Old Rip was a reptile with quite a legend. Some people believed that he survived a 31-year entombment in a courthouse cornerstone, and he became celebrity, even gaining an audience with President Calvin Coolidge. But was it all a hoax?

Research:

• “Toad Alive After 31 Years Sealed in Texas Cornerstone.” New York Times. Feb, 20, 1928. https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1928/02/20/91477181.pdf?pdf_redirect=true&ip=0
• “Coolidge Sees Famous Horned Toad of Texas.” The Greenville News. May 4, 1928. https://www.newspapers.com/image/188233123/?terms=toad&match=1
• “Texas Horned Frog Upsets Scientists.” Times Record News. Feb. 21, 1928. https://www.newspapers.com/image/774886762/
• “Horned Lizard Facts.” Texas Parks and Wildlife. https://tpwd.texas.gov/huntwild/wild/wildlife_diversity/texas_nature_trackers/horned_lizard/facts/#:~:text=Its%20horny%20appearance%20and%20coloration,(actually%2C%20its%20eyelid).
• “RipFest.” https://www.eastlandchamber.com/ripfest/
• “Texas Court Frees Entombed Toad.” New York Times. May 14, 1928. https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1928/05/15/91511824.pdf?pdf_redirect=true&ip=0
• “Experts Are Skeptical About Horned Frog.” Fort Worth Record-Telegram. Feb 21, 1928. https://www.newspapers.com/image/634555101/?terms=Eastland%2C%20Texas&match=1
• “Old Frog Leaps Back Into Case.” Austin American-Statesman. September 29, 1961. https://www.newspapers.com/image/357861533/
• House, Boyce. “Amazing Story of Rip Is Told in Its Entirety.” Fort Worth Star-Telegram. Feb, 13, 1938. https://www.newspapers.com/image/636009835/
• “Texas Horned Lizard (Phrynosoma cornutum).” Texas Parks and Wildlife. https://tpwd.texas.gov/huntwild/wild/species/thlizard/
• “Eastland Asks Old Rip’s Return.” Fort Worth Star-Telegram. April 18, 1972. https://www.newspapers.com/image/644137888/?terms=old%20rip&match=1
• “Three-corner Fight Rages for Possession of Eastland’s Reptile.” The Amarillo Globe-Timed. Feb. 27, 1928. https://www.newspapers.com/image/29483459/?terms=will%20m.%20wood&match=1
• “Famous New York Scientist Tells Whopper Frog Tale as Illustration That He Believes Texas Toad Story.” Wichita Falls Times. Feb. 21, 1928. https://www.newspapers.com/image/773773857/
• “’Rip,’ Famous Sleeping Horned Toad, Here but Still Drowsy.” Indianapolis Star. May 1, 1928. https://www.newspapers.com/image/104983172
• “Tulsa Barber Aided in Placing Famous ‘Rip’ Frog in Stone.” The Tulsa Tribune. Feb. 21, 1928. https://www.newspapers.com/image/884100535/?terms=Eastland%2C%20Texas
• “The Spirit of Old Rip to Be Revived.” The Odessa American. Sept. 11, 1977. https://www.newspapers.com/image/301920827/?
• Donnelly, Claire.” How Curious: What Happened To All Of The ‘Horny Toads’?” KGOU. https://www.kgou.org/oklahoma-news/2019-09-10/how-curious-what-happened-to-all-of-the-horny-toads
• “Frog Question Acute and Threatens to Become National.” Wichita Daily Times. Feb. 26, 1928. https://www.newspapers.com/image/773773951/
• “Doubts Horned Toad Tale.” New York Times. February 21, 1928. https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1928/02/21/109853229.pdf?pdf_redirect=true&ip=0
• Dabney, James. “Letter Reawakens ‘Rip’ Toad Legend.” Fort Worth Star-Telegram. Sept. 10, 1976. https://www.newspapers.com/image/633757078/