A fossil hunter and showman, Koch claimed he’d discovered the "Missouri Leviathan," an enormous aquatic beast with alligator-like armor and tusks that could sweep fallen trees from rivers 🌳 He’d found real prehistoric bones along Missouri’s Pomme de Terre River 🦴 but as he assembled the skeleton, he added extra bones from his collection to create something far more extraordinary.
The creature became a sensation at Koch’s St. Louis Museum, but he had bigger ambitions 👀
He took his creation to London, where skeptical scientists questioned his claims even as public curiosity soared. In 1843, he sold the skeleton to the British Museum for $2,000, plus an annual stipend for the rest of his life.
So what was the "Missouri Leviathan?"
A prehistoric mastodon dressed up as a river monster. Today, its skeleton stands in London’s Natural History Museum 🏛️ a lasting reminder of one St. Louis showman’s spectacular imagination.
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4 days agojerklyn
I grew up hiking at Mastodon State Park and went to London on my honeymoon last year, and was so psyched to see this Mastodon from Jefferson County at that gorgeous museum!
4 days agomohistorymuseum
📷 Mastodon bones from Kimmswick, ca. 1900. Actual Ice Age monsters that once stomped around the St. Louis region include mastodons, mammoths, and giant sloths. Around the turn of the 20th century, many bones were excavated near Kimmswick, and in 1976 the site became a Missouri state park. Missouri Historical Society Collections. 📷 Partially ripped flyer promoting the beasts, birds, and reptiles at the St. Louis Museum, as well as Egyptian mummies, panoramic views of California, and a statue of Venus. 📷 The mastodon skeleton originally known as the Missouri Leviathan on display at London’s Natural History Museum. Photo by Andrew Wanko.
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