"We were out there digging when I started to discovery this reoccurring pattern," says Mike Hallet. As he points to a drawing he's made, he adds, "That's the shape right there. It can only equal one thing: A biological discovery."

This discovery has been made on the shores of the Great Salt Lake.

"In Utah, we have this ancient seashore; it once was the Pacific Ocean," Hallet says. "All that's left is the Great Salt Lake."

Two years of work later, Mike believes he has the find of a lifetime, which is pretty amazing, when you consider he makes his living as a truck driver.

Nothing against truck drivers, but the Utah scientific community is having a hard time taking this guy seriously. Even though Hallet talks at length about recurring patterns, and the fact that these pieces date back 520 million years, there's one thing he says that the scientists just can't handle.

"It's a sea dinosaur," he insists.

That's what's getting him the cold shoulder. No one believes him. His explanation?

"Nobody's discovered them yet," Hallet says matter-of-factly. "Everyone knows that dragons had to have existed."

So charismatic and convincing, I took him up on the chance to get these pieces to the scientific community here in Seattle. He gave me three of his best specimens to take in for examination.

Did he really find something over 500 million years old?

Over the past two years, Hallett says the evidence has made him a believer.

"That's the shape right there," he says as he points to a row of pieces with similar edges.

But what are these things found near the Great Salt Lake? Mike lent me a few pieces, and I took them to Doctor Liz Nesbitt, Curator of Paleontology at the UW's Burke Museum. It turns out Mike was right when it came to how old the pieces are.

"This collector wanted this to be Cambrian age, which is about 520 million years old," Doctor Nesbitt says. "It could well be the right time."

And within five seconds, we knew for sure.

"It's not a fossil," Nesbitt says.

What? What about the other pieces?

"It's the same thing," she says. "There's no bone here, or nothing that once was living that was preserved. It's just rocks."

Mike Hallett has found 520 million-year-old rocks. I remember asking him "What if I take these things to a scientist, and..."

"You're gonna say 'Mike, we've consulted the paleontologist, and there's no such thing as a Sea Dragon, and that these are just rocks,'" Hallett had remarked, seemingly knowing what was about to happen.

So you don't believe the scientists?

"No, because they haven't had their track hoes in the ground digging these things up," he says defiantly.

Doctor Nesbitt says they get calls like this all the time, especially when dinosaurs are on TV. But she keeps an open mind, and warmly welcomes you to bring in your find, for two reasons.

"One, because we really want to educate people as to what is a fossil, and what is not. The other reason is that we're a scientific institution. If it is a real fossil, it's of scientific interest," Nesbitt told KOMO News.

As for Mike Hallett? I haven't been able to reach him. And even if I did, I have a feeling his quest for his truth will continue.