{{Short description|Dubious large frog}} thumb|A postcard featuring Fred Coleman and the frog The '''Coleman Frog''' (also known as '''Cornelia Webster''')<ref>{{cite web |title=Is the Coleman Frog a Boy or a Girl? |url=https://www.frederictonregionmuseum.com/2013/06/17/is-the-coleman-frog-a-boy-or-a-girl/ |website=Fredericton Region Museum |access-date=23 May 2024 |date=17 June 2013}}</ref> is a supposed taxidermy specimen of a {{convert|19|kg|lb|abbr=on}} frog, on display at the Fredericton Region Museum in Fredericton, New Brunswick, Canada, since 1959. It was previously owned by a man named Fred Coleman.<ref name="york" /><ref name="lewiston"/>
== Description == The frog was allegedly captured in 1889 from Lake Killarney, north of Fredericton, at which time it was said to have weighed {{convert|7|lb|4|oz|kg}}.<ref name="york" /><ref name="lewiston">{{cite news | url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1928&dat=19790412&id=DGEgAAAAIBAJ&sjid=wmUFAAAAIBAJ&pg=1439,2039525&hl=en | title=Story of famous "Coleman Frog" | work=The Lewiston Daily Sun | date=Apr 12, 1979 | agency=Christian Science Monitor | accessdate=May 16, 2015 | pages=7}}</ref> Supposedly, the immense size of the frog was caused by the fact that Coleman fed it whiskey, baked beans, June bugs, buttermilk toddies,<ref>{{Cite book|last=Wood, Gerald L.|title=The Guinness book of animal facts and feats|date=1976|publisher=Guinness Superlatives|isbn=0-900424-60-5|edition=2nd|location=Enfield , England|oclc=2831478}}</ref> and whey. It is said to have died in a "dynamite accident" and was sent to Bangor, Maine, to be stuffed.<ref name="york">{{cite web | url=https://yorksunburymuseum.wordpress.com/2009/06/24/the-coleman-frog/ | title=The Coleman Frog | publisher=York Sunbury Museum | date=June 24, 2009 | accessdate=May 16, 2015}}</ref>
== Controversy == Skeptics, such as the Museum of Hoaxes, say that the frog is a fake that was used to promote a cough syrup that would "relieve the frog in your throat".<ref name="hoaxes">{{cite web | url=https://hoaxes.org/weblog/comments/coleman_frog | title=The Coleman Frog | publisher=Museum of Hoaxes | date=July 30, 2007 | accessdate=May 16, 2015}}</ref> In a 1988 report, the Canadian Conservation Institute stated that the artifact consists of canvas, wax, and paint and in a letter it refers to the exhibit as “an amusing example of a colossal fake and deception”.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Nickell|first=Joe|url=http://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt2tv655|title=Real-Life X-Files: Investigating the Paranormal|date=2001|publisher=University Press of Kentucky|jstor=j.ctt2tv655 |isbn=978-0-8131-2210-6}}</ref> The museum will not allow DNA testing to be performed on the frog to confirm whether it is real or a fake.<ref name="hoaxes" /><ref>{{cite news | url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-windsor-star-2007-07-28-monster-frog/115037023/ | title=Monster frog no bull – maybe | work=The Windsor Star | date=July 28, 2007 | access-date=9 April 2024 }}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last=Mandell |first=Charles |url=https://www.pressreader.com/canada/regina-leader-post/20070728/281663955608477 |title=Story of the big frog is no bull, museum says |date=July 28, 2017 |via=PressReader |accessdate=July 21, 2020}}</ref>
==See also== *Fur-bearing trout
==References== {{reflist}}
Category:Taxidermy hoaxes Category:Hoaxes in Canada Category:Individual frogs Category:Individual animals in Canada Category:Fredericton Category:Fictional frogs