Sep
24
“Less well-known, but just as inexplicable, are cases of trapped frogs or toads that are found alive when solid rock or masonry is broken open. At one time such occurrences were a mainstay of popular folklore, as described by Jan Bondeson in Fortean Times a few years ago (Toad in the Hole, FT221:38, April 2007). The heyday of the subject was between the late 17th and early 19th centuries — just when the idea of testing theories via practical experimentation was coming into vogue. The “entombed toad” theory is ideally suited to testing by experiment, and numerous amateur naturalists rose to the task… though generally in a clumsy and unscientific way.”
Forteana: William Buckland: an early Fortean experimenter
