Water Monster · Topeka, Kansas · 1779
KS-1779ID case-c824e0192dFallback locationAdded to map Oct 30, 2026
- Creature
- Water Monster
- When
- 1779to the year
- Where
- Topeka, Kansasfallback location
- Reports
- 3 documents1 independent
The account
Commodore Preble and his crew pursued a sea serpent 100 feet long with a large head that moved too rapidly to be overtaken.
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
- Topeka, Shawnee County, Kansas, 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
- 1779
- Account
- Not first-hand (retold or reported by someone else)
- Backed by
- 1 independent source (3 documents; copies and reprints are not confirmations)
- Added to map
- Oct 30, 2026
- Case id
- case-c824e0192d
Place lookups use data © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL), via Nominatim. All credits
Source trail (1)
Down the rabbit hole → 3 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 6 of The Topeka state journal (Topeka, Kansas), August 1, 1896
Newspaper · 1896-08-01
Earliest found, not necessarily the original.
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.