Water Monster · McCook, Nebraska · 1897

NE-1897ID case-6b75e3040cFallback locationAdded to map Oct 11, 2026

The account

Witness reports a gruesome beast resembling a whale with a large mouth was encountered by the crew of the bark Loontjana and shot in the head.

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

Creature: Water Monster
Where: McCook, Red Willow County, Nebraska, 69001, 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: Jan 1897
Account: Not first-hand (retold or reported by someone else)
Backed by: 1 independent source (2 documents; copies and reprints are not confirmations)
Added to map: Oct 11, 2026
Case id: case-6b75e3040c

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Down the rabbit hole → 2 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 7 of The McCook tribune (McCook, Neb.), January 1, 1897
Newspaper · 1897-01-01
Earliest found, not necessarily the original.

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