Montauk Monster

From TinWiki.org

The Montauk Monster.

The Montauk Monster is a mysterious creature that supposedly washed ashore on a Montauk, New York beach in July of 2008. The creature’s identity has been an increasingly hot topic since its discovery, as well as the stories that surround it. The Montauk Monster generated national media attention from the likes of CNN and ATS and has created much discussion on the internet.

1 History
2 The Monster
3 External Sources
4 Relevant Discussion Topics on AboveTopSecret.com

[edit]

History

The Monster was claimed to have been discovered by Jenna Hewitt and three friends on July 12 at Ditch Plains beach. She took a color picture which ran in the local newspaper under the headline “The Hound of Bonacville”. The article suggested that the monster was perhaps a turtle, or even an experiment from the Plum Island Animal Disease Center. It also had a comment from the East Hampton Natural Resources Director, who claimed that the monster was a raccoon that was missing its upper jaw. The newspaper article also mentioned that someone had taken the body away to be buried. Hewitt has since denied requests to reveal the location of the body for inspection.

The spread of the story happened rather quickly, and is cause for a lot of the skepticism regarding the truth of the story. Hewitt and her friends were interviewed after the incident by Plum-TV, a local cable show. Alanna Navitski, an employee of the media group of the cable station, gave a picture of the monster to Anna Holmes at Jezebal. Holmes then passed the picture to another website, Gawker.com which in turn gave in wide attention. The “he-said”, “she-said” nature of the disclosure has caused many to doubt the initial accounts of the monster.

Currently, the popular website Snopes.com lists the Montauk Monster as an urban legend.

[edit]

The Monster

There has been much speculation about the identity of the creature since its discovery. Some reports claim the monster is a turtle without its shell, a dog, or a raccoon. Others have suggested that the appearance of the creature was changed through its prolonged immersion in water, thus making it impossible to identify.

The director of Stony Brook University’s Living Marine Resource Institute, William Wise, deemed the creature to be a fake. He discounted the most popular theories about the creature such as:

Raccoon – The legs appear to be too long in proportion to the body

Sea Turtle – Sea turtles do not have teeth

Rodent – Rodents have two huge, curved incisor teeth in front of their mouths

Dog – Prominent eye ridge and the feet don’t match

Sheep – Sheep don’t have sharp teeth

There has since been continued speculation regarding the possibility that the monster is any of the aforementioned creatures.

It has also been mentioned that perhaps the monster was a viral marketing campaign for “The Secret Saturdays”, a Cartoon Network show that featured a group of cryptozoologists.

[edit]