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About the Museum
The Museum of Hoaxes is dedicated to promoting knowledge about hoaxes. (Click here for opening hours, etc.) On our blog we post about dubious- sounding claims, and whatever else strikes our fancy. The site is also home to the Hoax Photo Database, the Hoax Forum, and the Hoaxipedia.
The Museum of Hoaxes is dedicated to promoting knowledge about hoaxes. (Click here for opening hours, etc.) On our blog we post about dubious- sounding claims, and whatever else strikes our fancy. The site is also home to the Hoax Photo Database, the Hoax Forum, and the Hoaxipedia.
RUDE ROVERThe Christmas dog with no class! He sings and toots Jingle Bells.
INFLATABLE TREEWho needs the hassle of a real Christmas tree?
FARTING SANTAGo ahead and pull his finger!
Sea Serpents Are Really Whale Penises
Status: Interesting theory
It's long been argued that when people report seeing sea serpents, they might actually be seeing floating logs, strange waves, or shadows on the water, and mistaking these things for sea serpents. Now Dr. Charles Paxton has come up with an interesting extension of this theory. He argues that people might also be misidentifying whale penises as sea serpents. He presents this theory in the current issue of the Archives of Natural History. As an example he uses the case of an eighteenth-century missionary named Hans Egede who reported a sighting of a sea serpent, and drew a picture of the creature. Paxton demonstrates that Egede's picture closely resembles what a whale's aroused penis rising from the water might look like. The abstract of Paxton's paper is as follows:A re-evaluation of the “most dreadful monster” originally described by the “Apostle of Greenland” Hans Egede in 1741 suggests that the missionary’s son Poul probably saw an unfamiliar cetacean. The species seen was likely to have been a humpback whale (Megaptera novaeangliae), a North Atlantic right whale (Eubalaena glacialis) or one of the last remaining Atlantic grey whales (Eschrichtius robustus) either without flukes or possibly a male in a state of arousal.
So if Egede mistook a whale penis for a sea serpent, it's logical to assume others might also have done so. This theory has the ring of truth to it.
Listed in chronological order. Newest comments at the end.
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Actually, while we're on the subject, I should point out that the proper name for a whale penis is the 'Dork', and was considered a delicacy, served at the captain's table as one of the spoils of a successful hunt.
Posted by Robin Bobcat in Californian Wierdo on Mon Nov 07, 2005 at 10:23 PMBobcat, do you have a source for that information? I'd like to read more about it-- it combines my interest in the history of whaling with my interest in strange foods.
Posted by Big Gary, much too interested in Dallas, Texas on Tue Nov 08, 2005 at 05:00 PMPuts a whole new spin on the "one eyed trouser snake"...
Posted by Nigel Pond on Fri Nov 11, 2005 at 07:24 AMAccording to Hans Egede himself, the thing he saw was "as thick as our ship, and three or four times as long".
Now THAT'S what I's call well endowed! :-D
Btw, Mr Egede was not at all unfamiliar with whales, and he even compares the movement patterns of the two animals.
Posted by eovti in Sandefjord, Norway on Sat Dec 03, 2005 at 05:08 AMNow THAT'S what I's call well endowed! :-D
Btw, Mr Egede was not at all unfamiliar with whales, and he even compares the movement patterns of the two animals.
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