This Week in History, 1893: A long-extinct sea monster turns up in Burrard Inlet

On March 22, 1893, the Pittsburgh Daily Post carried a small story on the discovery of three ichthyosaurus skeletons in France.

It was described as a “monster” that was “sort of a marine crocodile, with jaws nearly four feet long and bristling with rows of dinosaur teeth.”

Another story in the March 18, 1893, Salem Statesmen-Journal related the discovery of a “mammoth fossil” near Dolores, Utah, that was also believed to be an ichthyosaurus.

“The reptile appears to be over 100 feet long,” said the story. “It has a barrel-like body, a long tail, an enormous mouth and many rows of teeth.”

Incredibly, a live ichthyosaurus turned up a couple of weeks later in Vancouver. Or at least The Vancouver World said it did.