At the beginning of the 21st Century monsters still roam the remote, and sometimes not so remote, corners of our planet. It is our job to search for them. The Centre for Fortean Zoology [CFZ] is - we believe - the largest professional, scientific and full-time organisation in the world dedicated to cryptozoology - the study of unknown animals. Since 1992 the CFZ has carried out an unparalleled programme of research and investigation all over the world. Since 2009 we have been running the increasingly popular CFZ Blog Network, and although there has been an American branch of the CFZ for over ten years now, it is only now that it has a dedicated blog.

Wednesday 31 August 2022

THE CHINESE DRAGON HOAX

This was perpetrated by by George Keller, who later became a noted animal trainer, and Norman Hoffman in Pennsylvania.


 Keller bruited it abroad that he had received a Chinese Dragon.  This caused enough interest for the local paper, the Morning Post to turn up.  The editor was shown the animal's crate and it was opened sufficiently for him to photograph a small part of the creature inside.  The photograph was distorted and the beast looked absolutely horrendous.  The story went countrywide and Keller said the Chinese Dragon would be put on exhibition inside a tent.

On the first day of the exhibition over 1,000 persons turned up and  crowds continued to attend each day.  No academic that I know of came forward to point out that the Chinese Dragon was a fictitious animal.



In fact, the creature was an iguana or, rather, a succession of iguanas.  The first one died, perhaps due to the unsuitable climate.  The same thing happened to a number of succeeding iguanas.

The exhibition ended when a sailor identified the "dragon", having  seen such creatures in the Philippines. 


Iguana


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