Famous "Pennsylvania Unicorn" Skull For Sale

In April of 2013 Journal of the Bizarre featured an in-depth analysis of the strange "unicorn" skull found in a shallow cave in Union County, Pennsylvania. (read the original story about the skull here)

When we learned of this discovery, we dropped everything and went to see the unusual specimen for ourselves. The specimen appears to be the skull of a young male deer with an 8-inch bony projection protruding from the frontal bone. The parietal bone is missing, and oddly appears to have been removed with surgical precision with a sharp object, rather than broken off. The appearance of the incision led us to believe that this procedure was done centuries ago, perhaps as part of some Native American ritual.

We spent a great deal of time examining the antler. Horns and antlers are two very different structures; horns are composed of keratin, while antlers are composed of bone. The specimen we examined undoubtedly has a bony growth protruding from the skull.

This is clearly evidenced by examining the tip of the specimen's antler. The surface layer of bone has chipped away, revealing the underlying lamellar bone. When antlers reach the end of the growing process, the outer layer becomes compact bone, while the centers are filled with coarse and spongy lamellar bone and marrow. This detail of antler anatomy is virtually impossible to replicate by a hoaxer, and adds an important touch of authenticity to the "unicorn" specimen.

Another crucial detail exhibited by the unicorn specimen is the smooth polished look of the antler's mid-shaft. The velvet which covers the surface of an antler is removed by the animal rubbing its antler against vegetation. This is what gives them the smooth, polished look. A close examination of the unicorn's antler reveals that the "shine" doesn't extend all the way to the base of the antler or to the back of the antler; it is limited to the parts of the antler which would've been most likely to come into contact with vegetation.

To us, this indicated an authentic specimen (although an authentic specimen of what, we couldn't say). We doubted that any hoaxer would take these tiny details into consideration, such as the lamellar bone beneath the surface of the antler, the rub marks on the antler exactly where they should be, the seamless transition between skull and the unicorn's "horn"-- if some hoaxer had just glued a horn onto a skull, this would have been evident upon a close examination. We used an ultra-high resolution camera to photograph the find, and the pictures, even when magnified, do not indicate any evidence of hoaxery.

And now, nearly 4 years after the skull was found, the owner has contacted us and informed us that he wants to sell the specimen. According to the seller, experts who have examined the specimen are stumped. "It's just the skull of a deer who, by some weird quirk of fate, happened to grow a horn," he explained.

At any rate, we have agreed to act on the seller's behalf in his quest to sell the strange item. Offers can be made by emailing Anna at annanewburg [at] yahoo [dot] com.

Don't ask us about a price. This is the first damned unicorn skull we've ever seen, much less sold, and it's not like Beckett's or Sotheby's publishes an annual price guide on unicorn skulls. Just make us an offer.

The Hunt for the Osage River Monster

It's spring of 1844 in St. Clair County, Missouri. A mile or so from the banks of the muddy Osage River a pioneer settler named Matthew Arbuckle is plowing his field when he hears a banshee-like wail in the distance, coming from the direction of the river. Shrill and unearthly, the demonic howl fills the farmer with terror. Wasting no time, he unhitches his plow, jumps on the back of his horse and heads for the hills.

One hour later Arbuckle arrives in Papinville, a town fifteen miles from his farm. The exhausted horse is white with foam; its rider white with terror. In a gasping voice he tells of making an escape from an awful monster. Although he had not seen the beast, he had heard its voice, from which he could tell that it was a monster of immense proportions.

Those who heard Arbuckle's story were bewildered, and those who did not know the pioneer personally could tell, just by the bloodless pallor of his trembling skin, that the man was not telling a lie. Whatever terrify…

The Ticking Tombstone of Landenberg

If you look closely at a map of Pennsylvania, you'll see an anomalous semi-circular border at the extreme southeastern part of the state. This circle, known officially as the "Twelve Mile Circle", serves as the border between the Keystone State and Delaware. Much of the strange circle is surrounded by Chester County, one of the three original Pennsylvania counties created by William Penn in 1682. While there are many historical points of interest in Chester County, few are strange or as steeped in legend as the Ticking Tombstone.

Near the London Tract Meeting House in Landenberg is an old graveyard which contains a tombstone which is said to make eerie ticking noises, much like the ticking of a pocketwatch. Landenberg locals claim that the ticking is the result of two very famous surveyors who arrived in town during the 1760s- Charles Mason and Jeremiah Dixon. A young child supposedly swallowed a valuable pocketwatch owned by Mason and later died, and the boy's head…

The Incest Capital of the World?

At the far eastern edge of Kentucky, nestled in Appalachia, resides Letcher County. In spite of its isolation and poverty (approximately 30% of the county's population lives below the poverty line), Letcher County has managed to grow at an impressive rate, from a population of just 9,172 in 1900 to a present-day population of nearly 25,000. However, even if Letcher County tripled or quadrupled its present population, there's still a pretty good chance that virtually all of the county's inhabitants would be related to each other-- thanks to one particularly fertile family whose astounding rate of reproduction can put even the friskiest rabbit to shame.

Around the year 1900, Letcher County was the home of a man by the name of Jason L. Webb, who made national headlines for having the one of the largest families in the world. According to newspaper reports of the era, Jason had 19 children, 175 grandchildren, and 100 great-grandchildren. Perhaps even more impressive was his b…

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