This is Mazon Monday post #50. What's your favorite Mazon Creek fossil? Tell us at email:[email protected].
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Today, we have a real treat. Dr. Eugene Richardson was the Curator of Invertebrate Paleontology at the Field Museum of Natural History from the 1950s until his death in 1983. He had a huge influence on the research of Mazon Creek fossils, particularly the fauna. Dr. Richardson's relationships with amateur collectors allowed him to see what was being found across the many localities and to photograph and sometimes receive a donation of unique specimens that needed further study. One of those specimens turned out to be Tullymonstrum gregarium. Colloquially known as the Tully Monster, Francis Tully is credited with discovering it in a strip mine near Braidwood, IL, about 50 miles southwest of Chicago, in 1955. Mr. Tully was an amateur fossil collector. He brought it to the Field Museum. There at the museum, Dr. Richardson found the fossil very interesting and described and named it in 1966. After a long effort, Tullimonstrum gregarium became the state fossil of Illinois in 1989. You can find more about Francis Tully here.
Eugene Richardson was a man of of many interests and talents. As can be read in the dedication to the "Richardson's Guide to the Fossil Fauna of Mazon Creek", one of his hobbies was printing. The Vanishing Press was his imprint.
Gene Richardson was a man of many hats paleontologist, poet, and printer. Those who knew him professionally may never have guessed how he spent his spare time, while bookmen who so admired the beautiful press work of The Vanishing Press and the writings of E. Scumas Rory would have been surprised to see him in the field with hammer, knapsack, and muddy boots. But all would have attested to the great generosity and far-reaching vision of their friend and colleague.
He wrote and printed a few books under the pseudonym E. Scumas Rory. It should be noted that the "Y" animal is named for the author... Escumaria roryi. One of Rory's books is call "The Dancing Worm of Turkana", which is the basis of this post. I recently got my hands on a physical copy of the book!
A good description of the book, published in 1969, can be found here on the blog "Land of the Dead". The story began as a prank by Bryan Patterson on the staff of the Field Museum. Bryan, a famous paleontologist who studied fossil mammals, had been the Curator of Vertebrate Paleontology at the Field Museum, but was now a professor at Harvard University. The book documents the prank. If you'd like to follow along yourself, here is a pdf scan of the book.
Tullimonstrum was a free-swimming predator of the open ocean. In spite of its abundant fossil record its evolutionary relationships are poorly understood. Although similarities to a variety of marine invertebrate groups has been suggested, none of these ideas are very well supported and the creature’s evolutionary position remains a mystery.
So far this was an interesting scientific story --- an enigmatic but abundant fossil species with very, very peculiar morphology and unknown evolutionary relationships --- just the kind of fossil that intrigues and puzzles paleontologists. However Tullimonstrum would soon move beyond the pages of dry, scientific journals.
In July 1966 Richardson wrote a popular account of the Tully monster and his research on it. This included a cover illustration of restored Tullimonstrum swimming and feeding in the ancient Pennsylvanian sea of Illinois. The story was picked up by the press and got wide circulation in newspapers, including the East African Standard of the former British Colonies of East Africa.
In September of 1966 Richardson received a letter from R.G.I. Cloudesley (a retired Lieutenant–Colonel of the Kings African Rifles) then living in Nairobi, Kenya. Cloudesley recounted that 40 years previously he had had been told by a Mr. A.M.A Champion (then District Commander of Turkana and a skilled naturalist) about an unusual giant worm that lived in the lakes of the area. Champion had heard about this creature from local Africans but had never been able to actually obtain a specimen. Cloudesley remembered the worm as having “paddles and a long snout” so that when he read the news stories about the Tullimonstrum he thought it wise to pass this information on to Richardson in case there was call to follow up on it.
As Richardson was preparing a reply to Cloudesley a letter arrived from a Mr. Purshottan S. Patel of Kenya reporting that something like the Tullimonstrum might be living in Turkana, at least based on stories he had been told by relatives of a dancing worm in the lakes. Excited, Richardson began researching what was known about the animal life in these areas. Turns out they were poorly explored and documented areas of the Earth and such an animal might yet well dwell there undiscovered by scientists.
Next Richardson get a letter from an intermediate school teacher from Nakuru, a Mr. Joseph A. Ngomo, who said that his class had read the Sunday Standard that carried the Tullimonstrum story and several students told him they had heard of such a worm from their fathers. Ngomo included a note from Akai (son of Ekechalon) who recounted, in child’s writing that the worms, swim and “wave hands” during the full moon, and have a bite fatal to humans.
By this point discussions started up at the Field Museum amongst Richardson and other staff that, given the anecdotal but intriguing reports, an expedition might be warranted. Finding a living relative of the Tullimonstrum would be a really important scientific discovery. The museum published a note in the Newsletter of the East African Natural History Association, hoping more information might be obtained, but there were no responses. That was not too surprising given how little biological scientific work had been done in those remote areas. Local myths and folklore sometimes prove to be true.
Early the following year the museum was visited by Dr. Bryan Patterson, a famous paleontologist who studied fossil mammals. Patterson had been the Curator of Vertebrate Paleontology at the Field Museum but was now a professor at Harvard University. Patterson had just returned from field work in Kenya and happened to know Patel’s uncle. He considered him a bit of a rascal. Richardson told Patterson of the Tullimonstrum and showed the various letters to him. Patterson read them with amusement and confessed he had never heard of the dancing worms.
Later it came to light that Patterson had many reasons to be amused because Cloudesley, Ngomo, Patel, and Akai turned out to be all the same person ---- none other than the illustrious Bryan Patterson. Of the ten people in the Field Museum who had been hoodwinked only one was in on Patterson’ little prank. That prevented it from going too far and causing professional or institutional embarrassment, after all Patterson was running this from the other side of the globe and couldn’t keep track of how the prank was progressing. It was a clever joke that played on the desires, hopes, and scientific passions of all involved. He was giving the Field Museum what they wanted --- living relatives of the Tullimonstrum. If the fossil wasn’t so perplexing and problematic it wouldn’t have been so alluring.
The illustrious Bryan Patterson and the illusive Dancing Worm of Turkana.
One last bit to the story. Richardson received a Christmas letter in 1968 that on the front carried a photo of Bryan Patterson in full African field regalia holding a rifle in his right and and hanging from his left hand a recently shot good sized Tullimonstrum, with the proboscis and horizontal bar clearly visible. Inside was a poem and under the phrase "The End of the Hunt" were the signatures of Cloudsley, Ngomo, Patel, and Akai!
The staff took the leg pulling in good humor and admitted they had been had by a professional. Several years later Richardson even wrote a short book, under another name, about the Dancing Worms of Turkana. Edward Nash, the editor of the Bulletin of the Field Museum of Natural History wrote an account of the whole story and admitted being taken in by it. He included a copy of the hunting photo as well as the inside of the card with the Kenyan signatures. He also reproduces in full, all the letters from Kenya concerning the discovery, only some of which I have mentioned here.