Turns out that a 'Ghostbusters' monster was actually a real dinosaur
If scientists are to be believed, a new, recently-discovered dinosaur bares a strong resemblance to the demigod known as "Zuul" from the 1984 film Ghostbusters. This is really all the confirmation I need in order to label Ghostbusters as a documentary.
In fact, the resemblance is so uncanny that scientists from the Royal Ontario Museum in Toronto decided to name the dinosaur "Zuul crurivastator" in honor of the powerful dog-like monster that attacked a poor, hapless Rick Moranis.
According to the museum, the dinosaur is 75 million years young and was a plant-eater with a head that resembled that of the Ghostbusters monster so there you go.
As for the rest of the dinosaur, the museum describes it thusly:
Like Zuul, the new species has a short, rounded snout and prominent horns behind the eyes. The shape of the horns and the ornaments on the skull are what identified Zuul as a species new to science. Its species name, crurivastator, means ‘destroyer of shins’, and references the incredible weapon-like tail club found with the skeleton
This image gives you a better idea of what it looked like and it's size.
And this drawing makes it seem way more cuddly than the Ghostbusters version.
The skeleton is also important because, as discussed by the museum in the below video, it's "most complete and best-preserved ankylosaurs ever discovered," complete with "skin impressions" on the tail.
And, yep, look at that skull. It definitely looks like Zuul.
To drive home that connection, the museum invited Dan Akroyd, who played Ray Stantz in the first two films, to check out the dino skeleton.
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Now, not to get too nerdy, but fans will remember that though Zuul first appeared in the film inhabiting the body of a "terror dog" creature in the film (Akroyd's words!), the spirit of Zuul, described as a "demigod and minion of Gozer," later inhabited the body of Dana, played by Sigourney Weaver.
*Pushes glasses up nose*
Anyway, new dinosaurs and Ghostbusters references are a delight when combined but it raises a good question: If terror dog Zuul was real, does that mean the ghosts are also real?
Marcus Gilmer is Mashable's Assistant Real-Times News Editor on the West Coast, reporting on breaking news from his location in San Francisco. An Alabama native, Marcus earned his BA from Birmingham-Southern College and his MFA in Communications from the University of New Orleans. Marcus has previously worked for Chicagoist, The A.V. Club, the Chicago Sun-Times and the San Francisco Chronicle.
