Geneva Switzerland - Biologists and Researchers at the Geneva Institute of Sciences are still trying to figure out what an anonymous donor gave to the University a couple of weeks ago.

Swiss scientists are so puzzled over this skeleton they have stopped drinking hot chocolate.

Besides a sizable financial donation, a package that arrived at the Biology College contained a strange skeleton that some scientists are saying is the first physical proof of an animal long regarded to be a myth in the Swiss Alps; the Alpine Tatzelwurm.

The Tatzelwurm was first seen by a farmer in the late 1700's when he said it attacked a hog on his farm. The tatzelwurm (German for "worm with claws") was described as being 5 to 7 feet long with a rough snake like body, clawed legs and a large, almost cat-like head with sharp teeth. The farmer was so frightened by the attack on his livestock that he suffered a heart attack and died that same day.

Later reports from remote villages in the Alps during the 1800's and early 1900's led some researchers to believe that the tatzelwurm was a real beast, perhaps a descendant of the lizard family or some unknown species of otter. (Why an otter would attack livestock was not made clear.) In the mid 60's a photograph of a tatzelwurm was given to a Geneva newspaper by an unknown source. Most serious cryptozooligists and animal researchers now claim that this photo was a false one, orchestrated by the mayor of a small Bavarian village who wanted to attract more tourist trade.

The Alpine Tatzelwurm in action!

So what then is currently residing at the Geneva Institute? Scientists are still saying that it is too early to tell what they have. Indeed they almost seem to want to forget about the skeleton since no official word of it was released to the public until someone, (rumored to be a junior researcher) took an unauthorized picture of the skeleton and downloaded it to the world wide web last week. The original owner of the skeleton remains a mystery. The law firm of Gunterhaus Ltd. in Germany handled the donation and refuses to divulge the name of the contributor or why the Geneva Institute was selected to be the recipient. Repeated phone calls and e-mails to the law firm were not returned.

sources

- article in the Geneva Express-News Daily, March 15th, 2000

- photo #1 skeleton picture - downloaded from the web, no owner attributed

- photo #2 tatzelwurm sketch - Courtesy "New Worlds of The Strange" magazine Volume 14th June 1997