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Aug 1, 2008 05:32 PM | 48
Nothing like a bizarre-looking sea "monster" to draw crowds to a tony resort town. The blogosphere has been abuzz since Gawker.com early this week featured a story and photo of a bulky hairless corpse with sharp teeth and a snout that reportedly washed up in Montauk on the eastern tip of Long Island, N.Y. Another Big Foot or Loch Ness Monster, perhaps?
The report of the cryptid was picked up by Fox News, CNN and other TV nets, magazines and newspapers as far away as London hungry for a hot story to spice up the summer news doldrums.
"We were looking for a place to sit when we saw some people looking at something," Jenna Hewitt, 26, told Newsday. "We were kind of amazed, shocked and amazed." Hewitt was among a bunch of locals who insist they saw the odd-looking corpse. Most of those weighing in on the creature's identity subscribed to the theory that it was a dog. (A pit bull was the prevailing favorite.)
Others, some who only saw the snapshot, speculated it may have been a raccoon or, perhaps, a sea turtle that lost its shell.
But we may never know for sure. It seems, you see, that the body has been moved. And nobody (at least nobody talking) knows by whom—or where it was taken.
"They say an old guy came and carted it away," Hewitt said. "He said, "I'm going to mount it on my wall."
Charming.
Tags:
monster,
Montauk,
cryptid
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48 Comments
Add CommentUh, turtles don't have teeth . . .
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisIts defiantly a dog, it just looks weird because the lips and mouth rotted away exposing the skull.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisI have solved this Mystery.. I found another picture of the Montauk Monster
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thishttp://craigrant.com/2008/08/02/montauk-monster-mystery-solved-by-craig-grant/
It's a racoon. There are way better pictures out there from other witnesses. It can't be a tutle because a turtles spine is actually a part of it's shell. A tutrtle cannot get out of it's shell, despite what cartoon portray.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisIt's a marketing scheme. Why would any beverage company offer a lifetime of product for a rotting dead pitbull? The canine teeth make it obvious. I live on the beach and I have seen many dead animals, this one most likely jumped off a boat or a dock only to wash up later. I'd be more interested in the Canadian Bigfoot siting than a dead dog on a New York beach. That animal looks like half the other East coast freaks that hang out on the beach Hahaha.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisRob in Seattle
this creature is not a dog, racoon, or a turtle. it is simply a baby gryphon. now it seems strange but is you dont believe us go to www.heartofthedrafon.net. or type in baby gryphon. the similarities between the baby gryphon and the monster is the eyes, the beak, the tail, and the rounded feet. please support our idea because it is true. thank you!!!!!eeeeeeee
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisi dont think it is a racoon because it has a beak and some people say it is their teeth and they are wrong because teeth dont have nostrils in them. thank you.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thispeople of earth sorry for the confusin to get the picture of the baby gryphon you have to type in google"baby gryphon and it is the third picture down in the first collum on the left. thank you and have a nice day!!!!!
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisyes u r right
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisok first of all it is not a dog because dogs dont have beaks and it is not the because it is under the eyes and the skull in in its head. thank you.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thiscraig grant did not find the explanation of the monster in my opinion.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisIt looks most like a tapir, to me, but with soft tissue of its shout worn off. The general build, feet, hide and teeth look right.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thishttp://www.billybear4kids.com/animal/whose-toes/Tapir1Yawn.jpg
http://www.skullsunlimited.com/malayan_tapir_skull.html
http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/f/f5/Tapir_hooves.jpg/800px-Tapir_hooves.jpg&imgrefurl=http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Image:Tapir_hooves.jpg&start=105&h=408&w=800&sz=101&tbnid=MgWFwAjSkyEtNM:&tbnh=73&tbnw=143&hl=en&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dtapir%26start%3D100%26gbv%3D1%26hl%3Den%26newwindow%3D1%26safe%3Doff%26sa%3DN
http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.tapirtype.com/About_Tapirs/Bairds_Tapir.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.tapirtype.com/About_Tapirs/index.html&h=350&w=419&sz=89&hl=en&start=51&tbnid=_ZdQ-_zdC0Fb8M:&tbnh=104&tbnw=125&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dtapir%26start%3D40%26gbv%3D2%26ndsp%3D20%26hl%3Den%26newwindow%3D1%26safe%3Doff%26sa%3DN
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Regards,
John Popelish
Maybe it's a capybara? Wasn't there a hurricane that passed by South America recently - could have been dumped here by the Gulf stream.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisMy 5 year old nephew says its a old old dinosaur that goes in the water to eat.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisMy 5 year old nephew said its an old old dinosaur that goes into the ocean to eat fish.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisNothing about this points to a reptile, ie turtle. A turtles backbone is fused to it's shell an very difficult to seperate and no injury appears on this animals back. Turtles do NOT have full teeth either. The skin, feet, facial/head features point to a mammal. Maybe canine at a wierd camera angle. My thought is a large rat bloated by decomposition. Nothing of scale in this picture so what size was it exactly where is the body? If I had found this thing on the beach, I'd still have it. Makes you wonder. I'm amazed by what people have written about this, crazy seems to rule the day.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisdude i took this picture and blew it up and this damn thing has wings or like 2 elbows on one arm. this is some type of mutated bird or turtle. and i went to some of these site it may be a baby gryphon i dont know but i dont think there are aliens bird man and that defintilly not a dog or raccoon
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisits just freaky and who ever this old man is that took it needs to turn in to the someone that can run test and disect it
i took that picture and if you was too look at its arm it looks like it has 2 elbows on one arm and it may be some sort of wing.. this thing is definately not a dog. turttle, raccon cat what ever and i definately think its not an alien. i think who ever this old man is need to take if off his wall and take it proper attoritiies so it can be disected and tested
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisThis "monster" looks like a Nutria (Myocastor coypus). It is not a mythical creature or someones nightmares coming to life. Relax people, not everything out there is the spawn of all that is evil just because it can't be identified right away!
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisYou people are freaking tards. Birdman? Where are the f'ing wings if it is a birdman? Or did this one forget to put his on before leaving home that morning? And gryphons? Please...
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisCan we say Otter?
Saltwater and exposure would quickly de-fur the skin, while "pickling" the corpse to the state, and color, we see in the picture. The "fingers" are the otters clever hands, plus dagger claws. Odd lumps could easily be attributed to gas bloating. And the decay in the face is from crabs, shrimp, fish and bacteria eating away at it, exposing the "beak", lol.
Here is the skeleton of a river otter - that front bit looks sort of like the "beak", huh?:
http://oceanlink.island.net/seaotterstewardship/images/otter%20know/skeletons/riverotterskeleton.jpg
Here is a picture of a "dead" otter:
http://english.chosun.com/media/photo/news/200501/200501060038_01.jpg
Come on folks. There is no such thing as gryphons, and never have been. The legend of the gryphon arises from the same place in the world as hundreds (if not thousands) of winged reptile/dino fossils have been found. I know if I was wondering out in the wilderness a thousand years ago, and came across the exposed fossilized skeleton of a something like that, I'd probably think it was a monster too, and tell tales about it to my buddies around the fire. I might even embellish the tale and said I'd killed one.
And if you believe that people with animal heads are walking around, or did, well, how about investing in some ocean-front property in Arizona?
Grow up and move into reality-land, ok?
IT'S AN OTTER, I TELL YOU...
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisAN OTTER DISASTER, THAT'S WHAT IT IS! *LOL*
Seriously, I hate to spoil the fun, but I believe it's an otter.
Check this otter skeleton: http://www.otternet.com/images/seaskel.gif
PJV
Hi, Not Tarded.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisDidn't mean to be redundant or to step on your lines there.
Was a bit excited about figuring out what the creature was and didn't see your comment before posting mine.
Oh, well, great minds run in the same channels, 'ey? *g*
PJ
Iz dog. Burp. Deelicious.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisi believe that it is fake because after all these years something similar could have come up and why now its probably just a stupid joke
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisIt is either a cat or a girl I used to date.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisthe corpse has a hip bone so it is not a turtle
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisIt may be an animal that was tortured in some satanic ritual explaing the loss of fur and black cloth around the "arm".
Could this sort of thing be photoshopped? I mean all thats been presented is the picture and it looks real to me, but I'm skeptic because of how good some people are with photoshop. Think I'd believe it was real if it was actually shown by live camera with several professionals poking and proding at it. Not to mention the thing has already been said to be removed by some bum on a beach. Whoever might've taken it should be tracked down so the creature can be examined by the scientific community if the thing is real.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisIts the "Chupacabras" it really exists.....
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisohhh,,, finally ... its the "Chupacabras"
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisAmerican underground experiments, with animal human and alien strains . The Germans did it . We have been doing since the 50's. Look at dulce papers . We have underground networks from west to east coasts. This one escaped and soon carted away with no explanation. Look at dulce papers in Nevada. Wake up people!!
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisUnderground animal human alien breeding. Certain sects of government have been experimenting with aliens since the 50's. Look at dulce papers. He just got loose from underground lab. USA has many underground facilities.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisLooks like a tapir that has been in the water for awhile. The skeletal structure of the head matches that of a tapir skull minus the flesh and some of the bone that forms the snout. Is some zoo missing a tapir? Is a lab missing a tapir? Did some throw a tapir overboard? Did a tapir die en route? Perhaps illegal trade of some sort?...
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisSee:
http://www.tapirback.com/tapirgal/pictures.htm
http://www.karencarr.com/tmpl1.php?CID=180
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Image:TapirSkelLyd2.png
It is a bull terrier. Our good buddy "spud mckenzie" slept with the fishes. Could it be gambling debts? From the look of the skull between the ears and the forehead slope, it looks like a bull terrier.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisOn the other hand , tapirs have short tails...
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thison the other hand, the tapirs I've seen have very short tails...
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisThe closeup pictures provided by craigrant have me thinking it's a juvenile or perhaps baby raccoon. The front paws/hands do NOT look like dog paws to me, just look at those long, grasping fingers. That says raccoon to me. The appearance of a beak is intriguing, but the closeups show that the skull is rotting through and that can give a beak-like appearance. Also, if the closeup of a fly on the carcass is not a touch-up job then that give it some scale - as small as it is on this page I first thought it was a full grown bull that had been skinned, but if the fly is actually there then this gives it a better sense of scale and it just can't be that big. It does seem to have something of a fat butt and a longish tail, so I don't know how well that jibes with the raccoon theory. It almost has a pig-like body - could this be a skinned and/or rotting wild boar?
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisIt's John McCain after a long night of partying with his biker friends in Sturgis.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisAgent K, we found the dead trylaxian we had lost!... and you people, please look at this light Ok, you did not see a dead trylaxian, it is a dead dog, nor the guy who picked it up was a MIB agent, but someone who wanted to get rid of a dead dog, the resort and the town are using this dead try... er dog as a way to boost tourism to their zone.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisyou will remember everything has a simple, rational explanation, and that there are no confirmed aliens among us.
What looks like a beak, such as that in a giant squid, in some photos, appears to be a bony structure of support for an appendage of some sort protruding from the snout. The shreds of flesh appearing there, in the subsequent photos, would have been the result of fishes or other scavengers attacking the corpses most fleshy and vulnerable part as it floated in from where ever it came from. Given the body, head and foot characteristics, and overall shape, my educated guess would be that this was once some sort of evolved tapir (look at the ear shape and set of the eyes). The only thing that doesn't fit with my hypothesis is the recurved carnivore teeth that seem to be evident. Tapirs are herbivorous. This beast was clearly a male. Are there fertile females out there somewhere? To paraphrase Mr Spock... "interesting".
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisI see others have postulated tapir, as well. The long tail could also be an evolutionary answer to insect pest problems. Bot flies, a horrid affliction, if you've seen the pictures of what they wreak, jump to mind. Or perhaps, a warning sign to other carnivorous tapir variations seeking escape signs when those who prey upon them approach. Like the spots on the backs of leopards' ears. Find the supposed old man who carted away the remains for trophy use. There lies the biological exploration of remains, cryptid CSI, that will shed the needed light. Though, like Nessie, I must stress that the fun and fascination is found in the mystery of not knowing for sure! Maybe Dr Moreau is alive and well and experimenting on an unknown island near you!
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisI heard it was a "hoax", so to speak; a form of viral advertisement for an upcoming film about the Montauk Project (just google "Montauk movie film").
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisIt's a hog. Why hasn't anyone suggested that? It makes too much sence, that's why. It has large lower teeth, fur, a tail. Look at the "beak" from the front, not the side where the illusion of a point is created, it's a big, round piece of cartilage. Just like a pig's nose. Keep in mind this thing is dead, and animals, insects, and bacteria have been munching on the best parts. Since the stomach cavity hasn't been punctured yet, they start with the eyes and work their way in and around from there.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisHistory channel suggests it might be a dog. That could be a possibility. However what suprises me is the complete avoidance of the idea that it might have been a wild hog. There are no size comparison pictures, so we have no idea how big this thing is.
Not to poo on the Gryphon idea, but that animal is fictional (many call it a fantasy creature). It is also known as a Griffin. If my memory serves me that animal was used to adorn churches and Masonic buildings. Also, they have used it as a symbol of bravery and such on the coat of arms. It's a freaking Gargoyle, it doesn't exist. :-) It's like a Dragon, but not even nearly as believed in, and everyone knows that Fire-Breathing Dragons do not exist. This is Sci Am dot com, c'mon.
In my opinion, it is simply and very uninterestingly a decomposing body of a young wild hog.
Wow! It would seem that only 2 commentors on this site were seriously trying to ID this corpse. Congratulations PJV and Not Tarded.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisThe first images I saw were of the white corpse (as Not Tarded said this happens to dead bodies left in water). There is no beak that is the skull. The shape of the skull and the teeth most closely resemble that of an otter. In one photo there are two people standing about one to two feet away and the size of the corpse would appear to be about two to three feet long, this would be consistent with the size of an otter. The only inconsistency that bothers me are the "photos" which seem to to be the only ones that some people have seen are most likely photoshoped to make the corpse appear more "alien". This would be the appearance of flesh and eyes on the head and the "beaky" appearance not to mention the strange looking front appendages.
The other corpse or should I say skeleton looks nothing like one I just commented on. The skull is completely different as it has no opening in front for the soft tissue of a nasal cavity coupled with the fact that the spine again by comparison of scale to the people standing around is somewhere in area of 15 to 20 feet long and therefore most likely that of a sea creature, maybe just maybe a baby whale.
It looks to me like perhaps a sheep's head has been grafted onto the body of a dog or something else. Other pictures show a very long skeletal structure attached to it, like a huge snake or eel with a skeletal system. I think th epranksters who started the crop circle trned of a few years back are at it again. It is a shame to violate the dead body of an animal and mutilate it so, but then, as Morrissey wrote in the Smiths, "barbarism begins at home."
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisThe mystery of Montauk Monster has been a long time gossip of everyone. Until now, several are still wondering on this matter. The Montauk Monster is a corpse of an animal, severely deformed, that washed up on the shore in upstate New York. The monster's origin is rumored to be everything from extraterrestrial to being from Plum Island, also known as Anthrax Island, is rumored to have been a site of horrific animal experiments. An animal with features like the monster has never before been seen among the living, but many feel its origins will be revealed with the persistence of time. Some people will be wondering just what the Montauk Monster will be doing on July 4, and would give a money to find out. Many would still give <a rev="vote for" title="How Does the Montauk Monster Celebrate July 4?" href=" http://personalmoneystore.com/Payday-Loans/">payday loans</a> to get to the bottom of the Montauk Monster.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thislol..it's not a turtle! If you look closely at the skull you can see where the top teeth have fallen out, and the hole in the front is actaully the nasal cavity. You have to remember it's probably been floating for a fair while, so it's water-logged and swolen and decomposing, so it may not look like any creature you've ever seen before as well! It's some kind of carnivore, you can see that from the teeth structure. Also look at the paws which resemble a dogs quite strongly. It's no mystery, just something people have never seen before thats a bit different!
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisWhat the hell is a gryphon????
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisblacla77: Gryphons?...How old are you?...I'm seriously asking! By the time most children reach the age of 10 years old, their minds have developed enough to know the difference between real creatures and "make-believe" creatures. Any person that is over the age of 10 years old and are still fooled into believing that make-believe creatures are real, must either be very naive and sheltered by his or her parents, or must have some type of brain damage that rendered he or her a permanent child.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisDo you also think Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck are really alive and able to speak like humans? If you do, please do yourself a favor, go to the nearest hospital, and tell the doctors and nurses there you believe in gryphons, Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck, and any other creatures you think are real. I guarantee the doctors would be very interested in listening to you!