Water Monster · Alexandria, Virginia · 1839

VA-1839ID case-31d4cc9cd7Fallback locationAdded to map Oct 30, 2026

Creature: Water Monster
When: Aug 1839to the month
Where: Alexandria, Virginiafallback location
Reports: 1 document1 independent

The account

The Boston Transcript reports that Captain Sturgis of a Revenue Cutter claimed to have seen an animal near his vessel that corresponded with accounts of the sea serpent, though he did not identify it as a specific known fish.

See the source ↓ one document so far, so there is no trail to follow yet

We map claims, not creatures: this is what the sources say, not proof. How a case is built

Details

Creature: Water Monster
Where: Alexandria, Virginia, United States
mapped to town level · from the newspaper's printing town, not where it was seen
Fallback location (drawn hollow on the map): this is the newspaper's printing town, not where it was seen.
When: Aug 1839
Account: Not first-hand (retold or reported by someone else)
Backed by: 1 independent source
Added to map: Oct 30, 2026
Case id: case-31d4cc9cd7

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Source trail (1)

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 2 of Alexandria gazette (Alexandria, D.C.), August 5, 1839
Newspaper · 1839-08-05
Earliest found, not necessarily the original.

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