As part of the run up to ESCONI's 70th Anniversary, here is Flashback Friday post #9. If you have pictures or stories to contribute, please send them over to [email protected]. Thanks!
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The following article appeared in the 50th Anniversary issue of the newsletter. Unfortunately, Francis Tully (yes! an ESCONI member!) didn't live to see it, but the Tully Monster was designated the State Fossil of Illinois in 1989. While much is still uncertain, we know quite a bit more about the animal today. See here for more details.
Illinois State Fossil
Governor James R. Thompson has signed legislation designating Tullimonstrum gregarium The Tully Monster as Illinois' official State Fossil. The creature which lived 280 - 340 million years ago probably never grew longer than 12-15 inches, joins a wide range of animals, minerals and vegetation as official Illinois symbols. Included among there are the Cardinal, White Oak, Monarch butterfly, Bluegill, Fluorite, White-tailed deer, Violet and Big Bluestem prairie grass.
An impression of the soft-bodied marine animal was found more than 30 years ago in a rock picked up by an avocational geologist in an abandoned strip mine near Braidwood in Grundy County. The creature was named for its discoverer, the late Francis Tully, a weekend rockhound and geology hobbyist from Joliet who died in 1987, at the age of 75.
Tully, a pipefitter employed by a Joliet firm for 31 years, hunted for fossils throughout the area on his days off. He encountered the first preserved imprint of the creature in 1955 when he cracked open a rock during one of his forays into the strip mine area. More than 100 additional examples of the fossil reportedly have been found in ensuing years, but none has been discovered outside the region encompassing Mazon Creek or the strip mines in the vicinity of Braidwood, Coal City and Braceville, 50 miles south of Chicago.
Tully Monster was the only fossil considered for elevation to the status as an official representation of Illinois. Its selection was based on the fact that it apparently is found nowhere else outside of the state.
Efforts two years ago to have the unusual critter named as the State fossil failed. It was presented again and is now official. It is a product of warm seas and lush equatorial swamps. The area in which it was found was known to be the northeastern extension of the primordial Sea of Illinois.
An invertebrate, (an animal having no backbone), the beast had a dirigible-like body. On one end was a spade shaped tail which must have provided propulsion. At the opposite end of its body was a long trunk tipped by a toothy claw. Protruding from the torso were stalks that scientists suspect were its eyes. An indentation under these eye stalks may indicate the location of its mouth.. Little else is known about the creature.
Francis Tully was an ESCONI member having joined in 1960.