The Monster of Lake LaMetrie: An Early Dinosaur Horror Story

[@sept5794]

The idea of an Elasmosaurus singing, speaking and laughing sends chill down my spine. It is like the uncanny valley effect.

[@charlesman8722]

I like how this story has echos of Lovecraftian horrors like they stick his brain in a dinosaur and he slowly becomes more monstrous as a result

[@Tsotha]

yeah it reminds me of what happens to Akeley in "The Whisperer in Darkness"

[@SuperFlashDriver]

The late 19th century early 20th century really had some wacky ideas long before TV and the internet would come in place in the later half of the 20th and 21st centuries.

[@Rynewulf]

Lovecraft himself openly both grew up with old ghost and horror stories from his grandad, but also kept reading them for the rest of his life and openly cited them as inspiration. Poe, M R James, Algernon Blackwood, Lord Dunsany. Lovecraft's work wasnt completely original, and a lot of 'The Mythos' was codified by his cowriter/correspondence friends after his death. Its like how we know Bram Stoker worked with Sheridan Le Fanu and references both his Carmilla and the much earlier Polidori story The Vampyre in the supposedly completely original Dracula

[@thegnarledpirate9198]

Even if they dont look like wrangled monsters, don't lie to yourself: seeing a long necked serpentine being extending its neck out of the water and staring at you would leave you completely frozen,

[@prasetyodwikuncorojati2434]

Or worse, die from extreme shock

[@tekaruki8899]

Frozen and in a need of new pants

[@SnailHatan]

False, I would be rock hard at full-chub.

[@Curlyheart]

I'd sink.

[@revol2933]

Honestly, this story would make a brilliant dark comedy horror movie.

[@toyotatacoma1616]

It definitely bears a certain resemblance to the movie tusk, though honestly I prefer this plot.

[@Oppeldeldoc1]

I've always thought the same thing about it.

[@govardhanposina17]

​@@toyotatacoma1616The Lake Of LaMetrie totally feels like Tusk meeting The Lighthouse

[@Carnelust]

There is a movie like that, it's called Tammy and the T-Rex.

[@supersoldierx40]

No need for comedy just dark horror

[@goncalocosta9550]

Crazy to think this guy wrote this story at the same time that arthur morgan got tuberculosis

[@Keet626]

ten years before actually. game took place in 1899

[@xxANTIFA]

​@@Keet626which is when this story was first published. I doubt it took him 10 years to write.

[@Keet626]

@@xxANTIFA ohhh I missed that. I stand corrected

[@rivera229]

Rockstar should have made a dinosaur DLC, like a Lost World kind of story. Honestly, considering the game touched upon early paleontology, time travel, AND a mad scientist in the main game, I could have sworn they were hinting some interesting stuff for the future. But alas, nothing. Undead Nightmare was the last good Rockstar DLC.

[@goncalocosta9550]

​@@rivera229there was a cut mission were you hunted a loch ness monster type creature the audio files and early model are in the game

[@toyotatacoma1616]

This would make for a spectacular movie if done right. Imagine a director like Guillermo Del Toro having a go at this plot.

[@prasetyodwikuncorojati2434]

True. Rather usual human turned animal but still retain human mind, this concept is rather rare to see in fiction

[@ReysaAdam]

​@@prasetyodwikuncorojati2434agree, i feel like the concept was rarely used in movies, it needs to be done right and not to goofy. would be a pretty sick movie to behold.

[@rheahorvath9274]

Yes!!! Dark and serious!!!!! Muhahahahaha.....

[@infinityzer054]

if so, then the design HAS to be disgusting (may not be scary to us, but it will make paleontologists cry and vomit)

[@kennethsatria6607]

That would be amazing

[@sicksalt7765]

It's unfortunate that Fremmingham's mental deterioration only really happens over the course of one entry. That seems like the most terrifying part of the story. Imagine being McLennegan, coming down to the shore every day and slowly realizing that your friend is starting to disappear. You'd probably approach slower and slower, day by day, hiding in the foliage until you're sure that he's still there, somewhere. Imagine the day that beast looks at you with its big dark eyes and neither of you recognize the other. I'd love more of that.

[@curtailedbike4123]

What could make it more scary is the creature using fremmingham mind to trick mclennegan to Lear him close enough to attack him, showing that the creature own mind was altered to be smart enough to get revenge on the man who harmed him

[@fgjjdgb3949]

We see the fusion of two monsters: Frankenstein's Monster+The Loch Ness monster. "A human being in his depravity is always scarier than any non-human" - Howard Lovecraft.

[@Megaspinosaurusrex]

Considering the elasmosaurus still has some human aspects to him in the end, it almost feels like Framingham was still there to some extend, and instead of just being replaced by the monster, he might have lost his sanity after being trapped for so long in another body. Especially considering he seemed to lose his enthusiasm for studying the lake at the end. It's clear McLennegan isn't a saint, so maybe he kept pushing him and insisting on using his body for science. His deteriorating mind and anger toward his friend causing him to finally kill him. I'm probably reading too much into it, but it felt weird how quickly he seemed to have accepted his situation, maybe it weighted on him after a while?

[@TheMemeLord700]

He may have also worried his friend would eventually kill and stuff him.

[@ChrissieBear]

I assume that elasmosaurus neurons were growing into the human brain and slowly replacing it.

[@WoobooRidesAgain]

Come for the promise of a swashbuckling monster adventure, stay for the existentialist body horror.

[@troin3925]

It would be cool to see this get an adaptation or maybe even do something similar to The Call of Cthulhu movie where it's stylized to look like what a movie adaptation could've looked like if it was made at the time the story was written. But instead of a silent film, it could be stylized to look like a black and white monster movie from the 40s or 50s. I can imagine even the trailer emulating horror movie trailers from that time period and even playing up the whole "dinosaur with the mind of a man" aspect. Update: I forgot to type this, but the monster could even be stop motion animated or at least CGI stylized to look like stop motion. Also, maybe to play around with tropes at the time that no doubt executives would’ve wanted, I would also add in a romantic subplot with Framingham and his wife. Once his brain is inside the elasmosaurus, she’s at first terrified but after she finds out that her husband’s brain is inside of it, it creates a sort of King Kong dynamic between the two.

[@WoobooRidesAgain]

Speaking of Call of Cthulhu, with the right kind of writing, this might make an excellent basis for a session in the TRPG. Swap out an Elasmosaurus with some other eldritch horror, maybe even get some Mi-Go brain extraction tech involved, and out investigators suddenly find themselves in a horrifying situation where they must face a beast with the vestigial mind of a man.

[@JaneDoe-lp4ml]

Unrelated to the video's topic, but the painting at 0:54 is absolutely beautiful. Something about the moonlight, the slightly-fucked-up-looking dinosaurs, and the sea monster(?) shadowed in the back is just cool to me.

[@ShoggothLord]

Ahh, "LaMetrie." I've loved this hilarious little tale ever since the gents at the H. P. Lovecraft Literary Podcast (now Strange Studies of Strange Stories) covered it years back. The mental image of an elasmosaur cheerfully chanting the Gregorian to the tune of "Where Did You Get That Hat?" will always be a memory I cherish.

[@Slappap]

I could see this as a shlocky 40's-50's movie. Somebody could make a cool body horror with this while keeping it a nod to the older monster movies back in the day.

[@randomleydave8846]

People dont understand how scary dinosaurs are. Some birds and lizards have some brutal ways to kill you.

[@mastercharlesdiltardino8058]

Yeah, not alot of animals let their prey die of old age

[@minicle426]

The Shrike impaling mice on thorns springs to mind...

[@OhHeckNono]

I'll never forget that video of a woodpecker killing and eating another bird.

[@burntrap123]

Some snakes After poisining you. They leave you to die slowly and painfully by their Venom.

[@chancegivens9390]

@burntrap123 Well that's most likely not intentional.

[@arlibrarian]

Holy cow! What a memory jolt. I read this short story in the college library 20 years ago, part of a compilation called “Science Fiction by Gaslight” and the tale has stuck with me all these years. Thanks for covering this!

[@shortycrawford9633]

I read this story in that same anthology back in the 80s. I loved the book and have been looking for a copy of the anthology (along with "Horror by Gaslight") but I haven't found one for sale for less than $60

[@m.g.zilla2239]

It would have been cool to see this adapted into a Ray harryhausen movie

[@dragonfang1235]

1:35 That is literally the plesiosaur from Curage the Cowardly dog

[@michaelconnell1010]

So Frankenstein but with dinosaurs…How has that not been a movie?!

[@chloecalvincooper9467]

Can we talk about how dramatic Fremmingham is? I mean this man slit his own throat because he had Dyspepsia... or indigestion. I relate to that on a spiritual level.

[@Tonatiub]

Dont underestimate how mind bending a simple but persistent annoyance can be. Once I had a bout of constant hiccups that lasted for about 4 days and I was losing my mind over the lack of rest; by the last day I was seriously considering paying some backstreet surgeon to mess with my vagus nerve or something.

[@widdershins3785]

Like, i’m sure it was a pretty bad case. Especially in a time your best plan was a vacation in the mountains. I’m sure if it was an ulcer or a hole in your lining it’d be called something worse but… Well, Fiction gotta escalate! /shrug

[@asajjy]

​@@widdershins3785 My First Thought Stomach Ulcers Diagnosis At That Time Would Be Guess Work There Are Documented Cases Of People With Stomach Ulcers Ending The Pain

[@AlejandroFlores-vi8tl]

It's crazy that this story doesn't feel that far off from modern body horror

[@mrviking2mcall212]

Damn, I clicked on this video expecting the story to just be the usual Jaws shtick of ‘beast appears, kills people and then gets shot’. But the All Tomorrows-esque body horror and uncanny valley stuff was such a nice twist.

[@purpleYamask]

As someone from Colorado who goes up to Wyoming a lot, there's a lot of realism to "explorers got absolutely fucked sideways by a flash flood"

[@camiilou4u]

Really cool video! I find it fascinating that the story echoes Shelley's Frankenstein in it's reference to creatures "living" beyond death and the transference of a brain into the body of another creature. I'm surprised there wasn't a lightning bolt that happened to hit during the machete operation! Thank you for sharing literature that would otherwise be lost, forgotten, or missed by many.

[@chaysereis1637]

That elasmosaurus looks like it would be in a horror movie it looks like he has seen so many things he wants to unsee

[@PlanetZoidstar]

I wonder if this short story inspired H.P. Lovecraft? I personally LOVE the outdated 'Antedeluvian Dinosaur' style, even if it is grossly unaccurate and massively outdated, I just love how monstrous they look. Like prehistoric Dragons that carry on the tradition of Medieval-Era Dragon art.

[@eratasutol]

I don't believe so, the story was written in 1899, so he wouldve been just 9 years old.

[@PlanetZoidstar]

@@eratasutol He could have learned of it later. Lovecraft spent much of his chilhood reading fictional works.

[@eratasutol]

@@PlanetZoidstar OHHH I misread your comment nevermind, I'm actually an idiot I thoughrt you meant the story inspired BY HP Lovecraft.

[@Boneworm852]

I first ran into this story via The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen Volume 2; Mina Harker and Allan Quartermain meet and chat with Framingham on their trip around the world. It brings up some of the "unreliable narrator" possibilities in the original story.

[@chancegivens9390]

What an amazing story! Honestly, it'd make a fantastic movie if done right.

[@McZebraCakes]

The feeling you get when you finally settle down after a long flight and find out that one of your favorite KZbinrs has uploaded. And I agree with what you said at the beginning. There were a lot of things that scared me as a kid, but nothing about dinosaurs or prehistoric life ever frightened me. Despite that, I've always been fascinated by them. Maybe it was because of the fact that they were (and technically still are) real, that I was able to look at them in the same light as living animals, while also knowing that they lived and died tens of millions of years before I was even born. Sort of a mix between the admiration humans have long had for animals like lions mixed with the feelings of curiosity and childlike wonder that mythical beasts like dragons and minotaurs elicit. The atmosphere of older paleoart in books I read also probably helped.

[@ctdaniels7049]

I love these old-timey pulp stories. Weird pulp feels like the closest ancestor to the modern world of New Weird a la SCP wikis and such.

[@sirpepeofhousekek6741]

I wonder if there's a kernel of truth in this story. I'm not saying it was an actual dinosaur, but an interesting thought about something unknown hiding in the deep jungles just tickles my brain.

[@Thumbsdwn]

Reminds me of that time David Cho went to the Congo in search for a dinosaur 😂

[@rheahorvath9274]

Ditto!!! Burrr........

[@ctdaniels7049]

At 10:05 I'm like "This guy fell in love with a dead elasmosaurus didn't he?"

[@purplehaze2358]

0:28 This paleo art straight up has the same energy as a Bosch painting.

[@kennethsatria6607]

Retro dinosaurs are pretty scary looking, if anyone ever decides to adapt this story I hope they keep the beaked elasmosaurus idea

[@hawkticus_history_corner]

This is some Lovecraft sci fi right here. Its weird, vaguely based on science, and horrofying.

[@Beedo_Sookcool]

And yet, I didn't fall asleep five paragraphs in. 😉

[@diebesgrab]

"[...] and the next day, on May 5th, the pain [of the dyspepsia] was so great that he declares if the condition doesn't kill him first, he plans to put himself out of his own misery." Man, that sounds like a really bad tummyache. Somebody get that poor man a Tums.

[@chubibi06]

A story exploring transhumanism in a western-victorian setting ; with dinosaur, a potential lost world and wild science thrown in... Love it. Thx for sharing your discovery ; and the link in the description :) Edit : the story was dope, love it

[@Godzillakuj94]

god I did not expect this type of story, good stuff! would love an adaptation of this.

[@26th_Primarch]

And have it done in the Gwangi style

[@WhatDillionYT]

Same

[@itszeronizer597]

I can see it working but with some changes. Instead of a brain transplant which I’m pretty sure is impossible the theoretical movie would have experiments in gene splicing different organisms to create superior life forms.

[@xandan1668]

Considering it was laughing i think he just gave into his beastly hunger. And if the regenerative properties of the beasts body was still working they probably won't find him unless he revels himself again.

[@caucasoidape8838]

Heck of a lot better than "Tammy and the T-rex"

[@chazchaz2121]

Wow... I like this one a lot. It remembers me that movie Tusk (2014). Very cool to think in some interpretation along those lines

[@paulmarfil6188]

That hiker saw the Victorian-era version of the "Monday left me broken" cat.

[@45proteinconsumer]

This sounds like the setup for a classic HP Lovecraft tale, something like: "The Tides That Wrought Terror"

[@pebuh6706]

Theres something really unsettling about this plot, its like an actual nightmare i would have.

[@fuckYTIDontWantToUseMyRealName]

This needs to be made into a sci-fi channel low budget movie.

[@glarnboudin4462]

AYYYY, I love this story so much! It's just absolutely fucking bonkers, it's incredible.

[@alang.bandala8863]

The comic League of Extraordinary Gentlemen Vol.2 had a reference to this story, I never understood why that story was referenced there, but WAOH, what a story

[@primordialwackass]

This gives me HEAVY island of Dr Moreau vibes and I’m here for it

[@mr.wheels6212]

This is horrifying. The part where the elasmasaurs singing it sounds like the behavior a siren would have!🥶😨

[@EinSilverRose]

If you haven't seen it already you should look up the Yu-Gi-Oh card called Danger! Ogopogo for some good cryptid horror art. Although it is depicted as more of a sea serpent than a plesiosaur. Edit: ALSO. There were also some YGO cards designed specifically for a Japanese dinosaur exhibit depicting some realistically drawn dinosaurs for the card game. They're called Absolute King - Megaplunder and Ruthless Slash - Megaplunder and I believe they are based on a T-Rex like dinosaur and a raptor respectively but I'm not sure. A look into the YGO dinosaurs would also be a cool video/series since there are so many outrages dinosaur designs and some fairly accurate yet fantasy like designs.

[@evodolka]

Nessie however IS depicted as a monster Plesiosaur, the Danger monsters are all super cool Love the small bit of lore around them Never heard of absolute kings, I need to check those out The Fossils are another cool archetype with some paleontology references Also agreed a video on them would be rad

[@EinSilverRose]

@@evodolka The two Megaplunder dinos are really cool. One of my favorites however is Miscellaneousaurus because of how it's a combination of several dinosaur species. It is likely a reference to how fossilized bones of various species were combined together in the past.

[@evodolka]

@@EinSilverRose miscellaneousaurus is a lot of fun and looks grand my faves though are either the Evols, the Tyrannos or Elementsaurus

[@LynetteTheMadScientist]

Oooh like an evil catfish!

[@evodolka]

@@LynetteTheMadScientist a really long evil catfish

[@DChatc]

The monsters healing abilities makes me think of SCP-682, and transplanting his collegues brain moreso in a way: An intelligent, communicative, self-healing reptile.

[@primrosevale1995]

I hate how this and Tammy and the T-Rex have the same basic premise.

[@WhatDillionYT]

Real

[@leoncaw326]

Thanks for doing this one. It gave me a good laugh when I came to it in an anthology I bought. 10x better after seeing the original illustrations of the noodle-necked, bug-eyed creature.

[@bloodstoppin]

this was weirdly ahead of its time tbh

[@princessmaly]

There are definitely animals I'm afraid of, but that's a different kind of fear from the fear of fictional monsters that are meant to be scary. Even animals that pose a serious threat to human life can be appreciated on their own terms. I got stung once by a bee when I was a kid, and it was the most excruciating pain I had ever felt in my life up to that point, and ever since then I do *NOT* fuck around with bees, *PERIOD*. But I don't have anything against them, I don't think they're monsters, I don't think they're out to kill me in particular. In fact they're some of my favorite animals, they're really fascinating and humans have been intertwined with them for millennia, it's a pretty special relationship. I just... y'know... keep them the fuck away from me. The exception to this is chimps. Chimps are actual monsters. When I was little my dad used to tell me that the only real monsters are humans, but that's not true. Humans are a mess but we are predisposed to be capable of immense compassion and understanding and we naturally seek to form communities to support each other. As a species our history is riddled is warts, but most people aren't interested in hurting anyone, we're just trying to get by same as anything else on this planet. But chimps? Chimps are what you get when you take all of the worst parts of humans, and strip them of every redeeming aspect, and then amplify their physical strength and territorial paranoia a thousand fold. If we could ever be justified in specifically targeting a single genus to intentionally wipe from the face of the Earth forever... it would be chimps. Also there are plenty of dinosaurs I'm scared of. Most raptors, if they really wanted me dead they could do it, they just don't. Shrikes are also terrifying, not because they're a threat to me but just because of how utterly cruel their feeding strategy is. By contrast, there is nothing about extinct dinosaurs - or any other extinct animal - that scares me. They're not here, they don't pose a threat. Like in a story where they are there, then sure, they can be scary in that story. But that's not because I'm scared of tyrannosaurus, it's because in the context of the story, where being killed by one is a possibility, I'm able to recognize that such a possibility is scary. But outside of the "threat to my safety" level situation, dinosaur stories are never really, like, *actually* scary. At the end of the day, I just can't see real animals as something disturbing, predation is a basic fact of life on this planet and has been for billions of years. You can use the threat of death to create tension, suspense, and thrills, but if that's all you have, it's not horror. Horror is when something upsets you on a far more fundamental level, something seriously upsetting that even if you survive you won't be able to forget. This story has that, because that elasmosaur is *not* natural, nor is the hybrid human brained creature it became, there's something really fucked up and creepy going on there and it has nothing to do with the what type of animal it is. You could swap the elasmosaur for literally any other large non-human animal and it would be just as effective. According to me, if you want to do dinosaurs and horror, the high water mark is Dinosaurs Attack. Nature documentaries aren't scary, you know what's scary? Completely fictional and irrationally pure evil demon dinosaurs sent to wage a full scale war on humanity by Dinosaur Satan. That's even scarier than chimps, really.

[@Beedo_Sookcool]

Yeah, when people ask me "How could you not like the funny monkey?" I point them in the direction of Casual Geographic, and Mamadou's video about chimps. That shuts 'em up. Not too keen on baboons, either.

[@jeremysmith4620]

I don't know why this is so special. My cousin Dave doesn't have a brain either and he still manages to breathe, sit around not doing much, and eats all the dang time. I'm pretty sure Dave isn't a plesiosaur, but I'm not totally sure how to check, so I can't be 100%.

[@Beedo_Sookcool]

HA! I needed that laugh. Thank you.

[@jeremysmith4620]

@@Beedo_Sookcool That makes my day, glad I could help. Han shot first.

[@curtailedbike4123]

This is both horror and tragedy. Horror for obvious reasons as we see a man loses himself slowly to the dinosaurs but sad as we see a man not wanting to give up on his companion so he stays hoping for the best but we know his mind is slowly disappearing

[@laurachapple6795]

I wonder if the people who made 'Tammy and the T-rex' read this story.

[@joshuaW5621]

I was kinda freaked out by the outdated dinosaur depictions when I was little, but when I turned 6 I got over my fear. Good thing too because now I’m obsessed with dinosaurs and I even have a dinosaur on my profile picture.

[@ShadowPhoenixMaximus]

Anyone seen the tv series Primeval? Its about portals in the past/future that pop up in the present. The series follows an organisation tracking down and removing the creatures that emerge from these portals

[@c.d.rstudios4691]

Yeah it's pretty good. Besides the 4/5th series, and the spin off

[@quinndecker8772]

Well…. That escalated quickly.

[@arachnoskull6311]

i feel like this is the backstory to a lot of resident evil monsters.

[@i.m.evilhomer5084]

Oh yeah, I remember hearing a similar story on an episode of I Know Dino Podcast about early dinosaur fiction. I think I even mentioned it in a comment of one of your videos. Early dino fiction was very odd. It wasn't uncommon for writers to describe Sauropods as being "sinister" & for a brief time, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle & his ilk pushed to make Megatherium an adjective describing something outlandish, in the same we use "Mammoth" as an adjective to describe something big.

[@LaBibliotecaEterna]

That plot escalated quickly, thanks for sharing it, I will give it a try

[@grahamsmith2022]

History has taught us that a monster's mind has been combined with the human body many times.

[@Georgering3]

Glad to see more Dino short stories. Missed these videos!

[@Tser]

Ohhh, I'm so glad that all my GI troubles can be explained by overexerting my brain. Being an elasmosaur sounds kind of a pain, so I'm just going to stop thinking.

[@thomasackerman5399]

Interesting story, very much a proto-H.P. Lovecraft story, with many of the same elements that would be seen in that writer's works: an explorer or someone who is doing scientific or is an investigator who's work disturbed or they make discoveries that lead to a moment of sanity-destroying horror. Compare this to such stories as "At the Mountains of Madness", "The Statement of Randolph Carter", "Herbert West: Reanimator", or "The Nameless City".

[@Tsotha]

also touches on some of the same body swap themes as in "The Whisperer in Darkness"

[@The_Alt_Vault]

Im suprised none has made a movie of this

[@sasha1mama]

Singing elasmosaur. Mein *gott,* this is turning into a late-70s children's cartoon. XD But yeah, that took a turn. Evil, cackling lazmo must die. God, Victorian scifi writers got up to some weird stuff in their heads, didn't they?

[@Chamomileable]

If you've not read the story, I highly recommend The Terror of Blue John Gap. Don't want to spoil much but it's very similar as a prehistoric horror tale.

[@purpleonii]

This sttory scares me and not even becuse of monster but cecuse of brain thing. Poor Framingham

[@WileyCylas]

Thanks for sharing! I might have a new addiction to these stories 😜 it’s like the fly with Jeff goldblum 😆

[@WillDa713]

damn that was way more saddening a fate than i was expecting :( it's a good story i liked it thanks for the upload

[@mateusgreenwood1096]

As a kid i saw a non horror picture of a brachiosaur crossing a river and it terrified me because i almost drowned.

[@BriarLeaf00]

If you're going to get more into early sci fi/pulp magazine stuff I am VERY much here for it. Its a literary treasure trove hardly explored on the platform beyond the usual Lovercraft, etc. stuff.

[@sirpepeofhousekek6741]

5:40 when you drink too much Pepsi.

[@lasarousi]

Spooky Triassic noodle is really cute

[@cryptidmountain5404]

I think I know a few chihuahuas that looks like that

[@Tonatiub]

What I found weird is that over like a year no other scientist he was writing to went to see the fucking talking dinosaur

[@residentreptile]

buying this book immediately once i heard gothic horror ...

[@residentreptile]

@KitsWithMits179 Gothic refers to the time period in this case, not the fashion! :)

[@ShadeMeadows]

This makes me smile... Thank you.

[@bargainbrandmilk9858]

i recently learned that the US is filled with water based cryptids which i think is really cool, one specific horror that i like is from my home state of oklahoma if i can recall correctly, it tells of a monsterous man eating octopus living in a lake in oklahoma

[@killercompy631]

The singing part reminds me on larpras from pokemon

[@wesleystockford2616]

Does it say what killed the guy? What if he had died of natural causes and what was left of framingham was looking for help for his friend? Makes the story quite sad then

[@darklordofsword]

The whole premise is in keeping with Victorian ideas about how the form of the body dictates the mind. It's kind of thr reverse of The Island of Doctor Moreau, where animals are surgically twisted into the shape of humans, and that... somehow... gives them human intelligence and behavior, even as they suffer because of the brutal pain inflicted by their alterations.

[@SuperFlashDriver]

For me this reminds me a lot of how Pokemon has acquired aspects of these Sci-Fi novels into their own series...Imagine myself seeing a Lugia, a Gyarados, or even a long serpent like Pokemon just singing, dancing, and having fun in the water, all awhile looking at me and feeling so embarrassed that it hides in the water, yet for me if I ever see a creature sing like that being happy and joyful, I'd be happy along with it and give him/her an applause for their singing...(Sighs)...God, if my younger self knew this story before, it would have given me dreams of seeing this sea dinosaur and me having fun with the creature, even though the sad part would be that he/she would die in their human body and transferred into a feral animal, only for the feral animal to kill the one whom inserted the brain into the creature in the first place....I find it to be a very cute story and very fun that ends in tragedy. And yeah, his friend was correct on being worried that he may not be able to stay, nor would he be able to talk with him further down the line....There's probably a reason that, if the scientist knew how to turn the creature into an anthro being similar to the height of humans, his friend and the scientist would have lived longer had the scientist figured out how to turn him from feral to anthro...But that's just me.

[@Emperor_Oshron]

(thinks this sounds familiar, googles on a hunch) ah, i HAD heard of this before! this was mentioned in the New Traveler's Almanac part of Alan Moore's _League of Extraordinary Gentlemen_ comic!

[@Beedo_Sookcool]

Yup. That's where I first encountered Edward Framingham, too.

[@ericf112]

Good stuff. Science fiction has been around fo a long, long time... No individual can claim to be the founder of sci fi

[@Beedo_Sookcool]

But God help you if you say it wasn't Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley.

[@OmniOtaku]

This is just a Tammy and the T.Rex prequel. But it’s awesome

[@purplehaze2358]

"It is an elasmosaurus, one of the largest of antediluvian animals." Oh, how poorly that's aged..

[@stevencisneros9306]

Wow, this NEEDS to get the silver screen treatment, a gothic, sci-fi, dark comedic horror film, directed by Guillermo del Toro, or even Sam Raimi, who knows!!!

[@thetophatchicken]

I’m guessing McLennigan actually died and Fremmingham was trying to hold onto him to keep him around and the Captain just misread the situation.

[@herobrinesblog]

"And expects that the peace and quiet of the mountain may help" oh the author was so cruel!

[@thegnarledpirate9198]

The two scientists nonchalantly discussing about violating God's creation and the laws of nature really wasn't far off from how scientists of that time thinked.

[@josephmontanaro2350]

25:06 i agree, would add an extra layer of creepiness/tragic aspects

[@georgekostaras]

I just read this story before seeing this video and boy did I not expect the twist half way through

[@Beedo_Sookcool]

Great video! Thank you! I first heard of this story obliquely through the "League of Extraordinary Genltemen" comics, in the travelogue section. Looks like I'll have to track down an anthology with this story in it, now . . . .

[@blumoon131]

If done right, this story could be adapted into film in a very creepy, macabre, and just plain weird way.

[@Unihuahua]

Wow this is a really neat story! Would definitely love to see some sort of movie or series adaptation 👀