A pterodactyl in the Civil War - Notes on a Strange World

Was, then, the holy grail of cryptozoology located at last? Alright, it did not have the cowboys standing before the bird but civil war soldiers instead. Was it perhaps a different pterodactyl? Fortean Times ran a very skeptical article about this photo in its May 2000 issue, concluding with these words: "We believe he's a hoaxer but a clever and well-informed one as the site is full of excellent fortean jokes--e.g., the rather disgusting photo of a toilet bowl thoughtfully snapped after some unfortunate had just vomited frogs."

Further doubts soon emerged after the magazine's article was published. Various readers wrote to pinpoint several details in the photo that led to the conclusion that the photo was a fake. First of all, the men pictured were obviously reenactors, "given the undue proportion of over-age and overweight members in their ranks--the average Civil War soldier was a scrawny youth of nineteen." Such groups of re-enactors are quite common in the States and, among them "there is a much higher proportion of older and fatter members than in the original armies." The clean and neat uniforms "also mark them out as re-enactors rather than the real thing." Their poses, also, are "too naturalistic for an 1860s photograph"; if you've ever looked at photos from that period "you can see there are a dozen subtle differences in the way they stood, the way they held their heads, the looks on their faces, and what they did with their arms and hands while they were being photographed."

Finally, all doubts were confirmed when it was discovered that the site was connected to the creators of The Blair Witch Project. FreakyLinks was in fact the title of an upcoming TV series, and the site was designed to promote interest in it. The show star was actor Ethan Embry and his character was named "Derek Barnes, Editor of an Internet Web site that investigates the paranormal." As expected, the experts quoted in the site were imaginary, just as the pterodactyl that was only a stage prop courtesy of Fox.

The cryptozoologists' hope of having finally found real proof of a living pterodactyl in the modern era, then, returned to the world of dreams. But if somewhere an unknown magazine or book truly contains an old picture of a mysterious bird, it will hopefully be found some day.

References

Anonymous. 1890. Found in the desert. Tombstone Epitaph, 26 April.

Anonymous. 2000. Is this a pterodactyl? Fortean Times May: 21.

Barnes, Dere. 2000. How many pterodactyls did you kill in the war, daddy? www.freakylinks.com.

Crichton, Michael. 1990. Jurassic Park. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, Inc.

----- 1995. The Lost World New York: Alfred A. Knopf, Inc.

Doyle, Arthur Conan. 1912. The Lost World London: Hodder and Stoughton.

Hall, Mark. 1997. Thunderbirds are go. Fortean Times December: 34-38.

Letters. 2000. Pterodactyl photo. Fortean Times August: 52.

McClure, Harry F. 1970. Tombstone's flying monster. Old West Magazine Summer, 6(4): 2.

Pearl, Jack. 1964. Monster bird that carries off people. Saga Magazine May: 29-31, 83-85.