Legend Of Mysterious Creature Rises Again
Bridgeton - When Amos Penn unearthed something strange in his sandstone quarry here, his first thought probably was that people gladly would pay for a peek at his discovery.[Original headline: Legend of Cumberland creature dug up for students]
In the summer of 1888, Penn stirred the imagination of locals and reporters from across the East Coast with what was billed as the ancient fossil of a creature that somehow had escaped before boarding Noah's Ark.
A reporter from the New York Sun visited Bridgeton and wrote of the creature in the sandstone: "The form of the queer object resembled a giraffe in that it had a long neck and a head comparatively small for the body. The extreme length of the beast was eight feet from the hindquarters to the front, and from the hindquarters to the top of the head it is 12 feet. The hoofs are cloven. In the places where eyes and ears ought to be, there are bumps. The nose is pretty nearly perfect. Something that looks like a horn sticks out from the top of the head."
The legend of the Ireland's Mill creature resurfaced last week when 950 students at the Bridgeton Middle School heard the tale from their teachers, then formed discussion groups to decide whether the creature was real or a hoax. The students also were required to draw their own versions of the creature based on what they had heard.
The seminars are part of the Bridgeton School District's "paideia" program, which seeks to improve students' thinking, writing and math skills.
Paideia, a Greek term that translates to "nurturing of children," is part of a whole-school reform program aimed at changing the way students are taught.
Whole-school reform came about as the result of a court case that led to improvements in the state's poorest school systems - Bridgeton is one - which are known as Abbott Districts.
Because the seminars fell close to Halloween, Bill Chestnut, a science teacher at the school and vice-president of the Bridgeton Antiquarian League, suggested using the tale of the Ireland's Mill creature.
"Kids like stories like this because it's a mystery and something that has to be solved," he said.
Teachers like the story because it encompasses geology, history and even social studies, Chestnut said.
The tale the students heard goes something like this:
Penn was working in his sandstone quarry, located near a streambed connecting the Ireland's Mill Pond and Tumbling Dam Pond, now known as Mary Elmer and Sunset lakes.Sandstone, abundant in the region, was used to build foundations for the city's many Victorian homes.
As he picked away at the earth, Penn came upon the remains of a creature lying on its side, with its head extended upward.
"It was as if the beast had died in the last effort to rise from its smothering bed of sand and gravel, and catch one more breath of prehistoric air," the New York Sun reporter wrote. "There is no expression of pain upon its face at having fainted in the effort."
Penn put up a tent around his discovery, and when word spread through town, people came by the carriage load to view the creature.
Penn started delivering lectures at the scene. Late one afternoon while he was talking to a crowd, two men from New York who appeared to be side-show barkers showed up and offered to buy the creature. Penn refused their offer, and when the men declared the creature a fake, an argument ensued.
Soon after that, a representative of the Academy of Natural Sciences in Philadelphia, Professor Angelo Heilprin, came down to inspect the creature.
After his examination, Heilprin issued a statement to the press in which he wrote, "the reports recently circulated in some of our newspapers regarding the finding near Bridgeton, N.J., of a ... monster in some respects recalling an ox, in others uniting the characters of a cow, horse, and camel type, have caused numerous inquiries to be made at the Academy regarding this remarkable creature - a geologic remnant of the New Jersey sands.
For the benefit of those who may not have been informed of the true character, I beg space to say that the 'fossil' in question is no fossil at all, but a mere rock concretion, strongly simulating an animal form and bearing indications of having been helped along on its way of mimicry through human help, whether intentionally or unintentionally." There were no traces of bone found within the fossil, Heilprin reported.
"Strange happenings of this kind are not exactly rare, although I cannot recall an example of rock 'mimicry' quite as imposing as this one, either in size or shape of outline," Heilprin wrote.
Penn's hoax was exposed.
Chestnut said that what Penn found likely was a large concretion - particles of sand and iron in the soil that cement around objects such as tree roots.
"When he came across this, I think it did look like something, and he doctored it up with his pick," Chestnut said. "He saw a good thing and he knew he could make some money off of it."
A local photographer captured an image of the "creature," but Chestnut has been unable to locate any surviving prints. Even the exact spot where Penn's hoax was hatched has been lost.
What became of Penn is even murkier. He remained in Bridgeton at least until the 1890s, but his whereabouts after that are unknown.
But for a short time, he had plenty of local residents, and big-city reporters, fooled.
"I think they wanted to believe a creature like that could have been found here," said Brody Coyne, 12, a student in Chestnut's class.
Chestnut added: "This was not the first time people have gotten sucked into something like that. People would still fall for it today."
• Story originally published by •
The Press of Atlantic City / NJ | By Tim Zatzariny Jr. - October 30 2000
