Water Monster · Great Bay, New Jersey · 1856

NJ-1856ID case-c9808f9068Added to map Nov 5, 2026

The account

Captain Birse reports seeing a large, black, eel-tailed creature with an oval head and large eye in the water near Great Egg Harbor.

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: Great Bay, Little Egg Harbor Township, Ocean County, New Jersey, United States
mapped to approximate level · from the report's own words
When: May 16, 1856
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: Nov 5, 2026
Case id: case-c9808f9068

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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 4 of Minnesota weekly times (St. Paul, Minn.), May 17, 1856
Newspaper · 1856-05-17
Earliest found, not necessarily the original.

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