Case file · Cryptid
Unicorn Cave and Leibniz's unicorn
In the Harz cave of Einhornhöhle, fossil bones were sold as 'unicorn' horn for medicine. The philosopher Leibniz visited in 1686 and later published a reconstruction of a two-legged unicorn skeleton from similar bones.
1686 CE · 51.63, 10.40 · status: explained
The account
The cave is first mentioned in 1541. Leibniz's drawing in his 'Protogaea' was based on bones dug from a Harz hill and described by Otto von Guericke. In 1872 Rudolf Virchow excavated the cave and showed the bones came from extinct animals such as cave bears and mammoths; over 70 species have since been identified.
The sceptical view
Explained: the 'unicorns' were assembled from mammoth tusks, cave-bear bones and other Ice Age fossils.