• NEW! LOWEST RATES EVER -- SUPPORT THE SHOW AND ENJOY THE VERY BEST PREMIUM PARACAST EXPERIENCE! Welcome to The Paracast+, eight years young! For a low subscription fee, you can download the ad-free version of The Paracast and the exclusive, member-only, After The Paracast bonus podcast, featuring color commentary, exclusive interviews, the continuation of interviews that began on the main episode of The Paracast. We also offer lifetime memberships! Flash! Take advantage of our lowest rates ever! Act now! It's easier than ever to susbcribe! You can sign up right here!

    Subscribe to The Paracast Newsletter!

Pictures of Sea, lake and River monsters Please.


Han

piscator ψ
Please post your favourite Sea Monster Pictures or illustrations here.
Both cryptozoological and Accepted to science welcome :)
Videos and stories too please.

Here is a starter: (more to follow)

megaquarium.jpg
 
Last edited:
This is a MUST SEE.
Embedded media from this media site is no longer available
<iframe width="1280" height="720" src="LiveLeak.com - Redefining the Media" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

Awesome video, and I just want to add that it's not an unknown:

Steven Haddock, a scientist for the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute in Moss Landing, Calif., says that the mysterious creature is a Deepstaria enigmatica jellyfish, much to the chagrin of some Reddit users who thought it was a whale placenta.

“This bag-like jelly is not that rare, but is large, so rarely seen intact,” Haddock said on his “JellyWatch” Facebook page. “In the video, the swirling from the sub makes the medusa appear to undulate and it even turns inside-out.”


This type of jellyfish is usually found in the south Atlantic Ocean, some 5,000 feet below. According to the Marine Species Identification Portal, the jellyfish has “oral arms […] terminating in curious hook-shaped organ.”

Still very cool to see one intact and alive, thanks for posting it.
 
Last edited:
Awesome video, and I just want to add that it's not an unknown:

Steven Haddock, a scientist for the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute in Moss Landing, Calif., says that the mysterious creature is a Deepstaria enigmatica jellyfish, much to the chagrin of some Reddit users who thought it was a whale placenta.

“This bag-like jelly is not that rare, but is large, so rarely seen intact,” Haddock said on his “JellyWatch” Facebook page. “In the video, the swirling from the sub makes the medusa appear to undulate and it even turns inside-out.”


This type of jellyfish is usually found in the south Atlantic Ocean, some 5,000 feet below. According to the Marine Species Identification Portal, the jellyfish has “oral arms […] terminating in curious hook-shaped organ.”

Still very cool to see one intact and alive, thanks for posting it.
Very cool, rare to me, makes me want to see other crazy, bizarre, wonderful forms jellyfish can take
 
Pyrostremma spinosum
Whoa there. Joy riding on tentacles is not a good idea. Might be Cthulhu's spawn.

OK, this is actually mainly a thread for pictures, but I guess I can't find a better one to post this (the other thread by Han was about sea spirits rather than sea monsters, so what the heck).

I was looking through Jacques Vallée's and Chris Aubeck's book "Wonders in the Sky" for my "nocturnal lights" thread, when I stumbled over an article that I thought might interest @Han. Perhaps you've already read about it somewhere, but I guess I'll put it here, for anyone who hasn't.

Actually, I don't really know why this is in "Wonders in the Sky" at all, because its's nothing that was (allegedly) seen flying or floating around in the air. There are other historical descriptions in the book, of objects emerging from lakes, rivers and the sea and then proceeding in the air, but this one only takes place in the water. Well I guess it's interesting enough, so I won't complain.

In the logbook of the ship Niagara (I don't know if it's the USS Niagara, but I think so), for April 8th, 1813, there is this entry which reads rather like a belated april fool's prank:

As the ship Niagara was about latitude 43 north, longitude 65 west, a large hump was seen on the southern horizon, “bearing N.W. distance 6 or 8 miles ahead, which we supposed the hull of a large ship bottom up. When within a gunshot of it, we discovered that it had motion.”

On nearer approach the sailors thought the object must be a giant fish, “apparently 200 feet in length, about 30 feet broad, and from 17 to 18 feet high in the centre.” Whatever it was, the floating object was covered with a shell. “Near the head on the right side was a large hole or archway, covered occasionally with a fin which was at times 8 or 10 feet out of the water.” The crew intended to send a boat to make further discoveries “but was deterred from the dreadful appearance of the monster.”


Source: Jaccques Vallée and Chis Aubeck, "Wonders in the Sky" and http://www.waterufo.net/item.php?id=1203

The "hole or archway" seems to point to an artificial vessel rather than a live fish, though, which IMO calls to mind Jules Verne's "Nautilus", as decribed in "20,000 leagues under the sea", There's a nice article here. "20,000 leagues" was published around 1870, when first prototypes of submersibles had already been built (which probably meant all but suicide for the poor test crews, I guess), but it's questionable if there could have been such a thing in 1813, let alone one which on closer inspection would have looked rather like a "giant fish".

I couldn't find any really similar sighting reports with a quick google search, but I guess there might well have been a copuple. Maybe it's like with the 1890s "airship wave": sightings of craft that were nothing but science fiction at the time they occured, but which would then exist within a decade or three, albeit in a much less advanced state. I think I remember Verne writing about a series of sightings of the "Nautilus" in his books, so maybe this sighting report and others like it actually inspired that.

Unfortunately, I also couldn't find any images depicting the Niagara "sea monster" itself, so seeing as this is actually a "post pictures" thread, I'll include some pics of Captain Nemo's Nautilus as an excuse here:

O Homem Ilustrado - The Illustrated Man: Some of the most important sci-fi writers that inspired me, in one post

Happy Birthday Jules Verne | Pottwalblog


jules_verne__s_nautilus_by_darkplagueis-d346r0h.jpg
 
Last edited:
Thank you very much for drawing my attention to this, I have done a little digging:

Regarding "the ship Niagara", my understanding is that this was a merchant vessel and not the USS Niagara aka the brig Niagara aka the flagship Niagara pictured below:
1024px-Brig_Niagara_1913_edit.jpg

the reason I say this is that the report predates the completion of the USS Niagara by a few months.
more specifically the reported incident is said to have happened on the 8th of April 1813 however the USS Niagara was not "launched" until the 4th of July 1813. Furthermore I have found another mention of "the ship Niagara" in 1822: which indicates that it was a civilian ship and not part of the US Navy *(1). in short there were at least two ships called the Niagara and probably more.

The report in wonders in the sky is not complete I have found a more substantial version:

"G. Bailey, late master of the ship Amsterdam packet, Wm. R. Handy, late master of the ship Lydias, and Adam Knox, late master of the schooner Augusta, all belonging to New York : Have deposed before me, Wm. Bleecker, notary public, that they were passengers on board the ship Niagara, which arrived at New York from Lisbon, on the 26th April ; that on the 8th April, being in lat. 43º 49', long. 48º at meridian, saw a large lump on the horizon, bearing N.W. distant six or eight miles, which they supposed to be the hull of a large ship, bottom upwards when within gun-shot of it, discovered that it had motion; and on a nearer approach, found it to be a FISH, apparently tuo hundred feet in length, about 30 broad, and from 17 to 38 feet high in the centre: its back appeared covered with a shell, formed similar to the planks of a clinker-built vessel near the head, on the right side, was, a large hole or archway, covered occasionally with a fin, which was at times eight or ten feet out of water: these deponents intended to have sent the boat to make farther discoveries, but were deterred by perceiving that the monster was moving, and that he occasioned a great rippling and current in the sea, which would, had it approached much nearer, have endangered the boat and the vessel. At one time, they approached within thirty yards of it."
((source)):
From: Page 47 of The Naval Chronicle, for 1813; VOL. XXX. (From July to December.)
HMS Acasta: March 2012


and here is an artists impression of the incident:seamonsta.png

((source)):The Medical Repository (And Review Of American Publications On Medicine ... - Samuel Latham Mitchill, Edward Miller, Elihu Hubbard Smith, Felix Pascalis, James R. Manley, Samuel Akerly, Charles Drake - Google Books









*(1)Commerce and Navigation. 1789-1823 - United States. Congress - Google Books
 
I would like to focus on the more complete report because it states that it is a "sworn affidavit".

Affidavits.
"G. Bailey, late master of the ship Amsterdam packet, Wm. R. Handy, late master of the ship Lydias, and Adam Knox, late master of the schooner Augusta, all belonging to New York : Have deposed before me, Wm. Bleecker, notary public, that they were passengers on board the ship Niagara, which arrived at New York from Lisbon, on the 26th April ;

No less than four Captains swearing that they saw something unusual adds a lot of credibility to this case.

that on the 8th April, being in lat. 43º 49', long. 48º at meridian, saw a large lump on the horizon, bearing N.W. distant six or eight miles, which they supposed to be the hull of a large ship, bottom upwards when within gun-shot of it, discovered that it had motion;

Sadly there is no mention of the type of movement or any reference to the colour of the "monster"

and on a nearer approach, found it to be a FISH,

this part is very important in my opinion because in 1813 a "Whale" was still widely considered to be a "Fish" it was not until a court case in 1818 that they were "reclassified".*(1)

apparently two hundred feet in length, about 30 broad, and from 17 to 38 feet high in the centre:

in other words gigantic!

its back appeared covered with a shell, formed similar to the planks of a clinker-built vessel


Clinker built or Lapstrake means overlapping planks, it will become apparent why I feel this detail is important later.


near the head, on the right side, was, a large hole or archway,

covered occasionally with a fin,

which was at times eight or ten feet out of water:

these deponents intended to have sent the boat to make farther discoveries, but were deterred by perceiving that the monster was moving, and that he occasioned a great rippling and current in the sea,


which would, had it approached much nearer, have endangered the boat and the vessel. At one time, they approached within thirty yards of it."


My opinion is that what they saw was an enormous dead Baleen Whale floating belly up, most likely a Blue whale but possibly a Humpback Whale, which had died and was being eaten by large predators/scavengers from below which caused the apparent movement. It being a dead whale as opposed to a living one could account for its "inflated" appearance, that is to say that sometimes dead animals can swell up to exaggerated proportions due to gasses that build up inside them, making them seem much larger than they were whilst alive.

its back appeared covered with a shell, formed similar to the planks of a clinker-built vessel

The Norwegian name for Blue Whales is ""Rorqual" which in English means "Furrow" (a long, narrow trench made in the ground by a plough)
comp.png

Apologies that this post is a bit disorganised, I will try to write it all up more clearly when time permits.





*(1)Trying Leviathan: The Nineteenth-Century New York Court Case That Put the Whale on Trial and Challenged the Order of Nature: Amazon.co.uk: D. Graham Burnett: Books
 
Ayup. I guess you've solved this one, Han. :cool:

Erm... that whole thing about the Nautilus and stuff...you know, that was just because I wanted to post some pics. No, really. The "archway" was what irritated me. I would have come up with the obvious answer eventually. I think. In a year or two.

Dang....
 
Last edited:
Ayup. I guess you've solved this one, Han. :cool:

Erm... that whole thing about the Nautilus and stuff...you know, that was just because I wanted to post some pics. No, really. The "archway" was what irritated me. I would have come up with the obvious answer eventually. I think. In a year or two.

Dang....


RE the "archway" I think this may possibly be the Whales "Blowhole" (nostril).

see below pics:

Blowhole,%20off%20Dana%20Point,%207-09%29.jpg

open position (above)

alejandro_fin2.jpg


closed position (above)
 
Back
Top