Water Monster · Barnstable County, Massachusetts · 1843
MA-1843ID case-28b0ba29eeAdded to map Oct 8, 2026
- Creature
- Water Monster
- When
- Aug 5, 1843to the day
- Where
- Barnstable County, Massachusettsto county level
- Reports
- 8 documents1 independent
The account
Captain Wales reports that he and Mr. [name], along with part of the crew, observed a huge sea monster resembling an eel rising vertically from the water near Cape Cod for about half an hour.
Trace the source trail → every document, in time order, and how they connect
We map claims, not creatures: this is what the sources say, not proof. How a case is built
Details
- Creature
- Water Monster
- Where
- Barnstable County, Massachusetts, United States
mapped to county level · from the report's own words, generalized to a larger area - When
- Aug 5, 1843
- Account
- Not first-hand (retold or reported by someone else)
- Backed by
- 1 independent source (8 documents; copies and reprints are not confirmations)
- Added to map
- Oct 8, 2026
- Case id
- case-28b0ba29ee
Place lookups use data © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL), via Nominatim. All credits
Source trail (5)
Down the rabbit hole → 8 documents, and how they connect
Every link goes to where we found the account. The earliest we found is marked; it is the earliest found, not necessarily the original.
- Image 4 of The New York herald (New York [N.Y.]), October 6, 1843
Newspaper · 1843-10-06
Earliest found, not necessarily the original. - Image 2 of The daily Madisonian (Washington City [i.e. Washington, D.C.]), October 7, 1843
Newspaper · 1843-10-07 - Image 4 of The Madisonian (Washington City [i.e. Washington, D.C.]), October 9, 1843
Newspaper · 1843-10-09
Show 2 more sources
- Image 2 of Richmond enquirer (Richmond, Va.), October 17, 1843
Newspaper · 1843-10-17 - Image 2 of New-Hampshire statesman and state journal (Concord [N.H.]), October 20, 1843
Newspaper · 1843-10-20
Further reading
- The Great New England Sea Serpent, J. P. O'Neill (1999)
Account of the 1817 Gloucester sightings and later reports.
Borrow on Internet Archive - On the Track of Unknown Animals, Bernard Heuvelmans (1959)
The founding work of cryptozoology.
Borrow on Internet Archive - Cryptozoology A to Z, Loren Coleman and Jerome Clark (1999)
Encyclopedia of reported creatures.
Borrow on Internet Archive - Abominable Science!, Daniel Loxton and Donald Prothero (2013)
Skeptical history of the Yeti, Nessie and others.
Borrow on Internet Archive
Books we have not reproduced: borrow them free at archive.org. Listing a book is not an endorsement of its claims.