| Maine Monster | |
|---|---|
 | |
 | |
| Statistics | |
| Description | An ichthyosaur-like creature |
| First Sighting | 1973 |
| Last Sighting | 2014 |
| Country | Maine, U.S.A., North America |
| Habitat | Ocean |
The Maine Monster is a purported ichthyosaur that lives off of the coast of Maine.
Description
An olive brown creature with long jaws, a dorsal fin, and a fluked tail that "points upwards like a fish". It is said to be 16-30 feet long and somehow reptilian in appearance. It travels in small pods like dolphins, and occasionally leaps out of the water.
Sightings
The first sighting was in 1973, by a man named Bill Newman. He was fishing in the ocean just off the coast of Swan's Island, when he thought he saw some large brown "creature" in the water. He just dismissed it as a shark, until he noticed its dorsal fin, its two pairs of pectoral fins, and its long pointed jaws. He watched it swim around for a while until it dove into the depths. The animal was seen again in the same place later that year, when snorkelers saw some brown creature 30 feet long swimming just beneath the waves. They feared for their lives and "escaped" to shore.
Brief sightings with the same description continued to flow out from many different coastal islands in Maine all throughout the '70's, until 1984, when Rosa Connelly was on a fishing trip with her husband just south of Monhegan Island. He was down in the cabin eating some food while she monitored the fishing rods. She was looking out across the ocean, when all of the sudden a "fat olive brown creature with white underparts" leapt out from the depths. It had long jaws, two pairs of pectoral fins, a dorsal fin, large black eyes, and a wolffish in its maw. She said it was 30 feet long, and, at first, she thought it was some sort of dolphin, but she noticed it looked prehistoric and somehow reptilian. As soon as it had landed back in the depths with a large splash, she claimed that "at least 40 other of those creatures of all sizes and ages" followed it. She called her husband and he witnessed the last few of the animals leaping from the water. They were sopping wet, as the creatures were only 6-10 feet away from the boat. She claimed that it was "almost like they were putting on a show for us!". This is indeed one of the most noteworthy cryptid sightings.
In 1987, a carcass of the Maine Monster reportedly washed up on the shore of Matinicus Island, remained there for 30 minutes, then was reportedly taken away by officials, before any photographs were taken.
In 1996, a man reportedly caught a little Maine Monster inside his lobster trap. He took photos of the 3 foot long creature then let it free. He refused to reveal the photographs to the public. The sightings ceased for a while until 2011, when a woman claimed she saw the creature snapping up a school of fish. It was around 20 feet long. The last sighting was in 2014, on Monhegan Island, where a child was sitting on the shore, and claimed he saw a large creature "leap out of the water". He said it was very far away, but it was brown.
Possible Explanations
- A surviving Temnodontosaurus is the most plausible theory, as the creature fits Temnodontosaurus' description to the tee.
- Misidentifications of small cetaceans could account for some of the sightings.
- A large unknown species of fish has been proposed, but is not very likely.