From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
A pickled dragon or, more precisely, what appears to be the fetus of a winged reptile preserved in formaldehyde, was claimed by David Hart to have been found in his garage in Oxfordshire, England, in December 2003. The discovery fortuitously coincided with the success of the Harry Potter books and films.
His friend Allistair Mitchell (who, like Hart, worked in marketing) told the press that the dragon was found with documents suggesting it had been offered to the Natural History Museum in the nineteenth century by German scientists. Mitchell suggested it was an attempt by the Germans to discredit their British colleagues, but the Natural History Museum rejected it, suspecting it was a hoax.
Allistair Mitchell estimated the dragon was one metre in length. David Hart believed his grandfather, a porter, saved the specimen from being destroyed. It had been left in a crate in his garage by his father and had remained there for twenty years before being rediscovered.
