The story
On 25 October 1924, people at Margate on the South African coast said they watched a strange white animal fight two killer whales offshore for three hours, using its tail and rearing up to 20 ft out of the water. One witness, the farmer Hugh Ballance, said it looked like a giant polar bear. The story reached London's Daily Mail that December as 'Fish Like A Polar Bear'.
The carcass then washed up on Margate beach and lay there for ten days. Beach-goers measured it at 47 ft long, 10 ft wide and 5 ft high, covered in 8-inch white 'fur', with no visible head but a 5 ft trunk-like limb. No scientist examined it. Writer Karl Shuker gave it the nickname Trunko in 1996.
Photographs of the carcass turned up in 2010. Palaeontologist Darren Naish concluded they show the rotting remains of a large vertebrate, most likely a whale, with the 'fur' being frayed, decayed collagen, which makes Trunko another globster.
What was shown or claimed
- A white, hair-like covering
- A trunk-like limb and no head
- Killer whales attacking something offshore
Timeline
- 1924Trunko seen fighting killer whales, then washes ashore
Margate, South AfricaIn October 1924 witnesses at Margate, South Africa said a huge white, furry creature fought two killer whales offshore for hours; a 47-ft carcass with a trunk-like appendage later washed up. The story reached London's Daily Mail in December. Photos found in 2010 led palaeontologist Darren Naish to conclude it was a rotting whale carcass, or globster.
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