On October 4, 1862, a newspaper story drew eyes from around the world. Published in the Virginia City Territorial Enterprise, ‘Petrified Man’ detailed the discovery of a “stony mummy” found in the mountains south of Gravelly Ford and a failed plea for extraction-by-dynamite suggested by the locals.
PETRIFIED MAN
A petrified man was found some time ago in the mountains south of Gravelly Ford. Every limb and feature of the stony mummy was perfect, not even excepting the left leg, which has evidently been a wooden one during the lifetime of the owner – which lifetime, by the way, came to a close about a century ago, in the opinion of a savan who has examined the defunct.
The body was in a sitting posture, and leaning against a huge mass of croppings; the attitude was pensive, the right thumb resting against the side of the nose; the left thumb partially supported the chin, the fore-finger pressing the inner corner of the left eye and drawing it partly open; the right eye was closed, and the fingers of the right hand spread apart.
This strange freak of nature created a profound sensation in the vicinity, and our informant states that by request, Justice Sewell or Sowell, of Humboldt City, at once proceeded to the spot and held an inquest on the body. The verdict of the jury was that “deceased came to his death from protracted exposure,” etc.
The people of the neighborhood volunteered to bury the poor unfortunate, and were even anxious to do so; but it was discovered, when they attempted to remove him, that the water which had dripped upon him for ages from the crag above, had coursed down his back and deposited a limestone sediment under him which had glued him to the bed rock upon which he sat, as with a cement of adamant, and Judge S. refused to allow the charitable citizens to blast him from his position.
The opinion expressed by his Honor that such a course would be little less than sacrilege, was eminently just and proper.
Everybody goes to see the stone man, as many as three hundred having visited the hardened creature during the past five or six weeks.
Soon after its publication, at least a dozen newspapers reprinted the story — not realizing, apparently, that the work of journalist Samuel Clemens was in fact, a satire.
Clemens (better known to you and I by his later pen name “Mark Twain”) wrote the fictitious story for two reasons.
The first: to irritate a local official by the name of G.T. Sewall, with whom he’d recently quarreled.
The second: to poke fun at the gullibility of those who take things for fact far too easily, even when all clues point to a hoax.
Unfortunately for Clemens, his satire was, at least at that point in time, apparently too subtle — the tale of the Petrified Man found in Nevada spread across the world.
According to Clemens (who should probably not be believed) each time he discovered another newspaper that had reprinted his story as fact he would order a copy.
He would then mail the copy to his nemesis G.T. Sewall, who he said would throw the papers into his backyard.
Clemens began using the name Mark Twain in 1863, and his national breakthrough as a satirist came two years later with his famed story about a jumping frog in Angels Camp, California.
The Nevada Lore Series is written by Kelsey Penrose and focuses on the legends of Nevada and the surrounding areas that help build our culture, from Washiw folklore, to ghostly visions from the Old West, and current modern-day urban legends.
Did you know this year the theme for the Nevada Day Parade is Pumpkins, Pioneers and Tale Tales?
As we gear up to the Day of Days, we’ll be sharing some of the stories that will be appearing in the official Nevada Day Magazine, which will be handed out for free along the parade route day of!
As a reminder, because Nevada Day falls on its true birthday this year (October 31), Trick-or-Treating will be held Friday, October 30 in Carson City.
