Flap: Newport, Arkansas, Jul 1937
4 reports · 4 separate documents
Water Monster (3), Other Aquatic (1).
In the 10 years either side we have 1 other report within 37 miles of here.
The reports, in order
- Jul 1937 David Smythe uses a homemade diving rig to search for a monster reported lurking in an eddy of the White River near Newport, Arkansas.
Other Aquatic · Newport, Arkansas - Jul 1937 Residents and a farmer report seeing a large, legless creature in the White River near Newport.
Water Monster · Newport, Arkansas - Jul 19, 1937 Charles B. Brown of the U.S. engineer's office is going after the "White river monster" that has excited Newport, Ark., residents for more than a week.
Water Monster · Newport, Arkansas - Jul 22, 1937 Residents of Newport strained to catch a glimpse of a sea monster reportedly described as a 'varmint bit as a box car' along the White river banks.
Water Monster · Newport, Arkansas
Sources: Newspaper (4).
How we find flaps
- Plain rules, no model: reports within 37 miles and about four months of each other are grouped, and a group counts only when it is at least 5 times what that place usually sees over the 10 years either side.
- A flap needs at least 3 reports from at least 3 separate documents: one article listing six sightings is one telling.
- Copies are not confirmations: a story reprinted in thirty papers counts once.
- Investigator logs (BFRO, NAWAC, the Loch Ness Register) are left out, because a busy field season looks just like a flap.
- Only reports placed to a town or county and dated to the month are used. A flap is a burst of reports, not proof of a creature: panics, hoaxes and newspaper fashions make flaps too.