That Mystery Fish Postcard
Posted by: Loren Coleman on October 18th, 2006
The Mystery Fish postcard, first noted here on November 29, 2005, has never been identified, as to exact location or species. New people sometimes have new ideas.
(Click on image to see full size version, enhanced by shockbeton)
Due to research (see below) on the type of postcard it is, there was a determination, thanks to Cryptomundo readers, that this specific item would have been produced between 1904-18.
The location seems to be in the Pacific; perhaps it was taken in the Philippines. Or maybe even Florida? Someone said this might be during WWI, in the south of France, because of the uniforms, but what of those palm trees? Where are these trees found? Can you identify the kind of trees? I don’t know where this was taken. Do you?
Due to several requests for a closeup of the head of the mystery cryptid on the postcard, here’s a computer enhancement.
What do you see here?
(Click image for full-size version)
(Click image for full-size version, provided by Todd DiLaMuca)
(Click image for full-size version, provided by Todd DiLaMuca)
Here is a roundup of all four (+ one) direct links to the "Mystery Fish Photo" entries in the Cryptomundo.com blog, which were posted in 2005 and 2006:
"Name the Mystery Fish Continued"
Reactions continued, as well, into 2006: “Mystery Fish Revisited”
More than three hundred comments, most of them extremely thoughtful and detailed, can be found at the above noted entries, and yours are welcome anew, here, below. To date almost 2,000,000 views of the Cryptomundo “Mystery Fish” photo have occurred.
(Click image for full-size version, provided by Todd DiLaMuca)
+++Date of the Postcard++++
The earlier discussions noted the date was between 1904-1918 for this postcard. For example, in this hyperlinked blog (please click), the entire back of the postcard is pictured. Various pieces of research exactly determined that the diagnostic direction of the triangles give forth with a specific range of when these postcards were produced. While the men and the fish could have been photographed before 1904, they could not have been photographed and appeared on this card after 1918.
The window of time for this event is, therefore, most probably, between 1890 and 1918. But certainly, this photograph was not taken anytime after 1918.
About Loren Coleman
Loren Coleman is one of the world’s leading cryptozoologists, some say “the” leading living cryptozoologist. Certainly, he is acknowledged as the current living American researcher and writer who has most popularized cryptozoology in the late 20th and early 21st centuries.
Starting his fieldwork and investigations in 1960, after traveling and trekking extensively in pursuit of cryptozoological mysteries, Coleman began writing to share his experiences in 1969. An honorary member of Ivan T. Sanderson’s Society for the Investigation of the Unexplained in the 1970s, Coleman has been bestowed with similar honorary memberships of the North Idaho College Cryptozoology Club in 1983, and in subsequent years, that of the British Columbia Scientific Cryptozoology Club, CryptoSafari International, and other international organizations. He was also a Life Member and Benefactor of the International Society of Cryptozoology (now-defunct).
Loren Coleman’s daily blog, as a member of the Cryptomundo Team, served as an ongoing avenue of communication for the ever-growing body of cryptozoo news from 2005 through 2013. He returned as an infrequent contributor beginning Halloween week of 2015.
Coleman is the founder in 2003, and current director of the International Cryptozoology Museum in Portland, Maine.
Hello, I joined this site just to make this post. =)
I was listening to coast2coastAM tonight and Loren Coleman was guest speaking.
Anyhow, I apologize if this has been covered already, I tried to read most of the posts…
My belief or best guess is that this creature is a GIANT SNAKEHEAD FISH or called PONGEE here in Hawaii. These things are native to Asia, so that fits the photo. US troops were all over Asia during that time period. I did a quick search and the record is just under 10kg for sport fishing. Not too far of a stretch maybe…? If you look up some pics of the fish I’m talking about you can see that the head shares similar placement of eyes and “nostrils”. Remember that fish get really ugly as they get older and bigger. lol
One thing that conflicts is that I don’t see any fins behind the head of that creature. Maybe just not visible in pic? Maybe got cut off? Maybe I’m blind?