Dr KARL SHUKER

Zoologist, media consultant, and science writer, Dr Karl Shuker is also one of the best known cryptozoologists in the world. He is the author of such seminal works as Mystery Cats of the World (1989), The Lost Ark: New and Rediscovered Animals of the 20th Century (1993; greatly expanded in 2012 as The Encyclopaedia of New and Rediscovered Animals), Dragons: A Natural History (1995), In Search of Prehistoric Survivors (1995), The Unexplained (1996), From Flying Toads To Snakes With Wings (1997), Mysteries of Planet Earth (1999), The Hidden Powers of Animals (2001), The Beasts That Hide From Man (2003), Extraordinary Animals Revisited (2007), Dr Shuker's Casebook (2008), Karl Shuker's Alien Zoo: From the Pages of Fortean Times (2010), Cats of Magic, Mythology, and Mystery (2012), Mirabilis: A Carnival of Cryptozoology and Unnatural History (2013), Dragons in Zoology, Cryptozoology, and Culture (2013), The Menagerie of Marvels (2014), A Manifestation of Monsters (2015), Here's Nessie! (2016), and what is widely considered to be his cryptozoological magnum opus, Still In Search Of Prehistoric Survivors (2016) - plus, very excitingly, his first two long-awaited, much-requested ShukerNature blog books (2019, 2020).

Dr Karl Shuker's Official Website - http://www.karlshuker.com/index.htm

IMPORTANT: To view a complete, regularly-updated listing of my ShukerNature blog's articles (each one instantly clickable), please click HERE!

IMPORTANT: To view a complete, regularly-updated listing of my published books (each one instantly clickable), please click HERE!

IMPORTANT: To view a complete, regularly-updated listing of my Eclectarium blog's articles (each one instantly clickable), please click HERE!

IMPORTANT: To view a complete, regularly-updated listing of my Starsteeds blog's poetry and other lyrical writings (each one instantly clickable), please click HERE!

IMPORTANT: To view a complete, regularly-updated listing of my Shuker In MovieLand blog's articles (each one instantly clickable), please click HERE!

Search This Blog


PLEASE COME IN, I'VE BEEN EXPECTING YOU...

PLEASE COME IN, I'VE BEEN EXPECTING YOU...
WELCOME TO SHUKERNATURE - ENJOY YOUR VISIT - BEWARE OF THE RAPTOR!


Thursday 10 March 2011

TRUNKO RETURNS!! A FOURTH PHOTOGRAPH IS DISCOVERED!

The fourth known photograph of the Trunko carcase, uncovered in Margate Museum by Bianca Baldi


Today I learnt from my Trunko co-researcher Markus Hemmler that a fourth Trunko photograph has been found!

Depicting the carcase as a classic amorphous globster, and seemingly dating back to the 1920s like the previous three (see my ShukerNature exclusives from September 2010 for further information regarding these), it was discovered in the archives of South Africa’s Margate Museum by one of my correspondents – South African artist and enthusiastic Trunko investigator Bianca Baldi, whose home town is none other than Margate itself, upon whose beach the Trunko carcase was washed ashore eight decades ago.

Consequently, utilising the Fair Dealing/Fair Use convention, I have pleasure in presenting here in the context of review and on an entirely non-commercial basis this newly-revealed Trunko photograph, which was first placed online by Bianca on her own Natal Patria website at http://natalpatria.com/post/3743069548 on 9 March 2011. If you click on the photo there, you can view an enlarged version of it.

Bianca has set up the Natal Patria site as part of a planned Trunko-investigation project, whose purpose is, she proposes:

“to use the historical documented accounts and the town’s archive to re-imagine the monster in collaboration with the local community. This project is produced in association with VANSA’s 2010 Reasons to Live in a Small Town project funded by the National Lottery Distribution Trust Fund.”

I wish Bianca every success with this, and feel sure that further significant historical documents regarding Trunko may indeed be revealed in Margate’s archives.

Meanwhile, I emailed her today concerning her exciting discovery, and have just received her reply, whose information concerning the photograph reads as follows:

"I am currently in Margate and I came across photocopies of the three images [i.e. the fourth photo, plus the two Wide World Magazine photos that Markus and I independently discovered last September] which I posted on my blog. I found these images in a document called Margate Area Annals 1917 to 1969 compiled by the president and members of the Margate Women's Institute which was housed at the Margate Museum. I am very happy to have helped you confirm that Trunko was indeed a globster."

For something whose onetime claim to fame as a spectacular living mystery beast is now well and truly dead and buried, Trunko is nevertheless doing a pretty good job of staying alive in the cryptozoological headlines!

My sincere thanks go to Bianca Baldi and Markus Hemmler for kindly sharing their information with me.

10 comments:

  1. I dunno, you wait 80 years for a Trunko photo to come along... and then four come at once!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Once again this shows to me that nothing is more worth than careful research in archives on site.

    Fantastic results! And more will follow I feel. Congratulations Bianca!

    ReplyDelete
  3. I agree entirely, Markus - so yes, congratulations, Bianca!!

    ReplyDelete
  4. If this continues, Trunko will have an extremely long and healthy afterlife! RIP Trunko, and lets hope for a FIFTH photo.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Trunko found in the philippines

      Delete
    2. This isn't the same specimen as the original Trunko, which was a single specific globster from the 1920s, but it is likely to have the same zoological identity as the original Trunko, i.e. the globsterised remains of a large cetacean.

      Delete
    3. A fifth Trunko photo has indeed turned up, earlier this year (2022), so I'll be blogging about it shortly here on ShukerNature.

      Delete
  5. Imagine, nothing for decades, then a second carcass and four photos in the blink of an eye!

    ReplyDelete
  6. https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=1224912494270831&id=100002562762448

    New pic of trunko

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. This isn't the same specimen as the original Trunko, which was a single specific globster from the 1920s, but it is likely to have the same zoological identity as the original Trunko, i.e. the globsterised remains of a large cetacean.

      Delete