The Montauk Monster Returns

Just when you thought it was safe to go back in the water, the Montauk Monster returns.

This week, the remains of another mysterious creature washed ashore at Montauk, New York, a hamlet on the South Shore of eastern Long Island. This latest arrival is the second such animal to despoil the shores of the East Hampton community in recent years. On July 12, 2008, 26-year old Jenna Hewitt discovered the remains of an ugly, unidentifiable creature at Montauk's Ditch Plains Beach.

"We didn't know what it was," Jenna Hewitt later told reporters, "We joked that maybe it was something from Jersey".

They Want to Believe

Not surprisingly, word of the first "Montauk Monster" quickly spread to cable news channels and across the Internet. During a summer when sci-fi fans flocked to movie theaters to watch "The X-Files: I Want to Believe", conspiracy theorists blogged about government-run experiments at the nearby Plum Island Disease Center. By the end of July, cryptozoologist Loren Coleman of Cryptomundo had coined the name "Montauk Monster" for an animal that Larry Penny, the East Hampton Natural Resources Director, had concluded was a raccoon with its upper jaw missing.

William Wise, director of Stony Brook University's Living Marine Resources Institute, also weighed in. After studying a photograph (image at right) that had made the rounds of the Internet, Wise concluded that the Montauk Monster was a hoax – the product of "someone who got very creative with latex". Based on the specimen's observable characteristics, Wise also discounted the possibilities that Jenna Hewitt had discovered a partially decomposed raccoon, sea turtle, a rodent, or dog.

The Montauk Monster 2

The first Montauk Monster was hardly the stuff of Peter Benchley's 1975 summer blockbuster Jaws, but even a bad movie can have a sequel. The creature that washed ashore on a Montauk beach this week reportedly smelled "like a mix of low-tide and rotten garbage", claimed Nicky Papers, who runs a Web site dedicated to the Montauk Monster. Papers, who says he's "dedicated quite a bit of time to debunking all theories presented" since establishing www.montauk-monster.com last summer, adds that he hasn't "ruled out biological warfare on this yet".

What Do You Think?

At this point, The Y Files believes that the Montauk Monster 2 (a.k.a. "Beastie") resembles a cat named Fluffy. With the upcoming release of Will Ferrell's Land of the Lost movie, however, similarities with Sleestaks may soon become apparent.

Resources:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/30742498/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Montauk_Monster

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Montauk,_New_York

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0077766/

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0073195/

http://teaser-trailer.com/2008/12/land-of-the-lost-movie-with-will-ferrell.html