SHADOW CREEK, WY — What began as a routine soil erosion survey in the remote foothills of the Absaroka Range has resulted in a find that is currently destabilizing the fields of paleoanthropology and evolutionary biology.
Last Tuesday, Dr. Elena Aristhone and her team from the University of Wyoming uncovered a fossilized cranium measuring exactly 4.2 inches in length. While its size suggests a small primate or a large rodent, its morphology suggests something far more unsettling.
Local media and online forums have already dubbed the specimen “The Diabolus Relic,” or more simply, the “Four-Inch Demon.”
Anatomy of an Impossible Find
At first glance, the skull bears the hallmarks of a predatory mammal. However, as Dr. Aristhone noted during Friday’s preliminary press briefing, the “math of the bone” simply doesn’t add up.
- The Horns: Most striking are two curved, obsidian-black protuberances erupting from the frontal bone. Unlike the keratinous horns of a goat or the antlers of a deer, these are composed of a hyper-dense, metallic-infused bone.
- The Dentition: The specimen possesses four elongated, needle-like canines. There are no molars for grinding plant matter; every tooth is recurved and serrated, designed for shearing flesh.
- The Eye Orbits: Proportionally, the orbits are massive, suggesting a creature with highly developed nocturnal vision.
“In twenty years of field work, I have never seen a biological structure that ignores the laws of convergent evolution so brazenly,” says Dr. Aristhone. “It looks less like something that evolved, and more like something designed to terrify.”
The “Anomalous” Carbon Dating
The mystery deepened when the first round of Carbon-14 dating returned from the lab yesterday afternoon. According to the stratigraphy of the site, the skull should be roughly 12,000 years old, placing it at the end of the Pleistocene.
However, the initial results suggest the bone is less than 200 years old. This creates a chilling paradox: How did a creature with no record in the fossil history of the North American continent appear, die, and become embedded in ancient silt deposits without anyone noticing?
Comparison of Known vs. Anomalous Crania
| Feature | Macaque (Similar Size) | The Diabolus Relic |
| Cranial Capacity | 100 cc | 45 cc (high density) |
| Horn Structure | None | Bifurcated, ossified |
| Zygomatic Arch | Pronounced | Swept back, reinforced |
| Bone Composition | Calcium-Phosphate | Calcium-Phosphate with trace Iridium |
Local Folklore or Biological Fact?
While the scientific community remains skeptical of “supernatural” labels, the residents of the nearby Wind River Reservation have been less surprised. Elders have long spoken of the Nimerigar—a race of tiny, aggressive beings with supernatural strength.
“We were told to stay away from the deep washes after a heavy rain,” says Thomas Many-Guns, a local historian. “They say the earth hides things that weren’t meant to walk in the sunlight. We don’t call them demons, but we don’t call them neighbors, either.”
What’s Next?
The specimen has been transported under private security to a specialized imaging facility in Denver. There, a team will perform a Micro-CT scan to determine if the skull houses a brain cavity complex enough for tool-use or social communication.
Until then, the “Four-Inch Demon” remains a singular anomaly—a tiny, horned reminder that we may not know our own planet as well as we think.
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