CRYPTOLINK: Massive Serpent Skeleton Permanently Hangs Out On European Shore

A word about cryptolinks: we are not responsible for the content of cryptolinks, which are merely links to outside articles that we think are interesting (sometimes for the wrong reasons), usually posted up without any comment whatsoever from me. 

Photo by Gino Maccarinelli

A 425-foot long sea serpent has emerged from the water in France, and people aren't running away from it, but rather flocking towards it. What the hell is wrong with them, you ask? Well, thankfully for the entire country, the massive water snake is merely a stunning work of art, rather than the creature from a Syfy flick come to life!

Photo by Philippe Cabaret

Fittingly titled Serpent d’océan, the giant aluminum skeleton is the work of artist Huang Yong Ping, a permanent piece of art that swims off the shore of France's Loire River. Yong Ping completed the incredible structure in 2012, and the twists and turns in its skeletal body cleverly mirror the curves of a nearby bridge. The artist hoped that by depicting a figure from Chinese mythology on European shores, it would make people think about identity and cultural hybridity.

Read on...

Scottish Sea serpent on the radio

On Saturday night’s Morton Through Midnight show the regular cryptozoology feature Morton’s Mystery Creatures focused on a mystery sea serpent spotted in Orkney  

Just over a hundred years ago, one fine day in August, nineteen hundred and ten, three men were out hunting ducks off the coast of Orkney when they encountered something far larger than wildfowl. 

The companions, a fellow by the name of Hutchinson, his father and a cousin, headed out towards the Skerry of Work located in Meil Bay. The day was perfect: bright, clear and tranquil as they sailed quietly out toward the Skerries. Suddenly the tranquility was broken by a school of whales leaping clear out of the water, making a great commotion and traveling at great speed as if in fear for their lives. This sudden surge of cetaceans, seemingly heading straight at the boat in a blind panic, just managed to avoid the fragile craft, much to the relief of its occupants.

But what was the reason for the whales’ panicked flight? The men first thought they were looking at an enormous stalk of kelp rising high above the water. However in place of a tangle of seaweed there was a head! They then realised that what they were seeing was actually a long snake-like neck topped by a horse-like head.

Now there appears to be two schools of thought on what to do in such a situation. The first is that displayed by Hutchinson; he thought the best thing to do was to aim his gun; after all what could be finer than the head of a sea serpent mounted on your wall. 

While our souvenir hunter was all for taking a potshot with his fowling piece, his father disagreed. He belonged to the second school of thought that can be summed up as - just run away as fast as possible, on no account shoot it. Nothing to do with the rarity and wonder of sea serpents, rather the fact that shooting an animal that has just scared away a school of whales could leave you confronted by one very annoyed sea serpent.

Common sense prevailed, no shots were fired, no one was harmed and thus we have a description of the creature.

The visible parts of the animal were dark brown with the impression of lighter bands running across the neck which might have just been wet streaks. All agreed that the head was some 18ft above the sea’s surface, darker in colour and likened to that of a horse or camel. Particularly odd was the neck, appearing to be too slender for the size of the head; the top part resembled a snake that gradually thickened until it was the width of a man.

The men watched the animal for around five minutes before it sank slowly back into the water, making not the slightest splash and leaving no bubbles as it disappeared below the waves.

So what did frighten the whales that August day? The first impression would seem to indicate a half-kelp half-triffid beast. However, from the fuller description it was almost certainly a member of the animal kingdom. It would appear that our duck hunters had seen an example of what Bernard Heuvelmans, the great cryptozoologist, would describe as a merhorse. Interestingly, this wasn’t the only encounter Hutchinson was to have with a sea monster. But that’s for another day.

If you want to read more about this sea serpent and others in Orkney you can find them all in my book Mystery Animals of the Northern Isles, which is available in both paperback from Amazon

 

You can listen to this show on the following link Morton through Midnight  it is 1 hour 26 minutes 10 seconds into the show.

Cryptozoology on the radio again

On Sunday night’s Morton Through Midnight show the regular cryptozoology feature Morton’s Mystery Creatures focused on the Prestwick sea serpent. It is perhaps the only truly mysterious stranding reported to have taken place in Scotland.

A tale is told that during the Second World War the body of a mysterious creature was discovered washed up on a sandy beach near to Prestwick airport in Ayrshire.

Following a storm, amongst the usual flotsam and jetsam washed up onto the beach, there was something a lot more interesting: the remains of a sea serpent. Unlike many a supposed sea serpent whose skeletal remains have been reported to have washed ashore this impressive find was not in an advanced state of decay at all but was actually fresh, the flesh being soft with no smell of decomposition to it.

The creature was lying flat on its belly with its long neck stretched out in front and a long tail behind. It was estimated to be between 12 and 14 feet in length with head, neck, torso and tail complete.

The head - around a foot long - was similar in size to that of a horse but was broader and flatter. There were big eye sockets from which the eyes had disappeared, presumably eaten by scavengers. Apart from that damage the head was still pretty much intact with working upper and lower jaws complete with teeth.    

The neck was around 4-5ft in length and a fan-shaped track had been left in the sand where it had been washed to and fro by the tide.

The body was similar in length to the neck and was covered in a complete layer of muscle, skin and interestingly, a short fur similar to that found on seals. The torso was buried halfway into the sand and both the pectoral and pelvic girdles and joints showed where four flippers came out of the body. The flippers themselves lay buried in the sand. There was no sign of a dorsal fin but there was a mane running down the middle of the back. 

The tail was said to be roughly the same length as both the neck and body at 4-5ft. It was described as being like that of a tadpole with a fin going all the way round it. This fin was in the process of breaking down into fibres that looked like the bristles on a broom. 

Local folk and fishermen who saw the remains couldn’t think of any known creature that it resembled. It was suggested that it looked like the remains of a prehistoric reptile, albeit a furry one.

After a while the body disappeared. Was it washed away or did it become covered by sand? Is it possible that some part of this mystery animal is still buried in the sand awaiting discovery on that Ayrshire beach?

If you want to read more about this stranding and others in Scotland you can find them all in my book Sea Serpent Carcasses Scotland: from the Stronsa Monster to Loch Ness, which is available in both paperback and kindle from Amazon.

 

If you are interested in owning my oil painting of this creature you can find it for sale on eBay;  a rare chance to buy one of my cryptozoological paintings.

You can listen to this tale on show on the following link morton through midnight .It is 1 hour 39 minutes 23 seconds into the show.