Ol' Rip the Horned Toad returned to the courthouse. Some speculated that the body in the coffin was a substitute, with the real lizard being held in a private collection. Looney Tunes character, Michigan J. Frog was inspired by Ol' Rip's story. Ol' Rip the Horned Toad Ol' Rip (died January 19, 1929) was a horned lizard (commonly referred to as a "horned toad" or "horny toad") whose supposed 31-year hibernation as an entombed animal is believed by some and doubted by others. His name is a reference to the fictional character Rip Van Winkle. In 1897, a horned lizard was placed in a cornerstone
Bucca (mythological creature) Bucca (mythological creature) Bucca is a male sea-spirit in Cornish folklore - a merman- that inhabited mines and coastal communities as a hobgoblin during storms. The mythological creature is a type of water spirit likely related to the Púca from Irish and Welsh folklore and the female mari-morgans - a type of mermaid from Welsh and Breton mythology. Rev W. S. Lach-Szyrma, one 19th-century writer on Cornish antiquities, suggested the Bucca had originally been an ancient pagan deity of the sea such as Irish Nechtan or British Nodens, though his claims are mainly conjecture.. Folklore however records votive food offerings