Comments on: “Chupacabras”: Mystery Solved?

By: Truth Seeker

Truth Seeker — Sun, 25 Feb 2007 05:57:29 +0000

My first impression was that it was a painting. A very good painting, I have seen some VERY lifelike paintings in my time! It was way too posed to be thought as real, but understand, I have been wrong before. I’m open to others that see what I do. I really hope I never see one dead or alive! Especially ALIVE.

By: Remus

Remus — Mon, 05 Feb 2007 22:04:46 +0000

The first Jenny I saw was in a tourist shop/museum in Florida. I was about 8 years old. It was called a “sea devil” and try as I might, I couldn’t get my Dad to buy it for me. Later, my Grandfather told me what it really was and showed me how to make one. The trick is to get a fresh skate, make the cuts, mount it on a wooden jig and leave it somewhere in the sun with a warm breeze blowing around it. They lose most of their smell after a year or so…
Give me the link to that site if it’s available and I can tell you if it’s one of mine. They were pretty di-stink-tive!

By: Mnynames

Mnynames — Mon, 05 Feb 2007 17:42:19 +0000

Remus, the C2C Jenny might have been yours then! Not too many people still make them, and it looked like it was in good condition.

I feel like I could kick myself now. I’ve always liked Jenny Hannivers and I work at a bloody aquarium! We’ve had a few skates in our tanks die over the years, and even if they were too far gone for the purpose, there’s a seawall outside crowded with fishermen, all cursing their luck at not catching much else besides skates.

Ahh well, it’d just be one more thing my wife wouldn’t let me display in the house…

By: stonelk

stonelk — Fri, 02 Feb 2007 19:52:28 +0000

This is the kind of thing I would like to have in a box under my bed.

When I finally go to the happy hunting ground the poor sap that gets stuck going through my stuff will have a fright and I will have one last laugh. I know it’s warped. I blame it on watching to much Creature Feature when I was a kid.

By: mystery_man

mystery_man — Fri, 02 Feb 2007 14:49:11 +0000

Alaska Boy, it’s cool that you put that up!I live in Japan and have actually been to that museum before! Japan has some of the strangest museums you have ever heard of.

By: Remus

Remus — Fri, 02 Feb 2007 03:50:16 +0000

Years ago, as a teenager in Newport, RI, I made many a Jenny. Dried them on the roof outside my apartment window. I could sell one or two a day to tourists for $25 a pop. Beat working for a living!

By: Alaska-boy

Alaska-boy — Thu, 01 Feb 2007 16:17:55 +0000

While traveling in Japan a few years ago I happened across the coolest gaff museum on earth! Seriously, these artists are the best living gaff creators I know of, and their displays are downright creepy. Here’s their website tour of the museum (just click on the links in the left column). Enjoy!

Oh, and here’s a link to the second floor of the Gaff museum for those of you who can’t read Japanese.

By: Mnynames

Mnynames — Thu, 01 Feb 2007 04:18:29 +0000

Somebody tried to pawn off a photo of a Jenny Hanniver as an alien corpse on the C2C site not too long ago, which actually seemed to have generated some buzz amongst their devotees before the obvious was pointed out to them…

For those who don’t know, a Jenny Hanniver is a gaff made from a strategically cut, folded, and dried skate, giving it the appearance of something more humanoid.

By: ladd

ladd — Wed, 31 Jan 2007 23:54:35 +0000

Reminds me of Frank Hansen’s traveling “Minnesota Iceman” exhibit.

By: mystery_man

mystery_man — Wed, 31 Jan 2007 16:03:33 +0000

This all harkens back to the day of the Fiji (or FeeJee) mermaid and I find it very interesting how this sort of sideshow stuff is still going on today. Although it is too bad a lot of people probably accept these gaffs as real specimens, I guess it doesn’t hurt in that it creates a very real interest in cryptozoology. On the other hand, you then get people like Biscardi and their “hand of unknown origin” which end up giving the field a bad name.

The Biscardis of the world certainly don’t help cryptozoology. But if this poor guy is out with his little chupacabra doll trying to put food on the table, I guess I’d pay the buck to see it. As long as it is taken with a grain of salt.