Thursday, May 14, 2009

Montauk Monster




Toronto, Ontario - May 14, 2009 - Since I haven't written in a few days, I figured it was time to post something. I came across this story today that has been lurking around the news for almost a year now. It's the case of the Montauk Monster. This unidentified monster was allegedly washed ashore new the Montauk (which is a resort) in New York's Business district in July 2008.

Speculation in published reports included theories that the Montauk Monster might have been a turtle without its shell—even though a turtle's shell cannot be removed without damaging the spine nor do they have teeth as appear in the photograph —a dog, a raccoon,or maybe a science experiment from the nearby government animal testing facility, the Plum Island Animal Disease Center. The creature's appearance was believed to have been altered through immersion in water for an extended period before coming to rest on the shore, making it difficult to identify.

On August 1st, Gawker published pictures and X-ray images of a water rat, an Australian rodent with many similarities to the Montauk Monster, like the beak, tail, feet, and size. On the same day, Jeff Corwin appeared on Fox News and claimed that upon close inspection of the photograph, he feels sure the monster is merely a raccoon or dog that has decomposed slightly. This was backed up by Darren Naish, a British paleontologist, who examined the images and agreed that, if real, the creature was a raccoon.

Take a look at the video posted and you decide for yourself.

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