Water Monster · Essex County, Massachusetts · 1886
MA-1886ID case-78157441fbAdded to map Oct 30, 2026
- Creature
- Water Monster
- When
- Sep 1886to the month
- Where
- Essex County, Massachusettsto county level
- Reports
- 4 documents1 independent
The account
Witnesses report seeing a large, snake-like marine animal near Cape Ann, described as undulating vertically and measuring approximately seventy feet in length.
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
- Essex County, Massachusetts, United States
mapped to county level · from the report's own words, generalized to a larger area - When
- Sep 1886
- Account
- Not first-hand (retold or reported by someone else)
- Backed by
- 1 independent source (4 documents; copies and reprints are not confirmations)
- Added to map
- Oct 30, 2026
- Case id
- case-78157441fb
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Source trail (2)
Down the rabbit hole → 4 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 1 of Morning journal and courier (New Haven [Conn.]), September 20, 1886
Newspaper · 1886-09-20
Earliest found, not necessarily the original. - Image 1 of The Fairfield news and herald (Winnsboro, S.C.), September 22, 1886
Newspaper · 1886-09-22
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.