Pictured above is Ivan Sanderson, God Father of Cryptozoology, holding a cast of the three toed print. (Source unknown)
In 1948 in Clearwater, Florida strange 3 toed tracks began to appear on the beaches of the Sunshine State. The tracks themselves were fairly large and made quite the stir locally, with newspapers in Clearwater playing it off as a hoax, and other regional papers running with the idea in a more sensational way. As is the way of things, there were competing theories and descriptions of the beast, with many people claiming to have seen it lumber out of the ocean and back into the water. Some people even suggested that it may be some sort of surviving ground sloth! (Why a Ground Sloth would be in the ocean/beach I have no clue.) Eventually some pilots claimed to see the creature from a height of about 500 feet as they flew over head. They described the creature as 10-15 feet in length with “Black fur and white legs or flippers”.
Eventually one of the God Fathers of Cryptozoology, Ivan T. Sanderson came to investigate these claims. He travelled through out the area checking things out, and early on apparently suspected, or knew for a fact the issue was a hoax. A few years later, Sanderson apparently had a change of heart, and revisited the phenomenon, based on eyewitness reports of seeing a creature. In 1951 he began to posit the “maybe its a bi pedal dinosaur or a giant penguin” theory that would become so famous. It is important to note, that Sanderson seemingly pulled theory out of thin air. The largest penguin known in the fossil record at the time. was only 7 foot tall, and those fossils came from New Zealand. Sanderson seemed to take the idea that if they reached 7 foot, then clearly they can reach 15 as well.
The Penguin story persisted throughout the 60s,70s and 80s, due in large part to Sanderson revisiting it and breathing life into it. However, in 1988 that changed. Tony Signori came forward as the hoaxer, admitting that his friend Al Williams had been the mastermind but that together they used a pair of fake three toed feet attached to some ugh top sneakers to make the tracks in the beaches of Florida. He would go on to say that he was surprised that many people, including business owners claimed to have seen the beast, even though they were not in on the joke. He would suggest that perhaps this was for business reasons, to encourage monster tourism.
David Goudsward, author of “Sun, Sand and Serpents” puts it best when he describes that this revelation “sent ripples through the cryptozoology world.” He cites some very telling quotes, one from the Society for the Investigation of the Unexplained” which was founded by Sanderson himself issued a statement along the lines of “Sanderson Knew it was a practical joke but “Ivan the investigator could masterfully play the role of entrepreneur of mysteries ‘reviving the story for the sake of a good story in a paying market.” (Goudsward, cH. 13) Goudsward also goes on to quote the International Society of Cryptozoology which admits the story was a hoax citing a statement from them saying “Sanderson was in the business of writing books about strange subjects and he would never allow ugly facts to interfere with an otherwise attractive story. In person he left no questions about his doubts, in print he successfully resisted expressing any really serious reservations he had.”(Goudsward ch. 13) These statements are both very important, and fairly damning of Ivan Sanderson’s character. They essentially admit that Sanderson was wishy washy on the details of his thoughts, and originally, and rightfully, dismissed the story as a joke and a hoax, no harm, no foul. However, when it became clear to him that the story had legs, and was a potential moneymaker he would continue to suggest that it was a real creature in printed material that he sold, while simultaneously expressing doubt in person. This unfortunately casts doubt on everything else he ever wrote or said as well.
This is a larger issue within Cryptozoology where the word of The Godfathers like Sanderson are often taken as gospel, where clearly they shouldn’t be. It is also an unfortunate side effect of the turbulent relationship that cryptozoology has with the academic world. People who want to study these ideas, phenomenon and whatever else cannot readily participate in academia primarily studying this. Instead cryptozoological researchers have to eke out a living on the fringes, requiring them to deliver on interesting content to publish in books, articles or on documentaries and tv to support themselves.This pressure to deliver can sometimes result in otherwise good people or researchers embellishing things more than they should.
“Ole Three Toes” what I like to call a sort of proto “Florida Man” story before we really had Florida man. At its core, its a wholesome, harmless, story about a couple of guys who wanted to play a joke on members of their community and ended up making a much bigger splash than they imagined they would. Is there a 3 toed monster haunting the beaches of Florida? No, definitely not a bi pedal one anyway (although Cranes get pretty big and ornery sometimes!) Our main takeaway from this should be, as always, anytime someone is making money or has the potential to make money by telling you something, take it with a grain of salt, or ten.
*This post heavily relied on Chapter 13 of the book “Sun Sand and Serpents” by David Goudsward. All credit for research of the event and personalities involved goes to him, and any direct quotes were cited with a simple citation offering his name and chapter (my electronic edition did not have page numbers). He does a wonderful job of diving into this topic more thoroughly and in much more detail. I heartily recommend the book, which can be purchased at amazon.com or anywhere else cryptozoological books are sold.
Comments
Post a Comment