This article was published in Scientific American’s former blog network and reflects the views of the author, not necessarily those of Scientific American
Nothing like a bizarre-looking sea "monster" to draw crowds to a tony resort town. The blogosphere has been abuzz since Gawker.comearly 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.)
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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.