Rhode Island Mystery Sea Monster Attack

[TheBeastOfPiratesBay]

Have any of you ever heard about a supposed incident in Rhode Island,In which a young girl was killed by "a horrible monster what comes out of the sea",supposedly,

"It had teeth which it chewed upon her with.It had flappers like would be found upon a seal.Roared like a lion.Beat of four would be rescuers."This incident apparently happened circa.1820,not to mention the girl was supposedly on the BEACH building sand-castles when this happened.The only place i have heard about this is a book (it was a kids book admittedly) called Creatures Of The Deep,if you find it on google books you can find this page.Anyway,the reason i'm on here is i'm wondering if anyone has heard about this from a different source than this book.This intrigued me due to the fact i don't know of any species of marine life in the waters of Rhode Island matching this description and physical power that is able to come up on land even temporarily.All answers are appreciated,Chow!.

[NatureBoff]

Have any of you ever heard about a supposed incident in Rhode Island,In which a young girl was killed by "a horrible monster what comes out of the sea",supposedly,

"It had teeth which it chewed upon her with.It had flappers like would be found upon a seal.Roared like a lion.Beat of four would be rescuers."This incident apparently happened circa.1820,not to mention the girl was supposedly on the BEACH building sand-castles when this happened.The only place i have heard about this is a book (it was a kids book admittedly) called Creatures Of The Deep,if you find it on google books you can find this page.Anyway,the reason i'm on here is i'm wondering if anyone has heard about this from a different source than this book.This intrigued me due to the fact i don't know of any species of marine life in the waters of Rhode Island matching this description and physical power that is able to come up on land even temporarily.All answers are appreciated,Chow!.

Thanks for asking. It reminds me of the 'master otter' attack which killed a woman whilst washing clothes on a river bank. THE IRISH MASTER OTTER IN SCOTLAND?. A female giant hyrax imo, short grey coat with a ferorious temper when fishing.

[Rafterman]

Never heard of it, but there were a rash of sea serpent sightings along the New England coast during that time. None of which were ever substantiated.

[vitruvian12]

Thanks for asking. It reminds me of the 'master otter' attack which killed a woman whilst washing clothes on a river bank. THE IRISH MASTER OTTER IN SCOTLAND?. A female giant hyrax imo, short grey coat with a ferorious temper when fishing.

According to you the giant hyrax seems to exist on every continent and in any environment since it seems to be your answer to pretty much everything. How can such a prolific animal live so many places and still remain completely undiscovered and leave not a trace of evidence for its existence?

[Rafterman]

According to you the giant hyrax seems to exist on every continent and in any environment since it seems to be your answer to pretty much everything. How can such a prolific animal live so many places and still remain completely undiscovered and leave not a trace of evidence for its existence?

It's Magic bro.

[TheBeastOfPiratesBay]

Thanks for asking. It reminds me of the 'master otter' attack which killed a woman whilst washing clothes on a river bank. THE IRISH MASTER OTTER IN SCOTLAND?. A female giant hyrax imo, short grey coat with a ferorious temper when fishing.

Thanks for your answer, the Dobhar-Chu story is interesting, i will research it more thoroughly than before.The supposed attacks are very similar,both in description of the creature and location of the victim while attacked.I might even try searching through Rhode island death records of this time.

[Mike G]

I might even try searching through Rhode island death records of this time.

Have fun.

[TheBoar]

like a seal but roared like a lion hmm a lost sea lion ?

[NatureBoff]

According to you the giant hyrax seems to exist on every continent and in any environment since it seems to be your answer to pretty much everything. How can such a prolific animal live so many places and still remain completely undiscovered and leave not a trace of evidence for its existence?

It's smarter than a dog or cat, and it does leave evidence, like three toed footprints.

[NatureBoff]

Thanks for your answer, the Dobhar-Chu story is interesting, i will research it more thoroughly than before.The supposed attacks are very similar,both in description of the creature and location of the victim while attacked.I might even try searching through Rhode island death records of this time.

It's a pleasure. There's much more to this story than first meets the eye. You'll get hooked. Best wishes

[ROGER]

Looks like an alligator's front foot.

[NatureBoff]

Looks like an alligator's front foot.

Yes, they're similar but NOT the same, and they also leave a distinctive tail track which isn't found with the Honey Island prints

Edited August 19, 2011 by Le Lapedalleur

[vitruvian12]

It's smarter than a dog or cat, and it does leave evidence, like three toed footprints.

Well done. I suppose it doesnt matter at all to you that what they are describing in the video you posted has no resemblence to your giant hyrax. Im sure details like that mean little to you.

[NatureBoff]

Well done. I suppose it doesnt matter at all to you that what they are describing in the video you posted has no resemblence to your giant hyrax. Im sure details like that mean little to you.

Harlan Ford, the hunter who took the original castings describes it exactly, and it's the classic 'master otter' account.

P.S. I've just found an essential weapon which might just work against a master otter, although you'd probably still wouldn't have a chance to use it properly, good for shark attacks though The “WASP Injector Knife” secrets a CO2 canister in the handle

Edited August 19, 2011 by Le Lapedalleur

[Verneph]

Hold.

The.

Phone.

I thought this topic was about a supposed sea monster attack. How do you go from that to talking about the Giant Hyrax? Is that not a prehistoric land-dwelling mammal? And even if it did have a reason to swim out there unnoticed, assuming they're still alive at all, why would it attack a girl sitting on the beach unprovoked? This theory makes zero sense. It doesn't even match the given description of this "beast": "It had teeth which it chewed upon her with.It had flappers like would be found upon a seal.Roared like a lion.Beat of four would be rescuers."

Now I ask you, does any species of hyrax large or small have "flappers like would be found upon a seal" which I'm going to assume means flippers like you'd see on a dolphin. Speaking of dolphins...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pNnx_X5ue2c

Now humor me and in your mind's eye replace that seal that got mauled with an image of a little girl innocently building a sand castle. I believe we have a potential suspect.

[Mike G]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pNnx_X5ue2c

Now humor me and in your mind's eye replace that seal that got mauled with an image of a little girl innocently building a sand castle. I believe we have a potential suspect.

Are you proposing Killer Whales off the Rhode Island coast?

[Verneph]

Are you proposing Killer Whales off the Rhode Island coast?

They have been known to venture in and around those waters, just not normally. It being unusual would explain why the locals had no idea what it was at the time.

It's a theory. Here's an image detailing the known range of Orca Whales as highlighted in blue:

Notice how they're known to be almost everywhere.

[Trakyan]

maybe its massive and deadly seal/sea lion kinda fit the description except for the teeth hmmm maybe i had something stuck in its teeth like a bone that apeared to be a tooth

[NatureBoff]

Hold.

The.

Phone.

I thought this topic was about a supposed sea monster attack. How do you go from that to talking about the Giant Hyrax? Is that not a prehistoric land-dwelling mammal? And even if it did have a reason to swim out there unnoticed, assuming they're still alive at all, why would it attack a girl sitting on the beach unprovoked? This theory makes zero sense. It doesn't even match the given description of this "beast": "It had teeth which it chewed upon her with.It had flappers like would be found upon a seal.Roared like a lion.Beat of four would be rescuers."

Now I ask you, does any species of hyrax large or small have "flappers like would be found upon a seal" which I'm going to assume means flippers like you'd see on a dolphin. Speaking of dolphins...

Now humor me and in your mind's eye replace that seal that got mauled with an image of a little girl innocently building a sand castle. I believe we have a potential suspect.

You need to read the details in this link, numbhead PLEASE READ

1.Appearances:

A. Long hair on the head. Shorter hair all over the body. Head hair forming bangs somewhat over the eyes. Hair color is dingy gray.

B. When Harlan Ford first saw it, it was on all fours, facing away from him. He said that it reminded him of an African lion from the rear.

C. When the creature heard the voices of Harlan and his companion, it turned and stood upright on two legs , and made eye contact with the two men. The two men and the creature stood staring at each other as if sizing up the situation.

D. The most outstanding thing the two men remember the most, was the size of the creature's eyes. He said they were disproportionally large, compared to the head and they were of an amber color.

E. He said that the face looked like something out of a horror movie. It had a sinister look.

F. Harlan described it as being about seven feet tall. It's loins were slender and it's chest and shoulders were tremendous.

G. Harlan and Billy Mills, on another occasion found a series of three wild boars that were killed by bites to the throat. The first two were a good ways away from water, and had been dead a day or two. The third was lying in the water, with warm blood coming from it's throat and the hog was still kicking. Around the dying hog were the distinctive tracks of the creature.

H. According to Perry Ford the creature makes a sound like a screech owl, except with more bass, and much more strength.

I. According to Perry Ford, dogs will pick up the scent and run the creature. The creature circled his camp for many hours one night and had squalled for a while. Towards daylight a pack of dogs picked up the scent and made their way to his camp and circled it many times before making their way on out through the woods.

M. According to Denny Crawford, a local with some knowledge of the creature, he knew a man who had lived in the swamp pretty deep and the man said that he believed that the animal migrated in and out of the area as it seemed to be more common at certain times of the year and gone at other times.

N. Scientists, who examined the tracks, all agreed they were not hoaxes. The webbed toe imprints appeared to be a cross between a Primate and a large alligator... an impossible mixture. The scientists estimated the creature's weight at about four hundred pounds.

O. When Harlan and Billy first encountered the creature and it ran, they got the impression that it would go down on all fours any moment. As it disappeared into the brush they saw it appear to go down on all fours again.

P. They, at that time, gave chase into an island or isthmus with only one way in and they could not locate it. They circled the island and could not find tracks going into the water.

Edited August 20, 2011 by Le Lapedalleur

[vitruvian12]

You need to read the details in this link, numbhead PLEASE READ

N. Scientists, who examined the tracks, all agreed they were not hoaxes. The webbed toe imprints appeared to be a cross between a Primate and a large alligator... an impossible mixture. The scientists estimated the creature's weight at about four hundred pounds.

Who were the "scientists" mentioned in this quote? Did they examine the tracks or the castings? If they just looked at the castings how can they estimate the weight without seeing the type of ground the tracks were in and the conditions of the day that would effect the ground?

Edited August 20, 2011 by vitruvian12

[silentforce]

I seriously want to know how you managed to make something that looks very much like a guinea pig and is HERBIVOROUS into a 400 pound 7 feet tall thing that is compared to a lion, alligator and primate and is clearly a carnivore by the information in your oh so important link.

[Grape Soda]

Who were the "scientists" mentioned in this quote? Did they examine the tracks or the castings? If they just looked at the castings how can they estimate the weight without seeing the type of ground the tracks were in and the conditions of the day that would effect the ground?

you know he won't have an answer to that, he'll just spin it. this is just his aquatic bigfoot. no reason to let facts or opposing opinions get in the way.

[Verneph]

...

I fail to see how a swamp monster that may or may not be your "giant hyrax" is in anyway related to an attack off the coast of Rhode Island by an unidentified sea monster that may or may not have been an Orca whale. Sounds to me like you're trying to force the issue of this giant mammal when in reality anyone can plainly see the two incidents are unrelated especially since I don't think even your elusive hyrax has "flappers like would be found upon a seal."

[TheBeastOfPiratesBay]

...

I fail to see how a swamp monster that may or may not be your "giant hyrax" is in anyway related to an attack off the coast of Rhode Island by an unidentified sea monster that may or may not have been an Orca whale. Sounds to me like you're trying to force the issue of this giant mammal when in reality anyone can plainly see the two incidents are unrelated especially since I don't think even your elusive hyrax has "flappers like would be found upon a seal."

I really like your Orca hypothesis it had not even crossed my mind but when you mention it,it fits the description of the attacker down to a tee,the only possible problem is that an Orca has never been reported killing a human but,hey that does not mean it never happened.The remaining problem would be to verify this attack actually happened but if i or someone else were able to verify it,i think it would be safe to say an Orca was the culprit.And yes,the Hyrax is interesting but i doubt it or the Honey Island Swamp Monster were killing people by the Rhode Island sea shore in the early nineteenth century.

[Verneph]

I really like your Orca hypothesis it had not even crossed my mind but when you mention it,it fits the description of the attacker down to a tee,the only possible problem is that an Orca has never been reported killing a human but,hey that does not mean it never happened.The remaining problem would be to verify this attack actually happened but if i or someone else were able to verify it,i think it would be safe to say an Orca was the culprit.And yes,the Hyrax is interesting but i doubt it or the Honey Island Swamp Monster were killing people by the Rhode Island sea shore in the early nineteenth century.

Wild Orca attacks have been reported, just no deaths. I'd hazard a guess it's a case of mistaken identity. For whatever reason, the Orca believed the girl to be a seal and just did its Orca thing. Verification would be difficult, but not impossible.