Finally, photographic proof positive of Civil War soldiers with a Triceratops?

Today on the Worth1000 photoshopping contest: photos of impossible things that appear to have been taken a long, long time ago. Cory Doctorow, Boing Boing

For the link, go here.

Now, within our CryptoZoo world here at Cryptomundo, similar photographs have turned up, some showing photoshopping and some not.

Take for instance, what are we to make of the above picture of soldiers wearing Civil War (or War Between the States) uniforms while an apparent pterodactyl is at their feet? Verdict: photoshopping.

Meanwhile, the following photo is not done with any manipulation of the imagery, but merely photographed, as is, and planted with a backstory on the internet, late in the 1990s.

The photograph shown here supposedly demonstrates that a cryptid was captured by a group of Civil War soldiers, circa mid-1860s. It has been circulated as the “mystery Thunderbird photo” and/or by others as 1860s soldiers with the remains of a pterodactyl.

As it turns out this photograph was a promotional tool of Orlando, Florida’s Haxan Production (producers of the movie The Blair Witch Project), to develop interest in their forthcoming sci-fi television program, “Freaky Links.” The series, first broadcast on Fox TV in 2000, involved the character “Derek Barnes,” an investigator of the unknown.

The photograph was a hoax, using Civil War reenactors and a pterodactyl created as a prop exclusively for two episodes of “Freaky Links.”

Photograph used with permission of Gregg Hale, Executive Director, Haxan Productions. Credit Fox TV.

Thanks C and P for this one.