REWARD: Identify this “Monster” and win a $10 gas card.
Posted by Xeno on July 30, 2008
found here.
Update: Elizabeth Barbeiri said her family saw it about a mile east of Gurney’s Inn in Montauk, July 14. And Ryan Kelso, via iPhone, said he spotted it — alive! — in the Montauk dunes. “It looked about the size of an average fox, gray in color, eyes like a mole, hairless and was breathing quite heavily,” he wrote – newsday
Below is not a turtle without a shell, it is a soft shelled turtle. They don’t look alike and according to one person a turtle’s shell is attached to its backbone so you can’t remove the shell without opening all its guts.
If it is a decaying dog, why does it seem to have a beak like a bird?
I’ll mail a $10 gas gift card to the first person who can correctly identify the top photo and provide sufficient evidence to convince me.
UPDATE: Here’s another photo.
UPDATE: 08/02/2008
Following this lead we looked into “eerie” Plum Island and contacted Dr. Larry Barrett, Center Director of Plum Island Animal Disease Center, who was kind enough to supply his take:
“It is impossible to accurately identify the species of animal from the photo. There is no scale from which to judge its size. Additionally, when a body has had prolonged exposure to water and predators, it can be altered or appear different from its normal form. If we had the actual body, we could tell you what it is; however, from viewing a canine tooth in the picture, we could guess it may be a cat or a raccoon. I can state categorically that it is not associated with the work performed at Plum Island Animal Disease Center (PIADC). PIADC serves as the nation’s first line of defense against foreign animal diseases of livestock by identifying such diseases through diagnostic testing and by developing vaccines to protect livestock from those diseases.”The mystery thickens … or does it? Steven T. Papa, a Senior Endangered Species/Federal Projects Biologist for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, has told Plum:
“Based on these higher resolution photos, it appears to be a raccoon based on estimating overall ear length to body length ratio in the photos to measurements found in the literature, as well as lower jaw and front leg characteristics.
This is the best I could do without seeing the ‘animal.’” – hamptons
Keschey said
The second photo is a soft shelled turtle, rather than a turtle with no shell… http://www.smh.com.au/news/travel/rare-softshell-turtle-found-in-mekong/2007/05/17/1178995303410.html (Sydney Morning Herald)
No idea what the first photo is though.
Keschey said
Turtle shells are also attached to their backbones, so if you took the shell off one, it’s back would be mutilated too.
Daniel said
What about if the shell had decomposed to the point of being right next to the skin all around, it may look like that.
Richard Hart said
It’s nothing more than a dog that’s been in the water for a while. The teeth are, if you forgive the pun, a dead giveaway. A short-muzzled breed, like a boxer. It’s hard to tell without a measurement reference.
Anonymos said
Could be
Anonymos said
acctually-it prob is it was pribably tied up,purposly drowned,and disfigureated;who knows
Xeno said
Very interesting Keschey, thanks! Richard, possibly … but what made its fur fall off and why does it seem to have a beak like a bird? Are you thinking that only the front of its face decayed down to the bone while the rest of its body didn’t?
harrison said
it’s a fetus dog that has decomposed a bit.
anonymous said
i thought it was a bird .
seeing that there’s a beak .
and the two front legs look like wings
Do birds have tails O_O?
The poor thing could’ve been tortured .
theres some kind of rope tied around its front legs
I think i see sand also on the body .
Could’ve been lying there for a while .
haven’t been moving .
anyway .
thats what i think =O
dogsounds said
I think soon after it was revealed as a prop for some TV show or other, being used in filming, but I forget…
dogsounds said
Oops, actually, after a little bit more research, the movie prop story may not actually be correct any longer. Seems the story moved on without me. Was supposedly a hoax perpetuated by the producer of an independent film, “Splinterheads”, but then the producer himself is alleged to have blamed tis connection on an enterprising 16-year old. Now, I have no idea.
http://gothamnews.co.uk/2008/08/16/monster-what-monster-splinterheads-crew-change-their-tune/
Bonnie said
I think that it’s some kind of turkey vulture, because the from “legs” look kind of like wings, considering that the finger looking things are like the end of wings. and theres a beak that resembles some kind of birds. the feathers could have fallen off, if also could have been in a fight with some animal that would result in the loss of its feathers. as for the tail, i don’t know..
Xeno said
If you had a picture that showed how this is a turkey vulture, I still have that $10 gas card waiting to be awarded. I just need some photo proof or a link or something that would definitely solve the mystery. So far, I think it is probably a gaff, that is, a fake monster created from the parts of different real dead animals.
Xenophilia Oddities « Zipline Conservative said
[...] under: The Culture, The Media — Tags: Montauk Sea Creature — swittersb @ 4:46 p09 Montauk Sea Creature Comments [...]
Kyla J. Glaser ESQ said
The absolute answer, from the renowned Loren Coleman, a well-recognized cryptozoologist (the scientific guys who investigate “monsters” and other “animal-like unknown life forms” for proof of new species), unequivocally states this “monster”, sometimes nicknamed the “Montauk Monster” is really just a very decayed raccoon who has decayed and mummified somewhat. It was found and believed to be either 1) a genetically altered animal or new species created by a large research laboratory that used to be on Montauk Island, NY, or 2) the Jersey Devil (a very frightening winged creature that cruises around the Pine Barrens of New Jersey) having decayed a bit, due to the beak-like appearance of the front mandible. For the entire explanation, see
http://www.history.com/video.do?name=monsterquest&bcpid=1541043115&bclid=9525765001&bctid=1883578405, or go to MonsterQuest on History Channel videos and type in “Montauk Monster” or view the full episode of the “Jersey Devil”. Hope that helps – you can send the $10 gas card to someone who needs it – I don’t have a car. Bye all.
Anon said
It looks like a deskinned racoon. You find lots of these in illegal skinning factories where they skin animals like cats, dogs, foxes, etc.. alive…
Message: Stop buying animal fur products.
basss said
it’s a wolf, dog, eagle, mix
Russ said
I think Anon is on the right track with the idea that it’s a skinned animal. That would explain the lack of fur on the body, and the lack of lips near the teeth.. The “cuff” on the front leg looks like maybe the skin has been turned inside out and pulled over the paw. The “beak” shape would make sense if the rest of the snout was buried by sand when the water washed by.
henry said
It’s pig and turtle or pig or valcher mabye a boar!!!!!!!!!!!