For those who search for strange creatures or look up to the skies and wonder if we are alone or not, one pervasive question has often been whether there is any evidence we can find to show that something is there. Is there some definitive proof in the form of a physical specimen and will we ever find it? There have actually been quite a few cases of just this supposedly happening, of finding things such as alien mummies, fairies, unidentified mystery monsters, and more, with the odd discoveries of such mysterious corpses and carcasses allegedly found all over the world, but which have still somehow only managed to deepen their respective mysteries.
One of the odder and more well-known mysterious discoveries of unidentified remains of something possibly not human was made in October of 1932, when two prospectors named Cecil Mayne and Frank Carr would make a very bizarre find in the San Pedro Mountains of Wyoming, in the United States. The two men were blasting away into the rock trying to uncover a vein of gold when they managed to unearth what appeared to be a room hidden away deep underground. This anomalous room was said to measure around 4 feet high, 4 feet wide, and to stretch into the murk for about 15 feet.
Even odder than the discovery of this strange room was what they reportedly found within it. There sitting on a ledge in an upright position was the mummy of what looked to be a diminutive, misshapen man measuring only 14 inches in length and weighing a mere 20 ounces. Its tiny size and strange appearance made it hard to even tell if it was human or not. The face of the mummy had odd features, such as a flattened head, wide mouth with thin lips and outsized canines, a squashed in nose, and bulging, heavily lidded eyes, all of which was purportedly covered in some sort of slimy, gelatinous substance, which seemed to suggest that the well-preserved specimen had been kept in some sort of liquid, and the body of the humanoid had wrinkled brown skin.
Soon after its discovery, the San Pedro Mountain Mummy, also popularly called just “Pedro,” drew the attention of scientists, and a deeper analysis in the 1950s using x-rays showed that it had broken bones that were thought to indicate a violent death. Over the years the mummy drew various different theories as to what it could be. Original analyses seemed to show that the specimen would have been a 65-year-old man at the time of death, whereas later opinions would suggest it was more likely the corpse of an anencephalic infant, a condition which causes deformities of the skull. Amazingly, a second mummy was supposedly found in the same general area, this time of a female only 4-inches high and displaying the same odd appearance as the first mummy.
While analysis has shown that these were likely deformed babies, there nevertheless has long been debate and further speculation as to the origins of the San Pedro Mountain mummies. One is that it was all simply a hoax that got out of hand. Of course there is also the theory that these were the corpses of aliens, and another theory is that they represented a race of little people spoken of in Native American lore. Unfortunately, it may be that we will never really now for sure, as further analysis with more modern technology is not possible as the mummies have disappeared. The first one was acquired by a drugstore owner in Meeteetse, Wyoming, where it was put on display for a while before passing on to a New York business man named Leonard Wadler and seemingly vanishing off the face of the earth. What happened to the second one is anyone’s guess. Without a body, we will probably never really know for sure what the mummies were.
Another tiny humanoid was supposedly unearthed in 2002, when a man named Julio Carreno was on vacation in Concepcion, Chile with his family. The creature he managed to find in a field was reported as being a mere 3 inches in length, pinkish in color and with an oversized head and slanted eyes. The bizarre tiny beast was apparently alive when Carreno initially found it, and over the next few days it was reported as awake and frequently opening its large eyes. Sadly, it then died 8 days later, after which it reportedly turned a dark brown color and spontaneously mummified after being placed in the refrigerator to preserve the carcass, yet it stayed warm for some time after its apparent death and its fingernails allegedly kept on growing. One of the family members, an Armando Carreno, would say of the freakish creature:
When we found it in Concepcion, it was able to open its eyes. Then a few days later, once we had returned to Santiago, it opened its eyes one more time. After that, it never opened them again. But there was something peculiar about that: When we thought it was already dead, the body was still warm, and it stayed warm for a long time. I always thought that a dead body was supposed to be cold.
Rumors swirled in the wake of the news of this discovery, including that it had telepathically reached out to the family who had found it or that it had walked around before dying. When veterinarians in Santiago studied the corpse it was widely thought to be the fetus of a wildcat, but the public was sure that it was an alien. Further analysis showed that it was not a fetus, but what it actually was is not entirely clear. Some have stated that it is the desiccated corpse of some mundane animal native to the region, such as a possum, but it doesn’t seem to have been conclusively identified to the satisfaction of all. Throughout all of this the family who found it has kept it sequestered within a first-aid box lined with cotton to protect the fragile corpse. Unfortunately, it is hard to tell if any meaningful further study was ever done on this tiny corpse, and it remains a mystery.
Chile seems to have its fair share of weird miniature humanoid carcasses, because the very following year another, an even more well-known one was purportedly found in the country’s forbidding Atacama Desert in 2003. In addition to its small size, there were many anomalous features of the body, not the least of which was that it had an elongated cone-shaped head, as well as a tiny mouth, a squished looking face, only 10 ribs as opposed to the usual 12, and overall inhuman facial features. Considering this bizarre appearance, the Atacama mummy, also called Ata, was widely touted as being the remains of, of course, an alien. Others believed it to be an obvious fabricated hoax, while others still suspected that it was merely a deformed human fetus. At the time the mummy was kept in a private collection and was unavailable for further investigation and analysis, so wild speculation and debate raged on.
In 2009, the Atacama Mummy came into the possession of a symposium in Barcelona, and in 2012 it was finally subjected to proper tests to try and understand its origins. Some of the things that were found were that the corpse contained well-preserved organs such as a heart and lungs, and it was also a surprise to find that the body was not that of a fetus, as had been presumed, but rather that it was consistent with the features of a 6 to 8-year-old child. DNA tests showed it was human 9% of the DNA found was unidentifiable, which was thought to be because of degradation over such a long time in the arid, dry region. There were no clear explanations for why the ribs should be missing, or why the body should only be 6 inches long, and these have been left to speculation. Although human, the fact that this DNA was a bit off, the odd shape of the head, the missing ribs, and that the specimen was found to be that of a 6 to 8-year-old but was only 6 inches long, have all ensured that the Atacma Mummy has managed to retain an air of mystery.
In early 2016, a strange finding was supposedly made in Mexico, when an author named Brian Foerster claims he discovered a very bizarre specimen floating within a glass jar in an office. The strange, tiny creature looks reminiscent of a fairy, with a thin frame and wings, yet with a rather lizard-like, reptilian face. Foerster would say, “I saw this very odd animal in an office in Mexico City in January of 2016. As a trained biologist I have a hard time thinking it is fake,” and went on to claim that further analysis had shown that the creature had a skeleton and that DNA tests would be forthcoming.
The specimen was also looked at by Mexican paranormal journalist Jamie Maussan, along with researcher, author and filmmaker LA Marzulli, who saw the body himself and was convinced that it was not a fake and not a plastic mold of any sort. This all generated quite a bit of excitement in UFO circles and was touted as being some of the best physical evidence for alien life on Earth found so far, with much debate and discussion as to the nature of the creature. One problem with all of this is that this was originally released on a promotional clip by Foerster himself for a longer documentary on the finding, and anyone who wants to see the whole thing has to go to a website and pay to access it, making it seem like it could be a money-making stunt, but those who have looked at the body claim that this is all real and not any sort of hoax. Another potential red flag is that as far as I know the supposed alien creature has not been submitted to any respected scientific institution for proper testing, and if it had been and then been found to be real we would have all certainly heard about it by now, so who knows what they have there.
Another thing that perhaps may been seen as slightly suspicious to some people is that unbelievably this is not even the only such discovery linked to Foerster. He also claimed later the very same year that he supposedly found the “fairy” specimen that in 1928 there were found bizarre elongated “alien” skulls and another mummified humanoid body in the desert of Paracas, on the southern coast of Peru. The specimens were supposedly found by archaeologist Julio Tello, after which they were stored away for years before being coming to the attention of Foerster, who describes the amazing find thus:
We were recently shown, and examined the above artefact that supposedly was found, along with many others, in a cave in the southern desert of Peru; exact location to be given, hopefully, in the future. The head appears to be made of bone with skin over the top. It has two eyes, but eyes it is nothing like a human, it is more amphibian or reptilian. The mouth seems to be so tiny that it does not even appear to be for feeding. It is a very mysterious thing and I can’t imagine how those two specimens could be fake.
Foerster claimed that DNA tests were carried out on the remains that conclusively showed that they are not human, but other than that no evidence of these tests or word on who performed them were forthcoming. The so-called “Paracas Skulls” have gone on to be debated and held up as real evidence of aliens ever since. In this case, scientists have come to the conclusion that these skulls are the result of intentional cranial deformation or modification carried out by the ancient native peoples of the region, but of course there are those that still believe these are not human and that Foerster’s own DNA tests were real. Again, much suspicion has been cast on his claims, as most of this information was released on social media, lacked any outside verification, and have been accused of being a way to promote his books, videos, and tours.
Besides the remote wildernesses of South America and Mexico, strange remains have been found in other places as well. One sensational find was apparently made at a diamond mine in the Sakha Republic of Siberia, Russia in 2016. Miners there claimed that they had dislodged a very curious mammalian creature that had been ensconced within the diamond-yielding sands of the region. Described as being a “demon baby,” the unidentified animal has a thin, emaciated body covered in sparse fur, a formidable looking elongated snout with sturdy jaws and pronounced sharp teeth, and looks absolutely outlandish. The nightmarish carcass is thought to be thousands of years old, yet was also extremely well-preserved by the sands, permafrost, and cold dry climate, to the point that it still apparently had organs and parts of its brain left intact.
The mystery creature certainly looks not of this world, and has been speculated to be a new species or, of course, an alien. Experts have stepped in to suggest that the body might simply that of a young wolverine or other mustelid such as a badger, weasel, marten, or sable, and that its freakish appearance is due to the mummification process and loss of most of its hair, which would significantly alter the way it looked. Since this story has only been reported on in local sources like the Siberian Times, with no apparent independent verification, and there has been no further word on the matter, it is hard to say just what this strange creature could be.
There is of course the very real possibility that many of these are hoaxes, and there was a very spectacular such suspected hoax perpetrated in recent days. While desert wastelands and the cold reaches of Siberia might be a reasonable place to find something unexpected like these specimens, perhaps one of the biggest treasure trove of such finds was made not in any remote wilderness, but in a basement of a townhouse in London. The dilapidated building had been abandoned since the 1940s and was due to be demolished, but when the interior was examined in 2006 there was accidentally found to be a hidden basement filled with stacks of dusty crates containing over 5,000 specimens of flora and fauna in various states of preservation and dissection, as well as relics, artifacts, and oddities from ancient lost civilizations all over the world.
Among these numerous specimens were supposedly the remains of creatures from myth and legend, such as dragons, fairies, vampires, and werewolves, as well as other oddities such as winged humans, aliens, and other less-identifiable things, all of which were apparently part of the collection of an enigmatic naturalist, archeologist, and cryptozoologist named Thomas Theodore Merrylin. Supposedly in the 1800s Merrylin travelled the world in search of strange monsters and lost civilizations of both human and nonhuman. During these journeys he purportedly collected a vast trove of specimens that challenged everything we know about zoology, biology, and even physics. An interesting claim in the story is that through his years of penetrating uncharted wildernesses and shining a light into the dark unexplored recesses of our world the mysterious Merrylin was said to barely age at all, looking to be in his 40s well into his 80s.
Over the years his eclectic collection grew at a rapid pace, housing all manner of the weird and unexplained, and he supposedly contemplated and wrote of theories on the multiverse, time travel, and quantum mechanics in a time before any of these were even a recognized thing. In 1942, Merrylin suddenly and inexplicably appeared after falling off into obscurity and being presumed dead for years, in order to donate his townhouse to the Tunbridge Orphanage for Boys, the only catch being that they had to agree to never open the basement, after which he seemingly vanished off the face of the earth. Bizarrely, he would have been 160 years old at the time.
The door to the basement would later be bricked over and the existence of the cellar forgotten until it was stumbled upon by chance prior to its demolition. Most of this collection was claimed to have become the Merrylin Cryptid Museum, devoted to “The study and documentation of the evolution and biology of unclassified species and research pertaining to prehistoric human and non-human civilization,” and curated by an Alex CF, who says on the museum’s webpage:
You have stumbled upon the Merrylin Cryptid Museum, the life’s work of Crypto-naturalist, Fringe Zoologist and Xeno-Archeologist Thomas Merrylin. This is the online archive of his unique collection of specimens. Creatures and artifacts thought to be nothing more than myth. It is a mystery that challenges our understanding of biology, chemistry and the very laws of physics. But this is no fairytale, for he was a scientist, and empirical evidence and rational thought hold sway here.
You can take a look at the museum’s surreal page and its many, many haunting photographs here. Although it all seems like something out of a horror or dark fantasy movie it is all done with the utmost sincerity, with no hint of it being anything other than real. Due to this stunning realism, when this story first broke it took the Internet by storm and showed up on all manner of paranormal websites and even in news publications, where Merrylin was presented as an actual person and the specimens of his collection true unexplained phenomena. There were those who took the story to be real, and that this bizarre collection of anomalies had really been found gathering cobwebs in a dank cellar in London, hidden away from the world by a seemingly immortal eccentric gentleman.
Indeed, there are people who still think that the story is true, but according to an investigation by Snopes it is all an elaborate hoax or a complex art project. Snopes found that not only was there no record whatsoever of a Professor Thomas Theodore Merrylin, but also that the curator of the museum is an artist and sculptor specializing in surreal pieces that blur the lines between fiction and reality, in other words, exactly the kind of thing seen with the “specimens” at the museum. Snopes would say of the museum and its curator:
Alex is a London based illustrator, writer and sculptor. His work is visceral and whimsical, creating elaborate detailed depictions of earthen ritual, dark folklore and forgotten horrors. His frenetic lines and beautiful depictions can be seen on band artwork, record labels and book covers alongside his own personal projects.
His personal artwork is inspired by animal mythology, the concepts of imbuing non humans with cultural, religious and ritualistic practices, creating fantastical naturalist scenes, with much of his personal illustrations connected by stories within a single narrative. He writes and draws to create little worlds so that the drawings have a substance beyond the aesthetic, by incorporating ideology and symbology to encourage the viewer to consider the connections between humans and non-humans. He has just finished writing his first novel, ‘Seek the throat from which we sing.’
The ageless cryptologist Thomas Merrylin is an intriguing, but fictional, character. The specimens he supposedly found do not showcase the skeletal structures of fairies, dragons, and other mythical creatures; the entire creation — from the museum, to the backstory, to the video, to the skeletons themselves — is the work of a particularly imaginative artist.
It is easy to see when reading the imaginative and meticulously crafted story of “Merrylin,” and seeing this incredibly realistically depicted collection that there might be something to the whole tale, indeed some still think so, but for now it seems to be nothing more than an art project. It is all rather fascinating nevertheless, and shows that there is a drive to want to create such mysteries and the means with which to create specimens which at least superficially look very much like the real deal. Considering the lack of any independently verifiable tests done on many of these supposed mysterious remains such as we have looked at here, and the tendency for them to be kept away from the public eye despite the fact that, if real, they would rank the most astounding discoveries ever made, it is not hard to imagine that we may be dealing with hoaxes or at least misidentifications in some of these cases, if not all.
However, it is all rather intriguing and fuel for the imagination to think that there just might be the physical evidence we seek for unexplained mysteries out there. One wonders if somewhere in the corner of some forbidding, unexplored wilderness or packed away and forgotten in the back of a dusty storage room of some museum there are the remains of creatures from beyond our known reality. Maybe it is not a question of “if” such creatures exist or “if” physical remains of them can be found, but rather “where.” It is unclear whether we ever will stumble across incontrovertible proof of wondrous creatures and aliens in the form of preserved specimens or not, but such a discovery would change our understanding of history, the world, and perhaps even the nature of reality itself.
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