/13/the-clearwater-beach-monster/. Accessed on October 18. 2022.

Klinkenberg, Jeff. “Remember the Clearwater Monster? Its Having a Moment”, Tampa Bay Times, 5 January. 2021, https://www.tampabay.com/life-culture/history/2021/01/05/remember-the-clearwater-monster-its-having-a-moment/

“The Oldest Fossilized Giant Penguin”, Geologyin, Accessed on 26 October.2022, https://www.geologyin.com/2017/02/the-oldest-fossilized-giant-penguin.html  

Zlax, Ivan. “The Clearwater Monster.” Reddit. October.22.2021. https://www.reddit.com/r/forgeryreplicafiction/comments/qdk1qs/the_clearwater_monster/. Accessed on October 18^th. 2022.

Links for Further Research:

Love, Leigh. “Human Sized Fossils Found in New Zealand.” The Guardian. August.14.2019. https://www.theguardian.com/science/2019/aug/14/human-sized-penguin-fossil-discovered-in-new-zealand. Accessed on October 26, 2022

Clarke, Julia. “Discovery of Giant Penguins Shakes Theories on March of Evolution.” The Age. June.27.2007. https://www.theage.com.au/world/discovery-of-giant-penguins-shakes-theories-on-march-of-evolution-20070627-ge57ym.html. Accessed on October 26, 2022.

Spontaneous Human Combustion

 Spontaneous Human Combustion was once a real concern amongst individuals after it has been used in  different novels and media as stated by Radford in his article titled “Spontaneous Human Combustion: Facts & Theories.” There is even a scene in South Park where it is referenced and picked fun at, which is one of the reasons it is even a concern to those who are. Spontaneous human combustion is essentially when a person’s body just randomly bursts into flames with no real cause and leaving most of their surroundings untouched. How exactly would that even be possible? There have been many theories, though all of them have either been proven to be false, or they’re just left unanswered. There has been rumored to be cases with that being the cause of one’s death, but there is no living proof of that, leaving it just be a science question as pointed out in this South Park scene. 

Spontaneous human combustion has been questioned for years on whether it was fact or fake. Some may even call it “fat wick burns” as mentioned in Kolijonen, and Klugers article called “Spontaneous human combustion in the light of the 21st century.” There has even been those who are so convinced it to be true, that there are cases that have not ruled out spontaneous human combustion as a potential factor in play. Though there has never been any substantial proof that this phenomenon exists, there is such thing as spontaneous combustion with things like coal, and lithium-ion batteries. Morse has stated in “Oropharyngeal Injury From Spontaneous Combustion of a Lithium-ion Battery: A Case Report” a case for where a battery spontaneously combusted, causing an injury in someone’s mouth, which is probably the closest evidence to even the possibly of someone spontaneously combusting. Even then, that would be the human body itself bursting into the flames by itself, it would be due to other factors. 

Sometimes, in cases involving fire, with no known cause to how it started, they question the paranormal possibilities such as spontaneous human combustion, though majority of the time, it just gets ruled out to an accident caused by the victim. Like this one case mentioned by Mekeres in “Spontaneous human combustion, homicide, suicide, or household accident” , there was an old man who lived alone, was found almost completely burnt outside his house where there was minimal damage to his surroundings was ruled out as a potential oven misuse. There is no real reason to fear igniting into flames if you’re careful around fire as there is no scientifically proven way for your body to just ignite without other external factors being included as it’s just a myth and a hoax.  

Works cited:

Koljonen V, Kluger N. “Spontaneous human combustion in the light of the 21st century”. J Burn Care Res. 2012. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/22269823/. Accessed on 20 October 2022.

Mekereş, Florica, and Camelia Liana Buhaş. "Spontaneous human combustion, homicide, suicide or household accident." Rom J Leg Med 24.1 (2016): 11-13. https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Camelia-Buhas/publication/298817707_Spontaneous_human_combustion_homicide_suicide_or_household_accident/links/5759bfed08aed884620b2837/Spontaneous-human-combustion-homicide-suicide-or-household-accident.pdf

Morse, Justin, et al. “Oropharyngeal Injury From Spontaneous Combustion of a Lithium‐ion Battery: A Case Report.” The Laryngoscope, vol. 129, no. 1, 2019, pp. 45–48, https://doi.org/10.1002/lary.27275.

Radford, Benjamin. “Spontaneous Human Combustion: Facts & Theories.” Live Science. 18 December 2013. https://www.livescience.com/42080-spontaneous-human-combustion.html.

South Park Clips. “South Park: Another Combustion.” YouTube, 4 August 2020, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gxFT7rvz-Zk.

Tomlin, Jimmy, “North Carolina’s 1932 Series of Spontaneous Combustions is Still Unsolved.” Atlas Obscura. 19 January, 2016. https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/north-carolinas-1932-series-of-spontaneous-combustions-is-still-unsolved.

Links for Further Research: 

      Spontaneous human combustion in the light of the 21st century https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/22269823/The writers explain what spontaneous human combustion is and suggested a new term for it called “fat wick burns” and they explain the subject in the simplest way possible without fancy terms.

      Spontaneous Human Combustion: Facts & Theories https://www.livescience.com/42080-spontaneous-human-combustion.html Spontaneous human combustion was once a real concern amongst individuals after the usage of the term in fiction novels. There’s even supposed cases in the past though most of it is inexplainable, so all we’re really left with is theories.

    Oropharyngeal Injury From Spontaneous Combustion of a Lithium‐ion Battery: A Case Report https://doi.org/10.1002/lary.27275 This article mentions the increasing quantity of E-cigarettes, vapes and the likely cases of spontaneous combustion of lithium-ion batteries has increased dramatically.

The Dark, Mysterious, Fiji Mermaid

Author: Da’Keya Nicholson

This is a photo of the Fiji Mermaid and it is showing how the top and bottom half of its body is half fish and half orangutan.

I am sure you’re all wondering, what could possibly be out in the ocean other than sharks, whales, etc.? There are plenty of answers to this question but, the most interesting, unique, creature is known as the Fiji Mermaid . A Fiji Mermaid is a creature with the bottom half of its body as a mermaid, or fish, and the top half as an orangutan. In 1842, an English Man and member of British Lyceum of Natural History, Dr. J. Griffin, spread the news that a Fiji Mermaid had been spotted and caught near Feejee Island in the South Pacific. The news reached the press fast, and Dr. J. Griffin used all of the media attention to host a mermaid exhibition and the Masonic Hall.

This is a photo of PT Barnum. He was the owner of Barnum & Bailey Circus. He often called it the “Greatest Show on Earth.” Some of his most famous acts were the Cowboy Giant, General Tom Thumb, the Bearded Lady, and the Living Skeleton.

The press later found out that Dr. J. Griffin was a fraud. His real name was Levi Lyman, and he wasn’t even an English Man. There was no such thing as British Lyceum of Natural History. All of his work was done under P.T. Barnum, including the exhibition. PT Barnum was known for his first hoax of a blind slave, known as being a 161 year old former nurse for George Washington. He found out that the mermaid was fake, but didn’t care. All that mattered was that it was that the world believed it was real. PT Barnum sold the first fake Fiji Mermaid from his museum, Barnum's American Museum, in 1822. It was bought by Dutch Merchants, and they resold it to Samuel Barratt Eades for $6000. Samuel sold his ship to buy this mermaid. After Barnum sold the first mermaid, he began making more fake ones to sell. He would hang up pictures, and send pictures to the newspaper company to get his message out about selling Fiji mermaids.

The original Fiji Mermaid spent a decade of it’s time between Kimbell’s Museum in Fort Worth, Texas, and Barnum’s Museum in New York City. No one knew where it’s last known whereabouts were, but people believed that it burned in the fire that caused Barnum’s museum to collapse to the ground in 1865.


Works Cited

Andrews, Evan. Life, Magnified, “10 Things You May Not Know About PT Barnum.” www.history.com, 2018.

Fischer, John. “A History of the Fiji Islands.” TripSavvy, www.tripsavvy.com, 2019.

American Social History Productions, “Barnum’s American Museum.”lostmuseum.cuny.edu/archive/barnums-american-museum, 2019.

The “Mysterious” Fiji Mermaid

Trevor Dent

 

The Art of Juan Cabana.

In today’s society, everyone has their opinions on mermaids and whether they are real or not. I believe mermaids are real. Mermaids have been around for as long as people can remember. Earth is over 70% water and about 95% of the oceans remain unexplored. Men back then have claimed to see mermaids and there have been multiple stories written and also movies about mermaids. They are believed, centuries ago to roam the seas and lure sailors into shipwrecks, and off the coast into rocky shoals. Mermaids are often associated with bad luck and misfortune. By definition, a mermaid is a beautiful woman, with long hair, and the lower body of a fish. Homer’s Odyssey tells the story of an encounter of a siren and how they were tortured by their sweet sounds. Another story is a young boy from Scotland claimed to have killed a mermaid in 1830 by throwing rocks of it. It definitely looked like a mermaid they said, but there hasn’t been real evidence of it. There are many more legends and many historical claims of MERMAID SIGHTINGS  and it leaves people with many questions, but until we see  better and more pictures and videos, mermaids will continue to be a myth.
           
Most people don’t think of certain mermaids, or a particular type when talking about them, but there once was a hoax about the legendary Fiji Mermaid by the famous known P.T Barnum. The FIJI MERMAID was an object composed of the upper body of a monkey sewed onto the lower body of a fish. This hoax is became a worldwide topic thanks to the legendary showman P.T. Barnum who was famous for these types of things. The Fiji Mermaid came into Barnum’s possession in 1842 via his business counterpart Moses Kimball and was reportedly found on the Fiji Islands in the South Pacific. Barnum would go ahead and put the mermaid up for display in his Boston Museum in the summer of 1842.  Barnum would lead people to believe that this was a true thing and would so for a very long time until his museum was burned down by a fire in 1865 and people to this day still question whether that was real or not.  P.T. Barnum even explains himself why he did what he did and his reason behind it in his own autobiography. He says the Fiji Mermaid first came to him from Moses Kimball in 1842 and it was made by fisherman. He never realized its value and at that time, it was a great time to examine the mermaid. Barnum claims that was the easiest part of the experiment. ‘How to modify general incredulity in the existence of mermaids, so far as to awaken curiosity to see and examine the specimen, was now the all-important question.’ (Barnum)
           

The Peabody Museum's "Feejee Mermaid" (photographed in 1998).

The Fiji Mermaid was actually thought to be made by hand by fisherman in Southeast Asia and sold for a profit to local stores. The first ever mermaid was brought to London by Captain Samuel Barrett. Even though it was handcrafted, this lead people to believe if there was a real thing and if so, why was it made.

Works Cited:
Barnum on the FeJee Mermaid, The Life of P. T. Barnum, Written by Himself, 1855. American Social History Productions, Inc., 1855. Web. 8 Oct. 2015.

""The Little Mermaid?"" The Harvard University Gazette. Harvard College, 17 Oct. 1997. Web.

"Legend of the Fiji Mermaid." The World Is a Myserious Place. Awesome Inc. Template. 1 Oct. 2013. Web. 13 Oct. 2015.

"The Incredible Myth Behind the Feejee Mermaid." Scribol. Scribol. Web. 15 Oct. 2015.

Links for further research:http://hoaxes.org/archive/permalink/the_feejee_mermaid
The article above gives you a good overview of the Fiji Mermaid, and also tells everyone who was involved in it.

Crocs In the Sewers

Tabatha Grant-Ravenell

Crocodiles in the sewers the urban legend founded in the streets of New York City.  Crocodiles in the sewers or as authors would call them alligators. They were stink feces caring species. They are known for their capability to close their nostrils to undergo a transition to interact with the strong toxic fumes for their survival. The crocodiles typically live in smaller enclosed areas of the sewers so they can more easily observe their surroundings. The stink sewer crocodiles have the ability to morph their skin into a thick outer shell so their skin can withstand the harsh heat, fumes, odors, and effects of the feces on a normal skin layer.

The foul odor crocodiles have evolved into far more than the normal creature, and in today’s society are utilized for far large purpose. It all started with Marty Hall from Manunst, Michigan who was both blind and deaf. The national animal society took the crocodiles and trained them to work as service animals allowing disables people, such as Marty, to undergo harsh conditions essentially molding a super human. The crocodiles have almost in a way taught Marty their survival skills, teaching him to use and strength. It is all very questionable to what all of these various authors feel about this hoax. Many people believed that Crocodiles in the sewers were trying to snatch little children through the toilet and take them down to the sewers along with them.

Crocodile searching for a child [newspaper style setup]

 
From another source people did not understand or knew what the meaning of the crocodiles in the sewers was. Only the head officials knew the cause of everything and how the alligators were reacting when people got involved trying to capture one of them they would open their mouths wide and try bite and attack anyone. They say they don’t have photographs or reliable news search. Although it made people believe the urban legend of the Crocodiles in the sewers. They said that every Monday the city would celebrate the urban legend. They wanted people to talk about the other logical legends they have heard because were starting to think that it was true. They wanted to be known to a premise that wasn’t true. There couldn’t find other urban legends that were located in the New York area but people were more focused on Crocodiles in the sewers.


Work Cited:
Salazar, Cristian. "Alligators in the sewer and more urban legends and hoaxes that fooled NYC." amNewYork (New York, NY) 9 Feb. 2015, Lifestyle.NewsBank.Web. 14 Oct. 2015.

Links for further Research:
"Weird New York."Weird New York.Web. 21 Oct. 2015.
"Crocodiles In The Sewers (New York)." Prezi.com.Web. 21 Oct. 2015.
Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, Web. 21 Oct. 2015.

Legend of the Fiji Mermaid

Author: Malaika

A creature with the upper body of a human and lower body of a fish is heard to have circulated the world’s oceans for many years. With all the glamorized illusions of a beautiful, flowing hair, model-type, half fish, half women is what we think of when we hear the name mermaid. In the article “Barnum’s ‘Feejee’ no Disney Mermaid Monstrous wonder on display at Peale,” by Rafael Alvarez, he interviewed a publicist from the Peale Museum, and he said, “We've had a lot of children come here expecting to see the Little Mermaid or the cute mermaid on the tuna can -- and they look at this and cry their eyes out.”

                In 1822, the Turf Coffeehouse in London displayed a strange creature. It was a two-foot tall specimen with a baboon-like head covered in thin hair, and human eyes, chin, breasts and nails.  The face held an expression of fear. It is known as the Fiji mermaid. The mermaid had been brought to London by an American sailor, Captain Samuel Barrett Eades. By the fall of 1822, the mermaid had become one of the biggest showcases in London. Newspapers and articles named it “The Remarkable Stuffed Mermaid.”(Bondeson)

Eades is not the only one to be linked to the Fiji mermaid. P.T. Barnum is usually credited for the origination of the mermaid because he made it known around the world. The Feejee mermaid is one of Barnum’s biggest hoax.  Barnum leased the mermaid from Boston showman Moses Kimball, who intern had bought it from a seaman. The Feejee Mermaid is believed to have been created around 1810 by a Japanese fisherman. Barnum didn’t care that the mermaid was a fake, all that really mattered was that the public was led to believe it was real. So Barnum hired a phony naturalist, Dr. Griffin, to vouch for the creature's authenticity.

Barnum placed pictures of bare-breasted mermaids in the newspapers to manipulate the public into wanting to see it Barnum exhibited the mermaid for a month at his Museum, then he decided to send it on a Southern state tour. A correspondent from the Charleston Post & Courier said, “The Feejee mermaid was a sight that has forever robbed us and we shall never again think of a mermaid as beautiful because the Feejee mermaid is the incarnation of ugliness”.

During the next twenty years the Feejee Mermaid split her time between Kimball's museum in Boston and Barnum's museum in New York. The last known whereabouts of the mermaid was in June, 1859 in Kimball’s museum. One theory is she was destroyed when Barnum's museum burned down in 1865. But this would be unlikely, since she was said to have been at Kimball's Boston museum.

           

Work Citied:

Bondeson, Jan. “The Feejee Mermaid and Other Essays in Natural and Unnatural History”. Cornell University Press, 1999. Print

>Alvarez, Rafael. “Barnums ‘Feejee’ no Disney Meramaid Monstrous wonder on display at Peale.” The Baltimore Sun. 01 Mar. 1992. http://articles.baltimoresun.com. Web. 18 Oct. 2013.

Feejee Mermaid “Americas First Mermaid Obsession.” Animal Planet. 29 May. 2013. Animal Planet. Discovery Communications. Web. 18 Oct. 2013

Steampunk. “The Incredible Myth Behind the Feejee Mermaid.” http://www.environmentalgrafetti.com. Environmental Graffiti. 2009 Web. 18
Oct. 2013

Brennan Hagood, Catherine. “This Art Show is Full of Freaks.” Post and Courier. 12 May. 2005. nl.newsbank.com. Web. 18 Oct. 2013.

Links for further research:

Animal Planet

http://animal.discovery.com/tv-shows/mermaids/videos/mermaids-evidence.htm

This video shows recent evidence of mermaids.

The Feejee Mermaid and Other Essays in Natural and Unnatural History by Jan Bondeson

http://books.google.com/books?id=zsQAc_QlB5cC&printsec=frontcover&dq=feejee+mermaid&hl=en&sa=X&ei=KMlhUuriN5To9gSX84GgAQ&ved=0CC0Q6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=feejee%20mermaid&f=false

The link above takes you to a google books listing for an excerpt of Jan Bondeson book of a collection of essays on ten fascinating stories of myths and hoaxes.

Barnum, P.T. The Life of P.T. Barnum Written By Himself. Redfield. 18551855.http://chnm.gmu.edu/lostmuseum/lm/182/

This link above take you to an excerpt of P.T Barnums 1855 autobiography written by himself.

Bigfoot: Real or Myth?

Author: Emily Jones

There are plenty of stories about strange creatures in different parts of the world, but perhaps the most well known is Bigfoot. This creature, which goes by many names including Sasquatch and Yeti, is most commonly seen in western United States and Canada and the Himalayas. According to Tom Harris in his essay How Bigfoot Works, Sasquatch has been described as a cross between a gorilla and a human that stands anywhere from seven to fifteen feet tall. It walks on two legs with a loping gait, and is covered from head to toe with long reddish-brown fur. There is much controversy over whether Bigfoot really exists or not, but believers have found evidence to support their claims that this primate-like being is real.

            There is a surprisingly large amount of evidence that is used to support the existence of Sasquatch. All of the proof comes down to several different categories: footprints, sounds, smells, sightings, and photographic evidence. Each the pieces of evidence in these categories have small differences, but they all have certain details that are the same across the board. According to Stephen Wagner, a paranormal researcher, Sasquatch footprints look like a human foot, but on average are 15.6 inches long and 7.2 inches wide, which is larger than any human being’s foot. Many people can recall hearing a deafening cry in the woods that could not have been made by any person or animal, leaving Bigfoot as the only explanation. Most people who claim to have seen or been near Sasquatch say there was a strong, foul stench that only went away when the creature left. Sightings are possibly the most common form of evidence. Bigfoot sightings are reported almost every day, allowing the possibility that Bigfoot has to be real for so many people to have seen it. Photographic evidence is one of the rarest types, but can become the most popularly used because of its availability to the public. This evidence could prove to the world that Sasquatch is real, but there are people who will not accept it.

People who do not believe in Bigfoot have found countless flaws in the evidence that is supposed to prove that Sasquatch is real. Tom Harris said nonbelievers claim that pranksters could have easily pretended to be Sasquatch just to mislead the public. Footprints could have been made by molds of large feet, and sounds could have been created using a computer. Nonbelievers usually claim that any pictures of Bigfoot are just a man in a costume. 

In 1967, Roger Patterson shot a in Bluff Creek, California of a Bigfoot. To this day, people still have not determined whether it is real or fake. People who believe in Sasquatch say it is real and the movement could not have been done by a man in a costume. Nonbelievers claim that the creature in the film is simply a man in a costume that has been altered to look like a real Sasquatch. There is no proof of the video’s validity,  leaving the viewers to decide for themselves whether Patterson’s film is true evidence or a hoax.

Bigfoot is a large, ape-like creature who supposedly lives in the forests of many different parts of the world. There is evidence to support the existence of Sasquatch, but that has been turned down by many people. Some people whole heartedly believe in Bigfoot, and others are totally against the idea, while other people may not be sure what they believe. Until there is undeniable proof supporting the existence of Sasquatch, everyone will all have to take the available evidence and decide whether they believe it or not.

Works Cited:

DavidWalker1964.”Roger Patterson Bigfoot Footage.” Video. Youtube. Youtube, 24 Nov. 2007. Web. 23 Oct. 2012.

Harris, Tom. “How Bigfoot Works.”How Stuff Works. How Stuff Works Inc, 2012. Web. 22 Oct. 2012.

Wagner, Stephen. "Sasquatch: Best Evidence." Paranormal Phenomena. About.com, 2012. Web. 15 Oct. 2012.

Links for Further Research:

How Stuff Works
http://science.howstuffworks.com/science-vs-myth/strange-creatures/bigfoot2.htm
Discusses the origin of Bigfoot and the controversy over Bigfoot’s existence.

Bigfoot Field Researchers Organization
http://www.bfro.net/
Contains stories of recent sightings and Native American stories about Sasquatch.

Bigfoot Encounters
http://www.bigfootencounters.com/
 Has the latest news concerning the search for Bigfoot and includes basic information and sightings.