Its head resembled a dog’s, its downturned nose a camel’s, and at the end of its reptilian body was the tail of a horse. Witnesses say it was covered in a thin white film. When the remains of a strange creature were pulled from the stomach of a sperm whale, most of those present agreed: it was a sea monster – or at least something unknown living in the depths off Canada’s west coast.
Crews at the whaling station in the archipelago of Haida Gwaii assembled a platform of wooden boxes and laid out the 3-metre (10ft) carcass, using a white sheet to display the curiosity that had baffled veteran whalers.
