35 I based my drawing on eyewitness sketches and a composite drawing in Paul H. LeBlond and Edward L. Bousfield, Cadborosaurus: Survivor from the Deep (Victoria, B.C.: Horsdal & Schubart, 1995). In addition, I referred to artworks of Cadborosaurus by cryptozoological enthusiasts, including David John and Darren Naish.
36 Helen Scales, Poseidon’s Steed: The Story of Seahorses, from Myth to Reality (New York: Gotham Books, 2009), 20–22.
37 Shepard, Fish-Tailed Monster in Greek and Etruscan Art, 26.
38 Scales, Poseidon’s Steed, 31–33.
39 Publius Vergilius Maro, Fourth Georgic of Virgil, trans. R. M. Millington (London: Longmans, Green, Reader, and Dyer, 1870), 59.
40 Michael J. Curley, trans., Physiologus: A Medieval Book of Nature Lore (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2009), xvi–xix.
41 Ibid., xxi–xxvi.
42 James Carlill, trans., Physiologus, in The Epic of the Beast, ed. William Rose (London: Routledge, 1900), 189, 199–200, 231, reprinted in The Book of Fabulous Beasts: A Treasury of Writings from Ancient Times to the Present, ed. Joseph Nigg (New York: Oxford University Press, 1999), 116.
43 Curley, trans., Physiologus, xxvi–xxxiii.
44 The Etymologies of Isidore of Seville, trans. Stephen A. Barney (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2006), 260.
45 Richard Barber, trans., Bestiary: Being an English Version of the Bodleian Library, Oxford M.S. Bodley 764 with All the Original Miniatures Reproduced in Facsimile (London: Folio Society, 1992), 10.
46 Ian Whitaker, “North Atlantic Sea-Creatures in the King’s Mirror (Konungs Skuggsjá),” Polar Record 23 (1986): 3–13.
47 Peter Gilliver, “J. R. R. Tolkien and the OED,” Oxford English Dictionary, http://www.oed.com/public/tolkien/ (accessed May 25, 2011).
48 Paul Henri Mallet, Northern antiquities: or, An historical account of the manners, customs, religion and laws, maritime expeditions and discoveries, language and literature of the ancient Scandinavians, trans. Thomas Percy, rev. I. A. Blackwell (London: Henry G. Bohn, 1847), 514.
49 George Ripley and Charles A. Dana, eds., The New American Cyclopedia: A Popular Dictionary of General Knowledge (New York: Appleton, 1869), 14:470–471.
50 According to Samuel Hibbert, “The faith in the Edda of the great serpent that Thor fished for, did not, as Dr Percy conceives, give rise to the notion of the sea-snake, but a real sea-snake was the foundation of the fable” (A Description of the Shetland Islands: Comprising an Account of Their Geology, Scenery, Antiquities, and Superstitions [Edinburgh: Constable, 1822], 565).
51 Oudemans, Great Sea-Serpent, 298.
52 Snorri Sturluson, prologue to The Prose Edda, trans. Arthur Gilchrist Brodeeur (New York: American-Scandinavian Foundation, 1916).
53 Charles Mackay, Memoirs of Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds (1841; New York: Barnes and Noble, 2002), 105.
54 Albertus was also associated with astrology and alchemy, which were at that time respectable areas of intellectual inquiry. Still, his alchemical interests were probably exaggerated. As Mackay noted, many magical tales were associated with Albertus and Aquinas, including the rumor that Albertus could control the weather: “Such stories as these shew the spirit of the age. Every great man who attempted to study the secrets of nature was thought a magician” (ibid., chap. 4).
55 Albert the Great, Man and the Beasts: De animalibus, Books 22–26, trans. James J. Scanlan (Binghamton, N.Y.: Medieval and Renaissance Texts and Studies, 1987), 350.
56 Olaus Magnus, A Description of the Northern Peoples: Rome 1555, ed. Peter Foote, trans. Peter Fisher and Humphrey Higgens (London: Hakluyt Society, 1998), 1124.
57 Ray Gibson “Nemertean Genera and Species of the World: An Annotated Checklist of Original Names and Description Citations, Synonyms, Current Taxonomic Status, Habitats and Recorded Zoogeographic Distribution,” Journal of Natural History 29, no. 2 (1995): 271–561; Adriaan Gittenberger and Cor Schipper, “Long Live Linnaeus, Lineus longissimus (Gunnerus, 1770) (Vermes: Nemertea: Anopla: Heteronemertea: Lineidae), the Longest Animal Worldwide and Its Relatives Occurring in the Netherlands,” Zoologische Mededelingen 82, no. 7 (2008): 59–63.
58 Olaus, Description of the Northern Peoples, 1128.
59 Oudemans, Great Sea-Serpent, 91.
60 “Recreations in Natural History … Ancient Flying Dragons, Pterosaurians, &c.,” New Monthly Magazine and Humorist, pt. 3 (1843): 38–39.
61 For example, cryptozoologists regularly discard Bigfoot cases with which paranormal or inexplicable elements are associated (such as glowing eyes, telepathy, or a UFO). Some cryptozoology Web sites even have policies that forbid discussions of the paranormal, which can badly distort the eyewitness record—and destroys cryptozoology’s foundation. For more on this issue, see Daniel Loxton, “An Argument That Should Never Be Made Again,” February 2, 2010, Skepticblog, http://www.skepticblog.org/2010/02/02/an-argument-that-should-never-be-made-again/ (accessed October 4, 2011).
62 Erich Pontoppidan, The Natural History of Norway: Part II (London: Printed for A. Linde, 1755), 207–208.
63 Michel Meurger, with Claude Gagnon, Lake Monster Traditions: A Cross-Cultural Analysis (London: Fortean Times, 1988), 24.
64 Ibid., 28.
65 Pierre Belon, De aquatilibus (Paris: Charles Estienne, 1553), bk. 1:26–27.
66 Conrad Gesner, Historiae animalium, bk. 4, Qui est de piscium & aquatilium animantium natura (Zurich, 1558), 433 (translated by Donald Prothero and Doug Henning).
67 Conrad Gesner, Nomenclator aquafilium animantium (1560), quoted in Oudemans, Great Sea-Serpent, 92.
68 Heuvelmans, In the Wake of the Sea-Serpents, 99–100.
69 Ambroise Paré, On Monsters and Marvels, trans. Janis L. Pallister (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1982), 112.
70 Historians warn of the distorting effects of labeling figures of the past as belonging to modern movements. For example, consider the first warning expressed by Rebekah Higgitt (curator and historian of science at the Royal Observatory Greenwich & National Maritime Museum): “Do not ever call anyone a scientist who would not have recognised the term. The word … was not actually used until the 1870s. If we use the term to describe anyone before this date we risk loading their views, status, career, ambitions and work with associations that just do not exist before this date” (“Dos and Don’ts in History of Science,” April 17, 2011, Teleskopos, http://teleskopos.wordpress.com/2011/04/17/dos-and-donts-in-history-of-science/ [accessed September 7, 2011]). The modern tradition of scientific skepticism dates to the twentieth century. However, centuries of earlier thinkers tried their hands at similar debunking projects. They might not have felt a kinship with my work, but I feel a connection to theirs!
71 Sir Thomas Browne, Pseudodoxia Epidemica: Or, Enquiries into Commonly Presumed Truths (Oxford: Benediction Classics, 2009), 242.
72 There is some controversy about the attribution of the Codex canadensis. Here, I have deferred to François-Marc Gagnon of the Gail and Stephen A. Jarislowsky Institute for Studies in Canadian Art, who concludes, “Until there is proof to the contrary, he can be considered the author of the Codex canadensis” (“About Louis Nicolas: Biographical Notes on Louis Nicolas, Presumed Author of the Codex canadensis,” Library and Archives Canada, www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/codex/026014–1200-e.html [accessed May 2, 2011]).
73 Quoted in Meurger, with Gagnon, Lake Monster Traditions, 212.
74 Heuvelmans, In the Wake of the Sea-Serpents, 95.
75 Hans H. Lilienskiold, The Northern Lights Route, http://www.ub.uit.no/northernlights/eng/lillienskiold.htm (accessed May 25, 2011).
76 Hans Lilienskiold, Speculum boreale eller den finmarchiske beschrifwelsis (1698), quoted in Ole Lindquist, “Whales, Dolphins and Porpoises in the Economy and Culture of Peasant Fishermen in Norway, Orkney, Shetland, Faeroe Islands and Iceland, ca. 900–1900 A.D., and Norse Greenland, ca. 1000–1500 A.D.” (Ph.D. diss., University of St Andrews, 1994), 2:sec. A.18, 1003–1006,
www.fishernet.is/is/hvalveidar/19/35 (accessed May 25, 2011).
77 Heuvelmans, In the Wake of the Sea-Serpents, 114.
78 Pontoppidan, Natural History of Norway, iv.
79 Ibid., 196.
80 Ibid.
81 Ibid.
82 Ibid.
83 Ibid., 196–197.
84 Henry Lee, Sea Monsters Unmasked (London: Clowes, 1883), 63.
85 Meurger, with Gagnon, Lake Monster Traditions, 17.
86 Heuvelmans, In the Wake of the Sea-Serpents, 112.
87 Lee, Sea Monsters Unmasked, 2–3.
88 Daniel Loxton, “Bishop Pontoppidan Versus the Tree Geese,” February 8, 2011, Skepticblog, http://www.skepticblog.org/2011/02/08/bishop-pontoppidan-versus-the-tree-geese/ (accessed February 12, 2011).
89 Pontoppidan, Natural History of Norway, 208.
90 Heuvelmans, In the Wake of the Sea-Serpents, 34.
91 Pliny the Elder, Natural History, 3:bk. 9.4, 171.
92 A True and Perfect Account of the Miraculous Sea-Monster or Wonderful Fish Lately Taken in Ireland (London: Printed for P. Brooksby and W. Whitwood, 1674).
93 “Wernerian Natural History Society,” Philosophical Magazine 33 (1809): 90–91.
94 Rupert T. Gould, The Case for the Sea-Serpent (London: Allan, 1930; New York: Putnam, 1934), 239.
95 James Ritchie, “More About Monsters: The Sea-Serpent of Stronsay,” Times (London), December 16, 1933, 15.
96 “Here’s First Genuine Sea Monster Captured: Odd Fish Stumps Scientist,” Los Angeles Times, March 3, 1934, 3; “France Has Sea Monster and the Body to Prove It,” New York Times, March 1, 1934, 1.
97 “Sea ‘Monster’ Is Declared a Basking Shark: French Scientists Say It Is Not an Odd Fish,” New York Times, March 16, 1934, 18.
98 Associated Press, “‘Sea Serpent’ Body Is Found in Pacific,” New York Times, November 23, 1934, 21.
99 Associated Press, “Canada’s ‘Sea Serpent’ Found to Be Only Shark,” New York Times, November 27, 1934, 23.
100 John Saar, “Fishermen Made a Monstrous Mistake,” Washington Post, July 21, 1977, 2.
101 John Saar, “‘Plesiosaurus’ Find: Monster Mystery Surfaces in Japan,” Los Angeles Times, July 21, 1977, B6.
102 Ellis, Monsters of the Sea (New York: Lyons Press, 2001), 69.
103 John Goertzen, “New Zuiyo Maru Cryptid Observations: Strong Indications It Was a Marine Tetrapod,” CRS Quarterly 38, no. 1 (2001): 19–29, http://www.creationresearch.org/crsq/articles/38/38_1/Cryptid.htm (accessed October 6, 2011).
104 Christopher McGowan, The Dragon Seekers: How an Extraordinary Circle of Fossilists Discovered the Dinosaurs and Paved the Way for Darwin (New York: Basic Books, 2001), ix.
105 For example, Thomas Jefferson suspected that mammoths or mastodons might survive in his time in the western interior of the North American continent. Avidly interested in fossils, but unconvinced about extinction, Jefferson hoped on the basis of Native American fossil lore that the Lewis and Clark expedition might encounter living specimens. (Today, we might call Jefferson’s speculation an example of cryptozoology.) For a discussion of Jefferson’s thoughts, see Adrienne Mayor, Fossil Legends of the First Americans (Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 2005), 55–61.
106 William D. Conybeare, “On the Discovery of an Almost Complete Skeleton of the Plesiosaurus,” Philosophical Transactions of the Geological Society of London, 2nd ser., 1 (1824): 381–389; McGowan, Dragon Seekers, 78–84.
107 William Hooker, “Additional Testimony Respecting the Sea-Serpent of the American Seas,” Edinburgh Journal of Science 6 (1827): 126–133.
108 Robert Bakewell, Introduction to Geology (New Haven, Conn.: Howe, 1833), 213.
109 Benjamin Silliman, footnote in ibid., 214.
110 John Ruggles Cotting, A Synopsis of Lectures on Geology, Comprising the Principles of the Science (Taunton, Mass.: Published for the author, 1835), 58–59.
111 Heuvelmans, In the Wake of the Sea-Serpents, 276.
112 Lyons, Species, Serpents, Spirits, and Skulls, 19.
113 Gould, Case for the Sea-Serpent, 96, 99.
114 This request for a report was recorded in the Admiralty records, according to ibid., 96.
115 Peter M’Quhae, “The Great Sea Serpent” [letter to the editor], Times, October 14, 1848, 3.
116 Gould, Case for the Sea-Serpent, 97–101.
117 Ibid., 107.
118 Ibid., 105–106.
119 F. G. S., “To the Editor of the Times,” Times, November 2, 1848, 3.
120 Philip Henry Gosse, The Romance of Natural History (London: Nisbet, 1863), 347.
121 [Richard Owen], review of On the Origin of Species, by Charles Darwin, Edinburgh Review 111 (1860): 487–532.
122 Charles Darwin to Joseph Dalton Hooker, August 4, 1872, Darwin Correspondence Project, http://www.darwinproject.ac.uk/entry-8449 (accessed February 19, 2012).
123 Quoted in Oudemans, Great Sea-Serpent, 219.
124 Richard Owen, “The Sea Serpent,” Times, November 14, 1848, 8.
125 Louis Agassiz, “Extract from the Thirteenth Lecture of Professor Agassiz, Delivered in Philadelphia, Tuesday Evening, March 20, 1849,” in Eugene Batchelder, A Romance of the Fashionable World (Boston: French, 1857), 153–157.
126 Louis Agassiz, “Eugene Batchelder, Esq.—,” in ibid., 152–153.
127 Edward Newman, in Zoologist 7 (1849): 2356.
128 Willy Ley, Willy Ley’s Exotic Zoology (1959; New York: Bonanza Books, 1987), 224.
129 Newman, in Zoologist, x–xi.
130 Gould, Case for the Sea Serpent, 84–85. I was not surprised to see this. Gould was among the more thorough and responsible of the early-twentieth-century proponents of both the sea serpent and the Loch Ness monster.
131 Gosse, Romance of Natural History, 368.
132 An instantly created river implies previous rain; sand implies previous erosion; tree rings imply seasons past; an animal’s body implies gestation, growth, respiration, and so on. Consider fur: if God created, say, bunny rabbits, their silky pelts imply a prior period of hair growth. As Philip Henry Gosse put it,
We have passed in review before us the whole organic world: and the result is uniform; that no example can be selected from the vast vegetable kingdom, none from the vast animal kingdom, which did not at the instant of its creation present indubitable evidences of a previous history. This is not put forth as a hypothesis, but as a necessity; I do not say that it was probably so, but that it was certainly so; not that it may have been thus, but that it could not have been otherwise. (Omphalos: An Attempt to Untie the Geological Knot [London: Van Voorst, 1857], 335)
133 Stephen Jay Gould, “Adam’s Navel,” in The Flamingo’s Smile: Reflections in Natural History (New York: Norton, 1985), 100.
134 Philip Henry Gosse, The Aquarium: An Unveiling of the Wonders of the Deep Sea (London: Van Voorst, 1856).
135 Gosse, Romance of Natural History, 298.
136 Gosse and Darwin were socially acquainted and exchanged friendly correspondence on orchid cultivation and variation, as well as other topics. Darwin was especially impressed by Gosse’s experiments with marine aquariums: “I saw Mr Gosse the other night & he told me that he had now the same several sea-animals & algæ living & breeding for 13 months in the same artificially made sea water! Does not this tempt you? it almost tempts me to set up a marine vivarium” (Charles Darwin to J. S. Henslow, March 26, 1855, Darwin Correspondence Project, http://www.darwinproject.ac.uk/entry-1655 [accessed September 10, 2011]).
137 Gosse, Romance of Natural History, 364.
138 Ibid., 358–359.
139 Jules Verne, Journey to the Center of the Earth, trans. Willis T. Bradley (New York: Ace Books, 1956), 187–188.
140 Edgar Rice Burroughs, The Land That Time Forgot, chaps. 4 and 5, http://www.literature.org/authors/burroughs-edgar-rice/the-land-that-time-forgot/chapter-04.html (accessed September 12, 2011).
141 Gould, Case for the Sea Serpent, 277.
142 “The Hydrargos sillimanii, or Great Sea Serpent,” New York Daily Tribune, August 29, 1845, 1.
143 “Orange County Milk,” New York Observer and Chronicle, January 25, 1845, 14.
144 “Hydrargos sillimanii, or Great Sea Serpent.”
145 Douglas E. Jones, “Doctor Koch and His ‘Immense Antediluvian Monsters,’” Alabama Heritage 12 (1989): 2–19.
146 Ibid.
147 Jeffries Wyman, “Hydrarchos sillimani,” Proceedings of the Boston Society of Natural History 2 (1848): 65–68.
148 Jones, “Doctor Koch and his ‘Immense Antediluvian Monsters.’”
149 James D. Dana, “On Dr. Koch’s Evidence with Regard to the Contemporaneity of Man and Mastodon in Missouri,” American Journal of Science and Arts 9 (1875): 335–346.
150 Ibid.
151 Quoted in George E. Gifford Jr., “Twelve Letters from Jeffries Wyman, M.D.: Hampden-Sydney Medical College, Richmond, Virginia, 1843–1848,” Journal of the History of Medicine and Allied Sciences 20, no. 4 (1965): 320–322.
152 Dr. Lister, in Proceedings of the Boston Society of Natural History 2 (1848): 94–96.
153 Albert Koch, Journey Through a Part of the United States in the Years 1844 to 1846, trans. Ernst A. Stadler (Carbondale: Southern Illinois University Press, 1972), 104.
154 Ibid., 32.
155 Oddly enough, thanks to the rules of taxonomic priority, it is Basolisaurus that remains enshrined in the nomenclature. For Owen’s analysis, see Richard Owen, “On the Teeth of the Zeuglodon (Basilosaurus of Dr. Harlan),” Proceedings of the Geological Society of London 3 (1842): 23–28.
156 Jones, “Doctor Koch and his ‘Immense Antediluvian Monsters.’”
157 Brian Switek, Written in Stone: Evolution, the Fossil Record, and Our Place in Nature (New York: Bellevue Literary Press, 2010), 152, 277.
158 Robert Silverberg, Scientists and Scoundrels: A Book of Hoaxes (New York: Crowell, 1965), 67.
159 Google Books: Ngram Viewer, http://goo.gl/uxsjN (accessed September 22, 2011).
160 Owen, “Sea Serpent,” 8.
161 George R. Price, “Science and the Supernatural,” Science 122 (1955): 363.
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