Frequently throughout history, various people have been startled to find living animals trapped in stones, tree trunks, or concrete,
sometimes hundreds of feet below the earth's surface. In every report, the animal (usually a frog or toad) is found as a rock was split
open or a tree trunk is being sawed, with no possible way evident for the creature to end up inside the cavity of the stone or tree.
The cavity is usually slightly larger than the animal, and often it is the same shape as the animal found inside. Animals that are
suddenly freed from their stony prisons are often reported as turning darker in color, having difficulty breathing at first, and
then becoming full of life.
A toad estimated to be over 6,000 years old (though this estimation appears to have been pulled out of thin air) was freed from its
stony prison in 1865, by excavators in Durham, England. The live toad was found in a block of magnesian limestone 25 feet underground.
Its eyes were reported to be especially bright, its hind claws were particularly long, and the claws of its forefeet were turned in.
It grew darker in color, from a pale shade matching the stone it was found in to a darker olive brown. It appeared to have difficulty
breathing, making a barking sound from its nostrils as it did so.
There is no scientific explanation as to how a frog or toad could survive in a seemingly air tight stone without water or food.
Some suggest they collect water and nutrients that seep through the stone, especially if it is porous like limestone. Air could get
in the same way. However, many of these entrapped animals are found hundreds of feet underground in rock believed to be thousands of
years old. Even if the animal survived being trapped in stone, it is extraordinary that it would have remained alive for so long.
(For one thing, where would its waste products have gone?) Ironically, many reports of freed animals claim the creature only lived a
few hours or days after being released into more hospitable conditions.
It is interesting to note that many reports of such trapped animals suggest that they were a prehistoric species, as descriptions
often match those of animals that were extinct or have since evolved. Perhaps some animals survive fossilization.
In 1818, a geologist named Dr. Edward D. Clarke was looking for fossils in a chalk quarry 270 feet underground. Dr. Clarke found some
fossilized sea urchins and newts. He dug three well-preserved newts out and placed them on paper in the sun. To his astonishment,
they began to move around. Two of the newts died shortly, but the third remained lively and was released into a pond. Dr. Clarke
claimed the newts were unlike any other living at the time and were an extinct species unknown to science.
Most scientists will hold firm to the opinion that cases in which 6,000-year-old frogs survive such a long period of time encased in
stone are absolutely impossible. Skeptics suggest the frogs or other creatures were actually discovered near the recently split
stone or tree trunk and were assumed to be trapped inside as the observer noticed the small cavity. However, the reports of trapped
animals are very similar, and many notice the creature inside the cavity before it is freed. Although frogs are known to hibernate
for months at a time in mud, it is hard to imagine so many hibernating so long that the mud turned to stone, then sat for unknown
periods of time until split open.
The most amazing case of alleged living fossils is one of a pterodactyl found in France during the winter of 1856. Workmen were
digging a railway tunnel through a layer of Jurassic limestone when they were startled to find a large creature stumbling out of a
recently split boulder, flapping what looked like wings, and croaking. It died immediately. The creature was identified as a
pterodactyl by a local paleontology student who recognized the characteristic features of the extinct reptile. The stone in which it
was found was consistent with the time period in which pterodactyls lived and formed an exact mold of the creature's body.
Frequently throughout history, various people have been startled to find living animals trapped in stones, tree trunks, or concrete,
sometimes hundreds of feet below the earth's surface. In every report, the animal (usually a frog or toad) is found as a rock was split
open or a tree trunk is being sawed, with no possible way evident for the creature to end up inside the cavity of the stone or tree.
The cavity is usually slightly larger than the animal, and often it is the same shape as the animal found inside. Animals that are
suddenly freed from their stony prisons are often reported as turning darker in color, having difficulty breathing at first, and
then becoming full of life.