Real-Life X-Files: Investigating the Paranormal

23. The Giant Frog

~ Chapter 23 Th.e Gia~t Fro£! Like the Lake Utopia Monster (see chapter 19), another reputed New Brunswick lake leviathan is the giant amphibian now displayed at the York Sunbury Historical Society Museum in Fredericton (figure 23.1). Dating to the 1880s, the huge bullfrog reportedly lived in Killarney Lake, some eight miles from Fredericton, where Fred B. Coleman operated a lodge. Coleman claimed he had made a pet of the great croaker and that his guests fed it June bugs, whiskey, and buttermilk. It thus grew to a whopping forty-two pounds, Coleman recalled, and was used to tow canoes and race against tomcats. It was killed, he said, when poachers dynamited the lake to harvest fish, whereupon the distraught raconteur had it stuffed and placed on display in the lobby ofhis Fredericton hotel. His son's widow donated it to the museum in 1959 ("Coleman" n.d.). Some local doubters insist Coleman had simply bought a display item that had been used to advertise a cough medicine guaranteed to relieve "the frog in your throat" (Phillips 1982). A former historical society president called it a"patent fake" and said it should have been thrown out years ago, while other officials coyly declined suggestions that it be examined scientifically (Colombo 1988, 50-51; "Coleman" n.d.). Maclean's magazine concluded, "The argument about whether it is a stuffed frog or an imitation may never be settled, but as a topic of conversation and a tourist curiosity it has had as long a career as any frog, dead or alive" (McKinney n.d.). . Following my expedition to the museum's third floor, however, I determined that the exhibit was probably not a Rana catesbeiana. Did I penetrate the sealed display case to obtain a DNA sample? No, I simply 158 'l" Real-Life X-Files • Figure 23.1. Coleman Frog. Since the 1880s, folk have debated which is the greatest whopper: this giant amphibian or the claim that it is authentic. sweet-talked my way into the museum's files, which were revealing. A 1988 condition report by the Canadian Conservation Institute referred to the sixty-eight-centimeter (almost twenty-seven-inch) artifact as a "Large, possibly stuffed frog," but went on to observe that- in addition to many wrinkles having formed in the"skin"-there was actually a"fabric impression underneath," and indeed "a yellowed canvas" visible through some cracks. There was an overall layer ofdark green paint, to which had been added other colors, the report noted. Wax appeared to be "present below the paint layer" and the feet were described as being "a translucent colour, possibly consisting in part of wax." While a taxidermist of the The Giant Frog 1880s might possibly have used some of these materials ("Taxidermy" 1910; 1960), the overall effect is of a fabricated item, especially considering the canvas. Its impression showing through the paint suggests the lack of an intervening layer of true skin, for which the fabric was probably used as a substitute. It should be noted that the largest frog actually known, according to The Guinness Book ofRecords (1999), is the African goliath frog (Conraua goliath), a record specimen of which measured a comparatively small 14 1/2 inches (sitting) and weighed just eight pounds, one ounce. At almost twice the length and five times the weight, Coleman's pet froggie is no more credible than his other whoppers (his outrageous yarns about the imagined creature). In the museum file, I also came across a letter stating the policy of the historical society regarding the Coleman Frog. To a man who had objected to exhibition ofthe artifact, President E.W. Sansom (1961) wrote: "It was agreed ... that the stuffed frog was ofhistorical interest only as an artificial duplication used for publicity purposes by EB. Coleman years ago in Fredericton. As such, the majority of those present felt the frog should be retained but only as an amusing example ofa colossal fake and deception:' And so it remains on display, according to one journalist (Brewer 1973), "as big as life-yea, bigger." References Brewer, Jacqueline. 1973. Famous Fredericton frog dates back to city's founding. Daily Gleaner (Fredericton, N.B.), March 30. Coleman frog. n.d. Vertical files, York Sunbury Historical Society Museum and Fredericton Public Library (undated clippings, correspondence, etc.) Colombo, John Robert. 1988. Mysterious Canada: Strange Sights, Extraordinary Events, and Peculiar Places. Toronto: Doubleday Canada. The...