Does anyone have any information about this intriguing photograph? All I can say is that was taken at Holyrood which is near St. Johns, Newfoundland. The photo looks turn of the century-ish, maybe a little earlier or later, and the squid appears to be Architeuthis.

[EDIT by tonmo]: We have discovered (via input offered by family members of the gentlemen pictured) that this squid was caught on 11/12/1935. Read thread for details.

http://www.tonmo.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=1374&stc=1

Phil,

Yow, what a cool photo. You bought it on Ebay, didn't you? Didn't you?

According to the Smithsonian's "Records of Architeuthis Specimens from Published Reports," a 24-foot Architeuthis was caught in a herring net near Logy Bay, 3 miles from St. Johns, on 25 November 1873. Body length was listed (by Verrill) as 8 feet, which looks about right for your photo. The squid was badly mutilated, and had to be pieced together. Significantly, the Smithsonian document states that this squid was photographed at least twice, in a reassembled state and with the head and arms separated from the mantle.

I don't know enough about Newfoundland (or fashion) to judge the photograph's age from that chap's clothing.

Anyhow, great pic. I love a mystery.

Clem

good research...will have to check out a few bits here too...any clothing experts at Tonmo???
greg

I think he looks like a pilgrim... except the hat... that looks like an asian number.....


:grad: methinks....

Memorial University of Newfoundland (click here) (http://www.heritage.nf.ca/cns_archives/16riggsfeb22_1996.html)

This might be a good resource for us. The linked page has a number of photographs circa 1880, including one of St. John's Harbor and a group of fishermen. Also, a dubious looking kid with a really big dog. Could be some good stuff buried in the Table of Contents, but I wouldn't know, because I'm

:sleeping:

Thanks Clem,

Maybe you have pinned it down. That photo really could be dated anytime between 1870-1930 and it's hard to be precise. I'm afraid that I couldn't find a reference in the link you supplied above, though I may not have looked far enough.

In Richard Ellis's book "The Search for the Giant Squid" he provides a table of Architeuthis sightings and strandings which I can only assume is taken from the Smithsonian Archives as above. He lists no less than 18 strandings at Newfoundland between 1870-1881 before the sightings mysteriously stopped; the next recorded being in the 1960s. Maybe there was some form of change in ocean currents or ocean temperatures for a decade in the 1870s prompting population displacement (?).

I'll try and list these encounters later but no time right now (work calls). Maybe one of the listed locations is particularly close to St. Johns? I'd say your Logy Bay suggestion is on the money.

Hmm.

An elementray school in Holyrood has the photo up on their home page, with no information attached to it. The school's home page, does, however, state that Holyrood is near the mouth of Conception Bay, Newfoundland. As this stretch of salt has seen several recorded Archie finds, there are at least two other stranding events to consider, and one of them is pretty intriguing.

Before I go any farther, here's the link to the Michael J. Sweeney's "Record of Architeuthis Specimens." It's a PDF file, but at 286 KB it's a pretty fast download, even for slower internet access methods (such as mine, gah). At well over a hundred pages in length, a printout of this essential document will be an imposing presence on your desk, and at parties.

PDF Record of Architeuthis Specimens. (http://www.mnh.si.edu/cephs/archirec.pdf)

An Architeuthis was recovered in Conception Bay, near Brigus, in October of 1879. Arm length for this specimen is given as 8 feet, perhaps a bit long for the proportions shown in the Holyrood photo, but, who knows, they might have given them a good pull before measuring them. The Smithsonian list does not indicate whether or not the Brigus animal was photographed.

And then, there's this one, November 10, 1881, "near St. John's, Portugal Cove." Location: Canada, Newfoundland, BL [Body Length]=5.5ft; HL [Head Length]=1.25ft; EL [Entire Length]=28ft." (Sweeney) This specimen was apparently photographed by one E. Lyons in St. John's. The squid was then purchased for exhibition in the Worth Museum, an old curiosities exhibit in lower Manhattan. Shipped on ice to New York, the squid was subsequently fixed in preservative.

A mantle and head measurement of almost 7 feet could also work for the Holyrood squid, judging from the photo. (I've just realized that I tend to use subjective scaling when looking at photos of people, thus imagining everyone is 6 feet tall. That Newfie, for example, could have been Napoleon's sparring partner, for all I know :roll:) It's also possible that the Logy Bay squid was the one that appeared in a photo, head and arms only, draped over a an old metal bath, reproduced in Ellis's "Search for the Giant Squid," among others. Don't have that book with me...the rest of you have it, I know.

What tickles me about the St. John's/Portugal Cove squid is the association with the Worth Museum in New York. Was it the squid that was used as a pattern for the line of papier-mache models that were sold to museums? That's somewhere in Ellis's book, I know. Mostly, I wonder if the Worth's exhibited squid was involved in an obscure Harry Houdini performance, too smelly to imagine, whereby the great escape artist freed himself from confinement with a dead giant squid. Taningia Danae metioned this in a post a while ago, but I don't recall ever finding more details online. Did Houdini ever perform at Worth's?

Clem

Portugal Cove is a good hour or so drive from Holyrood, I'd say the October 1879 specimen is probably the one in the picture.

I'm from St John's, Newfoundland, but I have limited knowledge concerning clothing, sorry!

I'm from St John's, Newfoundland, but I have limited knowledge concerning clothing, sorry!
You do wear clothing, though, right?:wink:

Thanks for the post, Pieces. It really helps to hear from someone who's walked that ground, or driven over it. You folks might be seeing some more Archies, soon (if patterns hold). Let us know, please.

Cheers,

Clem

Hehe, yes we DO wear clothing :P

Actually, I attend Memorial University as well (1st year), and I was suprised at the amount of material on Architeuthis and 'Sea Serpents' I was able to find in the library. I found Ellis's book to be a very interesting read, although I'm sure the book topic probably wierded out more than a few of my friends (reading it in public sure earns you some strange looks!).

I also looked up Dr. Fredrick Aldrich on the university site (I had heard of him before, but it never really occured to me that the Biology head would have interest in the giant squid), and I was saddened to hear that he passed away more than a decade ago, I really would have been honored to meet one of the world's foremost experts on Architeuthis!

Anyways, theres been 1 in the last few weeks, I'll be sure to post up anything I hear in the news :)

Oh, now what?

Went looking on Google for the image Phil initially posted, and found this:

Joe Ezekiel With His Squid (http://ngb.chebucto.org/Dist_Photo/hm-squid.shtml)

It's the same photo, albeit reversed, and has obviously been scanned (you can see the bit of scanner "drag" on the left edge of the image), contributed to the host site by a Mr. Bill Moore. The caption dates the photo from 1934, taken at Harbour Main. A Harbour Main Architeuthis is on Michael J. Sweeney's Archie list, found dead on the shore of Conception Bay on November 12, 1935. Sweeney cites a total length of 17 feet, 3 inches for this animal.

The Holyrood school homepage that hosted the other version of the photo is nowhere to be found.

:confused:

Clem

boy, the tentacles sure are long... :wink:

boy, the tentacles sure are long... :wink:
Hello Chrono,

I think the squid was laid out on some long wooden planks, perhaps the ones used to slide the boat up out of the water. At first glance, the planks blend in with the squid's arms and tentacles, making them look unnaturally long. Attached is a detail of the photo, with arrows indicating what might be the ends of the two tentacles, flopped over the edges of the planks.

Cheers,

Clem

Re: Giant Squid

I have the original picture of giant squid re: Joe Ezekiel.
Also have Reader's Digest write up of same topic.

Will supply info if you are interested.

Marie HJ

Re: Giant Squid

I have the original picture of giant squid re: Joe Ezekiel.
Also have Reader's Digest write up of same topic.

Will supply info if you are interested.

Marie HJ

:welcome: to TONMO, and I'm sure many of us would love to read & see more!

Yes, we're all still interested in this topic, thanks for any info you can provide!

Yes please do! An intriguing topic.

This is an excerpt from a 1960's Reader's Digest article entitled 'Mysterious Monster From the Deep' by John Dyson:

Seldom has a giant squid been taken alive, but a 20 year old Newfoundland fisherman achieved that on a crisp fall morning in 1935. The monster's appearance at Harbour Main, in Newfoundland's Conception Bay, meant only one thing to young Joe Ezekiel - a mountain of bait and dog food. The squid lay on the surface, its crimson arms and tentacles giving it the look of an immense flower as Ezekiel rowed his dory straight for it. He gave the boat a last hard thrust, then stood up and hurled his 11 kilogram anchor at the creature.
Serpent like arms wrapped around the anchor. Tentacles longer than the five metre dory coiled in oozing knots and their convulsion made waves that rocked the boat. Ezekiel heaved in the anchor rope and snubbed the boat up to the monster's huge tapered body. One tentatcle, thick as a stovepipe and studded with suckers, writhed above the surface. Ezekiel grabbed it. The creature, perhaps sick, seemed almost listless as Ezekiel threw a couple of half hitches around the tentacle with a rope.
But he kept his fish knife handy, ready to cut the rope, as laboriously he towed the monster into shore. Jetting clouds of ink, it turned the surface of the cove black. Twenty men who had seen Ezekiel's brave capture from their harborside windows hauled it up the shingle beach. As the squid died, its brilliant red color turning a mottled blue, then a milky white, they paced out its length - 8.5 metres.
Ezekiel shroud his monster in a tarpaulin. News of the capture spread rapidly, and carloads of sightseers came from St. John's. Joe charged ten cents a look and in two days made $30.00. Then he sold the squid to a scientist for $10.00 and stored it in the local fish freezer, but that night the freezer caught fire and the monster was destroyed.
Now a sprightly 67, Joe Ezekiel remains one of the few men in the world known to have caught a living specimen of one of the world's most amazing and terrifying creatures, more bizarre than anything appearing in Star Wars.

Note: Joe Ezekiel died in 1992 at the age of 77 years.

Hello everyone,
The picture of the giant squid is actually my great uncle, taken near Harbour Main where he lived and fished. As mentioned the squid was destroyed the night he caught it, and legend has it some of the townfolk were afraid of the "monster" and burned the barn before the scientists could get to it the following day...


FYI

Hey, this thread delivers! Thanks (belatedly) Marie for posting that reader's digest article, and Rod thanks very much for joining and posting about your great uncle.

Curious, do you and your family own the original photo in question?

Wow! Thank you Marie and Rod for the article extract and the information about your great uncle. This kind of interconnectiveness is what makes the internet so great - from an old black and white photo we had no information on, we now have a full history and a personal connection too! This would make a great article if it could be pulled together, with your permission of course Rod.

As Tony requests, do you have any more photos please? Also, would you happen to have a precise date in 1935 please?

Oh, and :welcome: to the both of you too!

I've just found a different take on the ending of the tale. According to this site (http://ngb.chebucto.org/Articles/rogue-hm.shtml) the squid was found on the beach by Joe and was taken off to a museum in New York.

Another resident (of a sort) which attracted attention was a denizen of the deep. One fine day in July 1935, Joe Ezekial went down to the beach to check his boat and found a giant squid lying nearby. It was the main attraction for a while. The press had a field day and the creature was soon loaded aboard a truck, taken to St. John's where it was frozen and shipped off to the New York Museum of Natural History. It measured 27 feet, and was the full size of a two-ton truck.

I wonder if these were two different encounters that that become mixed up over time?

Hi everyone,
I know there were always stories about what happenned but thankfully my great uncle set the record straight for us. The day of catching the squid, my uncle said scientists in St'John's ( the capital of Newfoundland) we dispatched to come get the creature. He put the squid in his barn so animals would not get at it, also the barn was cool so it would not decompose so quickly. He thought that the scientists would get much out of the study and was pleased that they would take such interest in the creature. That night though, and he thought it was people in the small area they were, a small outport called Harbour Main, thinking it was a sea monster, they burned the barn down that night. They next morning the barn, its contents including the squid were destroyed with almost nothing left. An interesting but sad tale of fear that prevented some great research at that time. As far as my uncle told us, no Americans from New York were ever in contact with him.
The picture that you have all seen in this thread is the only one we have and my family does have the original.
Thank you for your interest and i encourage any info shared about it of course. On a side note for those of you the are interested in the fishing industry and or the Maritimes should read a book about the impact of the Cod on not just Newfoundland but the entire world. THe book is called "Cod" by Mark Kurlansky and is one of the best historical reads on the fishing industry starting over 500 years ago and brings us to present day. It is very interesting and worth a look for history buffs and those intrigured by fish of all types...did you know the cod fish helped the British gained much of the control of the world centuries ago, that the cod was involved in the growth of the slave trade, or that the American Revolution was primed by trade conflicts with this grand fish the cod? Take a read, if you have the time.

All the best to you all and keep thinking !

Rod Ezekiel

Thanks Rod! Very very interesting story. As far as the original photo goes -- I really hope you don't mind my asking but feel free to ignore me if you do! -- Is it preserved somewhere, or is it just the kind of thing laying around with family pictures? Does it have a particular monetary value that you're aware of? As it's a family photo I'm sure you're not interested in its monetary value, but I thought it would be interesting to know whether you've ever received an offer, or what. Is it the kind of thing you have negatives for, and sell those?

I have definitely heard of the book Cod but haven't read it. Thanks for reminding me.

Hi everyone,

Sorry one last thing, Joe told us about his fight in his boat, so we know it was alive. My grandmother also confirmed this and said Joe and his boat were covered in ink from the fight with the huge squid, and that Joe had nearly been pulled in many times from the struggle. He attempted to get it into the boat, but could not as the creature was too big and he feared it would pull him in the water and those huge tentacles would drown him.

Thanks and have a great day everyone,

Rod Ezekiel

Hi Tonmo,
We do have the photo but as far as i know there hasnt been any offers for it. One of my uncles has the actual pic, and i have a copy of it. I dont believe there are any negatives left as it was so long ago and my Great uncle Joe, his wife Mary, my grandfather Chris and my grandmother Margaret have all passed and they were the family members that would have had the negatives. Joe kept this picture in a frame in his house in Harbour Main and it was passed down after his death. If someone is interested and the offer is reasonable to consider, i can contact the holder of the pic to see if they would sell it.

Thanks for your interest

Rod Ezekiel

Thanks Rod --

Oh, I wasn't really looking to extend an offer, but I can tell you I would be very interested in this and I'm sure I'm not alone. Hard for me to divine an appropriate offer -- not sure I'm quite eccentric enough to hit the right amount :smile:, but it certainly would make a nice addition to my collection of cephalopod-related items! Perhaps I'll research this a bit and will reach out (and again, I'm sure I'm not alone...) You might expect a few private messages (PMs) over this system! :smile:

Hello Rod,

What a story! Belatedly I ran across this post in the "U-Haul Giant Squid" thread (http://www.tonmo.com/forums/showpost.php?p=80081&postcount=12), a variation on the tale that also involves a destructive fire, but not in a barn. There's a different pic on U-Haul's page that appears to be of your uncle's squid, but with a crowd gathered 'round holding up the arms.

:welcome:
Cheers,
Clem

Thanks Rod --

Oh, I wasn't really looking to extend an offer, but I can tell you I would be very interested in this and I'm sure I'm not alone. Hard for me to divine an appropriate offer -- not sure I'm quite eccentric enough to hit the right amount :smile:, but it certainly would make a nice addition to my collection of cephalopod-related items! Perhaps I'll research this a bit and will reach out (and again, I'm sure I'm not alone...) You might expect a few private messages (PMs) over this system! :smile:


Ohhh, I would help contribute some $$$ so the photo could go to an appropriate place. Tony, maybe in your spare time you could start a giant squid museum? I promise to visit! :grin:

This is a great thread, I love hearing about the history of giant squid strandings/captures!

not sure I'm quite eccentric enough to hit the right amount

Gee, if eccentricity is supposed to lead to having money, I'm clearly not getting paid what I deserve :madsci:

I don't know about relocating the pic (where would it go?) but perhaps, if Rod's OK with it, we could chip in to getting it scanned at some very high resolution and hosting that online here... I think most copy places have pro quality photo scanners these days, but I don't know how much they charge, but we could pay a bit to Rod for his trouble above and beyond, perhaps, as well as giving appropriate credit and making sure that the story is associated with the picture for posterity....

Gee, if eccentricity is supposed to lead to having money, I'm clearly not getting paid what I deserve :madsci:....
I didn't say I didn't have it, I just said I'm not sure I'm eccentric enough!

But I don't have it. :wink:
I don't know about relocating the pic (where would it go?) but perhaps, if Rod's OK with it, we could chip in to getting it scanned at some very high resolution and hosting that online here... I think most copy places have pro quality photo scanners these days, but I don't know how much they charge, but we could pay a bit to Rod for his trouble above and beyond, perhaps, as well as giving appropriate credit and making sure that the story is associated with the picture for posterity....
Where would it go? It would go right beside my Steve O'Shea painting and Veronica Ceci painting!

I think that's a great idea (quality replica for a fee). Rod, I'll reach out re: an article, the photo, an permissions.

Gee, if eccentricity is supposed to lead to having money, I'm clearly not getting paid what I deserve :madsci:


The only difference between crazy and eccentric is 7 digits in your bank account...

so i think i'm going to be crazy the forseeable future...:bonk:

I'm shooting for "eccentric" then.

I don't know about relocating the pic (where would it go?) but perhaps, if Rod's OK with it, we could chip in to getting it scanned at some very high resolution and hosting that online here... I think most copy places have pro quality photo scanners these days, but I don't know how much they charge, but we could pay a bit to Rod for his trouble above and beyond, perhaps, as well as giving appropriate credit and making sure that the story is associated with the picture for posterity....

I really like this idea: a good quality image and a corresponding article by Rod to set the record straight. It would be a neat history article, and I think it would complement the science and care articles beautifully. Oh, and Cod is a really good read. Short and to the point. Loved it!

Cheers!

I have exchanged a couple of emails with another family member (first name Trudy) regarding this picture. Here are some facts:

- Joe Ezekiel was Trudy's uncle. Rod (who posted earlier in this thread) is her nephew.

- Trudy owns the original negative (to keep it safe) and also has an 11x12 in her home.

- Trudy reached out to me because she wanted to be sure the correct facts were relayed in this thread (I corrected the subject title and seed post accordingly).

- Joe Ezekiel was from Harbour Main Conception Bay Newfoundland. The squid was caught on November 12, 1935.

- The Reader's Digest Book that has the article is Nov. 1982 Pages 107 to 114.

- Uncle Joe was born Sept. 5, 1915 and passed away Jan.9, 1993, not the prior dates given in this thread.

- There was a squid stamp called "The Kraken", commissoned in Oct. 1990, chosen for Eastern Canada. This was presented to the Royal Canadian Legion Branch 64 at North Arm Holyrood Feb. 12, 1991.

- Trudy has the write-up in Joe's own words how he caught the squid.

- Per Trudy: He sold the carcass to a scientist for 10.00 and stored it in the local fish freezer, Fisheries Dept. That night the freezer caught fire and was destroyed. The picture you have on your site wanting to identify this person looks as if it was taken from the negative I have in my possession given to me by my Mother to keep so as not to get lost. It is the only one that i know of, also have the same picture in my home about 11x 12. I would like to know where you got this picture for your site? Hope this can be of some help to you. - Trudy

Thanks Trudy! We're very good at finding squid photos. :smile: Phil, where'd you find the pic?