Cryptid Profile: Rhinoceros Dolphin
In 1820, off the coast of the Sandwich Islands and New South Wales, Jean Rene’ Constant Quoy (zoologist and anatomist) and Joseph Paul Gaimard (naturalist) spotted what appeared to be a never before seen species of dolphin. Quoy and Gaimard chose to name this new aquatic mammal the “Rhinoceros Dolphin”, its scientific name being Delphinus rhinoceros. In total, 9 Rhinoceros Dolphins were seen swimming together in a pod in the Atlantic Ocean.
The Rhinoceros Dolphin is described as being larger (described as 9ft long and around 250lbs) than a normal dolphin and is black with large white spots or blotches covering its skin. It has two dorsal fins on its body, one curved fin near its head and one on its back, although it is placed farther back than the normal position of a dolphins dorsal fin. It’s pectoral fins looked to also be on the larger side. The dolphins appeared to show no fear of the ship and approached it willingly, almost touching the bow.
There have been many explanations for what the Rhinoceros Dolphin actually is throughout the years. Theories range from misidentification of an already scientifically known dolphin with a deformity, to two dolphins (a mother and calf) swimming side by side giving the appearance of one larger creature (proposed by French naturalist and zoologist Georges Cuvier). Another theory states that the Rhinoceros Dolphin may have been a normal dolphin with a remora (a suckerfish) attached to its head (proposed by American marine biologist Richard Ellis). The final theory is that the Rhinoceros Dolphin is actually a species of beaked whale known as Blainville’s beaked whale. Males of this species of whale are known to have two horn like bumps protruding from its head. But all of these theories do not take into consideration that Quoy and Gaimard reported seeing 9 separate dolphins with two distinct dorsal fins on their bodies.
Since the initial sighting/discovery, the Rhinoceros Dolphin has not been seen again. This leads many to speculate that the species has either gone extinct, or the population has dwindled to numbers low enough that another human sighting will be almost unheard of when you take into consideration the size of the world’s oceans.
- The Pine Barrens Institute
*Image Credit: Google
"…Calling for the Captain once again, the Second Mate began to knock on the door just as he had done just moments ago, but still, there was no answer. Concerned that the Captain could not hear him for some reason, the Second Mate made the decision to enter the room, but when he attempted to turn the handle, it would not move. The door it appeared, was locked from the inside…”
“…You first must soak three wrought iron nails in the same water in which the nymph dwells. These nails must remain submerged the entire duration of one new moon to the next. After the specific length of time has passed, you remove the nails and drive them into a piece of driftwood removed from the same body of water. You place the newly nailed piece of wood on the shore at night and place some sort of shiny object on top of it…”
“The first hour passed by with nothing out of the ordinary, then the second came and went just as uneventfully. The deputies were beginning to fall asleep at their posts and Chief Marlowe started to think that whatever was bothering the three members of the old home had decided to leave them be. Content that the matter was now resolved, Chief Marlowe decided to follow in his men’s steps and get a little bit of shut eye. But no sooner did he shut his eyes and tilt his head back when a bang loud enough and hard enough to shake the whole house slammed into the walls from the outside.”
“…Dr. Gridley continued to assist the mother and daughter for quite some time, and over the course of his assistance, it is said that he removed enough objects to fill a normal-sized teacup. The objects, which ranged in size from a few millimeters to nearly an inch, were always organic and never confined themselves to one specific type.”
“We had two more cars on U.S. 2 in the northern part of Ashland County and I was transmitting to the deputies in that location. Two deputies were watching from a fire tower on Birch Hill and another, Drolson, was northwest of them on Lake Superior when one of these objects we were watching took off at a very high rate of speed. I radioed to Drolson and told him, ‘It’s going your way,’ and all of a sudden he said, ‘I see it coming-’ and then his radio went blank.”
Not long after the Mary Jane went missing, talk started to filter out around the area speculating what could have happened. Lakemen from all over gave their two cents and provided insight into what the ship could have encountered or dealt with while out in the water. The lake was a dangerous place, and the men who worked it had first-hand experience on just what those dangers were. So when the well-weathered dock workers who saw the strange black dog started talking, people listened. And as with most bizarre occurrences, once the door was opened for stories of the Great Lakes Black Dog to be told, others came forward to tell their stories involving the paranormal pooch as well.
Concerned that something may have happened to the old man, a group of men decided to take a trip out to Hermit Island to perform an 1800s wellness check. When the group arrived, it appeared to them that no activity had taken place on the island for quite some time. It was beginning to look unkempt and abandoned. Sensing something was wrong, the group proceeded towards the cabin to find Wilson. When they arrived at the dwelling they found the door was unlocked, the fire had not been lit in quite some time, and the unmistakable stench of death hung in the air all around them…
It is believed that there are upwards of 6,000+ shipwrecks within the five lakes known as Superior, Huron, Michigan, Erie, and Ontario. Their beds have become the final resting place for an estimated 30,000+ mariners, many of which have never been recovered. The sheer number of souls that have been lost within these waters can easily get one thinking of the possibility that there may be something more going on within these lakes than originally thought. That there may be a force at work under the water that decides the fate of those who dare to interact with it. Something magical, something supernatural, something Godlike. Something, as crazy as it is to believe, like a Merman.
While nobody ever wants a case involving a missing individual to grow cold and go unsolved, it must be recognized that there is something inherently fascinating about the ones that do eventually get designated as such. To know that there is an individual out there who has remained missing regardless of the consistent efforts made by multiple people and agencies to find them and bring them home, well, it’s just downright spooky and unsettling. What happened to these people and where did they go? Did some choose to vanish and start a new life somewhere else? Or did they meet a tragic end at the hands of some vile individual? Only the missing knows the truth.
What did Mr. Cady and Mr. Peterson encounter that day on the 23rd of March, 1887, was it truly a ghost as they believed? Could it really have been the spiritual echo of an old French logger from back in the day who died nearly a century before? Or could this have been a perfect storm of random occurrences that made a run of the mill encounter between strangers ultimately seem supernatural?
Originally thinking the sound was coming from the sky above, John looked all around for the source but was unable to find one. As the noise continued to grow louder, the young man stood motionless and focused his hearing on the direction in which he believed it was coming from. Not long after doing so, he discovered that the sound appeared to be moving up the very path he had just walked. In an instant after that realization, everything he had ever heard about The Night Rider flooded back into his head.
Way back in the 1800s and well into the early 1900s, Wisconsin offered some of the nations best lakeside resorts outside of those on the coasts. Many historically recognized families of wealth and power, as well as many infamous mobsters and crime bosses, flocked to Wisconsin in order to relax, fish, swim, camp, hunt, and of course, spot a lake monster or two. You know, the typical stuff one does while on a vacation.
In 1904, in a community located halfway between the towns of Warrens and Scott, both of which are located within Monroe County, WI, an abandoned farmhouse began to exhibit multiple forms of strange phenomena.
Some residents in the area reported seeing odd lights emanating through the broken windows late at night, while others claim to have heard spine-tingling sounds echoing throughout the empty dwelling. Some even went as far as to state that upon investigating the bizarre lights and sounds, they had witnessed the nearly full human form of a ghostly woman running through the home.
“…that famous “sea serpent” has bobbed up in Lake Michigan. ‘We were about four miles off shore,’ said Capt. G.E. Stufflebeam of the S.S. Theodore Roosevelt, Friday night, ‘when Donald Steele, the lookout saw it.’ ‘I ordered two floodlights thrown on the creature, and there he was wriggling and twisting around and going faster than the ship. We kept it in sight for five minutes. The passengers on deck cried out, ‘what is it,’ but I didn’t know nor did H.J. Cook, former steamship line official who was with me. ‘It flipped its tail and the creature - about 60 feet long - started toward Benton Harbor, Mich.’ That’s Captain Stufflebeam’s story and he said he’ll stick to it…”
Spotted roughly a mile away from the farm, one of the men spotted what appeared to be the back of a large creature slowly moving through the water. Immediately recognizing that what he was witnessing was not a normal animal, the lone gunman shouted for every available man to hurry towards his location. With rifles loaded and aim taken, several men fired multiple shots at the creatures back as it moved slowly through the water. Yet after the smoke had cleared, it was apparent that none of the shots had managed to pierce the thick skin of the creature. What it did do though, was cause the large creature to change direction and move slowly towards the bank of the river. The same bank in which they were all standing.
What if everything we know about the Mastodon was true just up until the end when it is believed to have gone extinct? Would people be able to accept that? Maybe they didn’t go extinct nearly 110 centuries ago as scientists believe. Maybe they changed with the times and kept on evolving to bypass their fate. Is it possible that they were able to change so much, that they literally slipped into the cracks of our world and disappeared into the unknown?
“…There within the darkness of the lake was a bright green light, moving slowly and spreading out nearly thirty feet in diameter. While the sight was both beautiful and mesmerizing to most of the men, causing them to rise and move as close to the water as possible, one of the members in the group remembered stories he had heard told by the tribes living around the lake. The ones about a powerful creature living within the water, a creature that could easily snatch unsuspecting men right from the shore and drag them down to the bottom in order to consume them…”
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“…many people were in their homes enjoying what they thought was just a normal evening. But when they ran outside to see what was the matter, and heard the ever-growing roar steadily moving closer towards them, they also caught sight of a strange object both rotating and moving through the sky above the trees.”