Hoaxes

Old Newspapers: Lake Merritt Monster

I posted on the current news about California’s Lake Merritt Monster, a couple days ago, here. Now comes some archival newspaper articles, shared by Craig Heinselman. Following these images of the Lake Merritt Monster from old newspapers are the pdfs from 1946, 1954, and 1958, on this “created cryptid.” Oakland Tribune June 21, 1946 Oakland Tribune August 22, 1954 Oakland Tribune June 15, 1958 Thanks to Craig Heinselman for these, and to Craig Woolheater for technical assistance in uploading them to pdfs.

Three-Toes Revisited

St. Petersburg Times: Tony Signorini said that in 1946 or 1947 his boss saw a picture of dinosaur tracks in a National Geographic and said, "You know, we could have fun with this." Ted McLaren, St. Petersburg Times: Signorini’s tracks, using these 30-pound molds, created a sensation. A zoologist speculated they were left by a giant penguin. ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ Tony Signorini told the media in 1988 that it was all a hoax, and then recycled it as “news” again last summer. (I refused to post it here as “news” then for that reason.) The zoologist was Ivan T. Sanderson, and he [...]

Ozark Howler: Faux Cryptozoologie

During the last decade, several attempts have occurred to promote the "Ozark Howler" as a real cryptid. After the first round of efforts, I gathered the specifics of the story, discovered the identity of the original hoaxer, and submitted the overview of what happened in a draft manuscript written with Jerome Clark in 1998. The draft would eventually become a published book. A photograph of a real howler, the black howler monkey (Alouatta caraya) of South America. Photographer Jessie Cohen, Smithsonian. The editors at Simon and Schuster, deciding to delete about 25% of the content of the draft mostly due [...]