The Montauk Monster was no fluke. Whatever it was, it had a predecessor, perhaps many, but at least one whose discovery in a Montauk fish trap was reported by The East Hampton Star exactly 100 years ago this month. “Great excitement has been caused by the finding, in a fish trap off Montauk, of what is declared to be a sea serpent measuring 22 feet in length, having a neck six feet long and a tail about eight feet. It is considered the greatest discovery of the kind ever made on the east end of Long Island, and seems to prove beyond a doubt that the sea serpent is not a myth, as everyone supposed, but a verity.”Funny how “experts” come out of the woodwork when something is not easily explained. When the “monster” was discovered on the beach last year, some said it proved beyond a doubt that aliens were not a myth, as everyone supposed, but a verity. Others said it proved that Plum Island experimental abominations were not a myth, nor were the horrific results of the time-travel experiments performed deep under Camp Hero on homeless urchins plucked from the streets of New York City by agents of the Montauk Project.
A more mundane explanation has lately come from a group of young men who were vacationing on Shelter Island in June of last year when they came upon a dead raccoon. Allegedly, they put the carcass in a child’s swim duck, lit it on fire, and set it afloat in order to give the animal a proper Viking burial. According to their account, currents took the scorched Viking around Montauk Point and down the coast, where it washed up in front of the Surfside restaurant — ground zero.
