Wednesday, June 21, 2017

MUIRHEAD`S MYSTERIES: There was a wee lizard near Kirkaldy,which found itself in a wee quandry...

I found the following strange story in a cutting kindly sent to me by American Fortean Gary Mangiacopra a few days ago. It`s from The Daily Commercial Register (Ohio) of 22nd December 1852, a case of an entombed "lizzard" (sic) 

" EXHUMATION OF A LIZZARD - A short time since, as David Virtue, mason at Auchtertool
​, a village four miles from Kirkaldy,in Scotland, was dreesing (sic) a millstone from a large block, after cutting away a part, he found a lizzard embeded in the stone.it was about an inch and a quarter long, of a Brownish yellow color, and had a round head, with bright sparkling eyes.It was apparently dead, but after being about five minutes exposed to the air, it showed signs of life.One of the workers very cruelly put snuff in its eyes, which seemed to cause it much pain. it soon after ran about with much celerity, and after half an hour was brushed off the stone and killed. When found, it was coiled up in a round cavity of its form, being an exact impression of the animal. There was about 14 ft of earth above the rock, and the block in which the lizzard was found was 7 or 8 ft deep in the rock, so that the whole depth of the animal from the surface was 21 or 22 ft. The stone had no fissure, was quite hard, and one of the best to be got from the quarry of Cultaloe, reckoned perhaps, the best in Scotland." 



The photo above shows Auchtertool

No comments:

Post a Comment