(Original headline: Fossils Or Just Rocks? )
SEATTLE - Has a Utah man made the scientific discovery of the Millennium? He's found something historical, and now he's sharing it with the world.
"We were out there digging when I started to discovery this reoccurring pattern," says Mike Hallet. As he points to a drawing he's made, he adds, "That's the shape right there. It can only equal one thing: A biological discovery."
This discovery has been made on the shores of the Great Salt Lake.
"In Utah, we have this ancient seashore; it once was the Pacific Ocean," Hallet says. "All that's left is the Great Salt Lake."
Two years of work later, Mike believes he has the find of a lifetime, which is pretty amazing, when you consider he makes his living as a truck driver.
Nothing against truck drivers, but the Utah scientific community is having a hard time taking this guy seriously. Even though Hallet talks at length about recurring patterns, and the fact that these pieces date back 520 million years, there's one thing he says that the scientists just can't handle.
"It's a sea dinosaur," he insists.
That's what's getting him the cold shoulder. No one believes him. His explanation?
"Nobody's discovered them yet," Hallet says matter-of-factly. "Everyone knows that dragons had to have existed."
So charismatic and convincing, I took him up on the chance to get these pieces to the scientific community here in Seattle. He gave me three of his best specimens to take in for examination.
Come back tomorrow to this space for the big reveal. Scientists at the University of Washington examine the find, and confirm that Mike Hallett has found something over 500 million years old.
