Harmless Sea Skate Or Spawn Of Satan?
Featured in Ripley's Believe It or Not!
The beliefs of 16th-century scientists were imaginative, to say the least. From early plans for lunar travel to the vegetable lamb of Tartary, some explanations for the natural world around them were interpreted in some pretty funny ways.
It’s hard to tell if Jenny Hanivers were the result of pre-evolution naivety or religious fervor turned hoax, but for a few centuries, Europeans believed they were fishing devils out of the sea. Dried or preserved skates presented as devils, demons, dragons, angels, or even mermaids, are collectively referred to as Jenny Hanivers. The phrase is believed to be the English version of “jeune d’Anvers”—French for “child of Antwerp.” The Belgian port city is believed to be the center of Jenny Haniver sales in the 16th-century.