Pickled Dragon

Unbelievable?

“Pickled dragon mystery
January 29, 2004

Canned ... pickled dragon thought to be made for a hoax.

A pickled "dragon" that looks as if it might once have flown around Harry Potter's Hogwarts has been found in a garage in Oxfordshire, England. The baby dragon, in a sealed jar, was discovered with a metal tin containing paperwork in old-fashioned German of the 1890s. Allistair Mitchell, who was asked to investigate the dragon by a friend, David Hart, who discovered it in his garage, speculates that German scientists may have attempted to use the dragon to hoax their English counterparts at the end of the 19th century, when rivalry between the countries was intense. "At the time, scientists were the equivalent of today's pop stars. It would have been a great propaganda coup for the Germans if it had come off," Mr Mitchell said. "I've shown the photos to someone from Oxford University and he thought it was amazing. Obviously he could not say if it was real and wanted to do a biopsy." The documents suggest that the Natural History Museum turned the dragon away, possibly because they suspected it was a trick, and sent it to be destroyed. But it appears a porter intercepted the jar and took it home. The papers suggest the porter may have been Frederick Hart - David Hart's grandfather.”
--Pickled dragon mystery

of course it is
Some people will do anything to get published

“An author who was so desperate to get his book published that he staged a hoax involving a baby dragon has won a lucrative publishing contract. After numerous rejections Allistair Mitchell concocted a tale that a dragon had been found in a garage last year. He said: "I created the hoax in order to attract potential readers."”
--BBC NEWS| Book deal for dragon hoax author

Now that he's taken my idea what can I do?