Real-Life X-Files by Joe Nickell

Author:Joe Nickell [Nickell, Joe]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Publisher: The University Press of Kentucky
Published: 2011-12-31T06:00:00+00:00

Figure 23.1.Coleman Frog. Since the 1880s, folk have debated which is the greatest whopper: this giant amphibian or the claim that it is authentic.

It should be noted that the largest frog actually known, according to The Guinness Book of Records (1999), is the African goliath frog (Conraua goliath), a record specimen of which measured a comparatively small 14 1/2 inches (sitting) and weighed just eight pounds, one ounce. At almost twice the length and five times the weight, Coleman’s pet froggie is no more credible than his other whoppers (his outrageous yarns about the imagined creature).

In the museum file, I also came across a letter stating the policy of the historical society regarding the Coleman Frog. To a man who had objected to exhibition of the artifact, President E.W. Sansom (1961) wrote: “It was agreed… that the stuffed frog was of historical interest only as an artificial duplication used for publicity purposes by F.B. Coleman years ago in Fredericton. As such, the majority of those present felt the frog should be retained but only as an amusing example of a colossal fake and deception.” And so it remains on display, according to one journalist (Brewer 1973), “as big as life—yea, bigger.”

References

Brewer, Jacqueline. 1973. Famous Fredericton frog dates back to city’s founding. Daily Gleaner (Fredericton, N.B.), March 30.

Coleman frog. n.d. Vertical files, York Sunbury Historical Society Museum and Fredericton Public Library (undated clippings, correspondence, etc.)

Colombo, John Robert. 1988. Mysterious Canada: Strange Sights, Extraordinary Events, and Peculiar Places. Toronto: Doubleday Canada.

The Guinness Book of Records. 1999, n.p.: Guinness Publishing, 122.

McKinney, Mary. n.d. Canadianecdote, undated clipping from Macleans in Coleman n.d.

Phillips, Fred H. 1982. Coleman frog a fake? Daily Gleaner (Fredericton, N.B.), April 22.

Sansom, E.W. 1961. Letter to J. Winslow, Nov. 20 (in Coleman n.d.).

“Taxidermy.” 1910; I960. Encyclopaedia Britannica.

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