Although it is not exactly paranormal in nature, the phenomenon
of entombed animals is completely unexplainable by modern science.
Frequently reported throughout history, people have been startled
to find living animals trapped in stones, tree trunks, or concrete,
sometimes hundreds of feet below the earths surface. In every
report, the animal (usually a frog or toad) is found as a rock was
split open or a tree trunk was being sawed, with no possible way
evident for the creature to end up inside the cavity of the stone
or tree. The cavity is usually slightly larger than the animal, and
often it is the same shape as the animal found inside. Animals that
are suddenly freed from their stony prisons are often reported as
turning darker in color, having difficulty breathing at first, and
becoming full of life.
A toad estimated to be over 6000 years old was freed from its
stony prison in 1865, by excavators in Durham, England. The live
toad was found in a block of magnesian limestone 25 feet
underground. Its eyes were reported to be especially bright, its
hind claws were particularly long and the claws of its forefeet
were turned in. It grew darker in colour, from a pale colour
matching the stone it was found in to a darker olive brown. It
appeared to have difficulty breathing as it made a barking sound
from its nostrils.
There is no scientific explanation as to how a frog or toad could
survive in a seemingly air tight stone without water or food. Some
suggest they collect water and nutrients that seep through the
stone, especially if it is porous like limestone. Air could get in
the same way. However, many of these entrapped animals are found
hundreds of feet underground in rock believed to be thousands of
years old. Even if the animal survived being trapped in stone, it
is extraordinary that it would have remained alive for so long.
Ironically, many reports of freed animals claim the creature only
lived a few hours or days after being released into "survivable"
conditions.
It is interesting to note that many reports of such trapped animals
suggest that they were a prehistoric species as descriptions often
match those of animals that were extinct or have since evolved.
Perhaps some animals survive fossilization.
In 1818, a geologist named Dr. Edward D. Clarke was looking for
fossils in a chalk quarry 270 feet underground. Dr. Clarke found
some fossilized sea urchins and newts. He dug three well-preserved
newts out and placed them on paper in the sun. To his astonishment,
they began to move around. Two of the newts died shortly, but the
third remained lively and was released into a pond. Dr. Clarke
claimed the newts were unlike any other living at the time and were
an extinct species unknown to science.
Most scientists will hold firm to the opinion that cases in which
6000 year old frogs survive such a long period of time encased in
stone are absolutely impossible. Skeptics suggest the frogs or
other creatures were actually discovered near the recently split
stone or tree trunk and were assumed to be trapped inside as the
observer noticed the small cavity. However, the reports of trapped
animals are very similar, and many notice the creature inside the
cavity before it is freed. Although frogs are known to hibernate
for months at a time in mud, it is hard to imagine so many
hibernating so long that the mud turned to stone, then sat for
unknown periods of time until split open.
Here are a few more reports:
In 1719, French lumbermen were astonished to find a living frog
directly in the center of a solid elm trunk about 4 feet above the
root.
In 1853, a live horned lizard was freed from a block of solid
stone. It was sent to the Smithsonian Institution. The lizard only
lived two days after being freed.
An hour and a half after stoking his fire, Mr. W.J. Clarke, of
Rugby, England, reached over to poke the coals. As he broke open
one coal, he saw something move and snatched it out of the
fireplace. It proved to be a living toad and it survived for nearly
five weeks. It had no mouth and was nearly transparent. Photoraphs
of this marvel were offered for sale by the London Steroscopic
Company.
In the later part of the 19th century a venerable lama named Situ
Pema Wangyal Rinpoche was making a journey to Lhasa in the company
of several friends. One day, much to the alarm of his companions he
fell into a wrathful mood and that evening insisted on making camp
on a barren plain where neither firewood or water could be found.
The next morning, still in a bad humor, he obliged the party to
leave the route to Lhasa and to head north to, as far as his
companions knew, to nowhere. Since they held him in high esteem
though they followed without question. After several hours they
came to an enormous outcrop of rock, which Situ announced, it was
their duty to break open. Since they had no tools except their
wooden staffs, they fared rather poorly at this task. At this
point, the lama took his staff and struck the rock a single blow.
It shattered, and revealed inside was a large, repulsive looking
creature that the lama gently lifted out and placed at his feet. As
the salamander like animal panted for breath, Situ sat down and
began to perform a certain yoga on the animals behalf. In Tibetan,
this yoga is called pho - wa and is usually described as a transfer
of consciousness. It is performed by lamas for the benefit of the
dying. After a while, the creature died, funeral rites were
performed and the creatures body was burned.
The most amazing case of living fossils is one of a pterodactyl in
France during the winter of 1856. Workmen were digging a railway
tunnel through a layer of Jurassic limestone. They were startled to
find a large creature stumbling out of a recently split boulder,
flapping what looked like wings and croaking. It died immediately.
The creature was identified as a pterodactyl by a local
paleontology student who recognized the characteristic features of
the extinct reptile. The stone in which it was found was consistent
with the time period in which pterodactyls lived and formed an
exact mold of the creatures body.
