Sea Serpent Day
Posted by: Loren Coleman on August 6th, 2007
What we’re looking for is an account of something satisfactorily monstrous, and not more or less in the distance: something that is not of palaeontologic memory that has been jogged so plasterfully. The sea is the best field for data.Charles Fort, Lo!
You can look it up on those “this day” calendars and websites. For some reason, August 7 is generally designated as “Sea Serpent Day.”
By whom? Why? Where?
Could perhaps the greeting card companies, newspaper editors, or whomever decided on such things have been off by one day?
Those clued into what has actually happened on August 6th versus August 7th might have another take on which day should be picked, to wit:
August 6
On this date in the year 1817, a huge creature described as a sea-serpent was spotted in the ocean near Gloucester harbor in Massachusetts. Coincidentally, on this same date in the year [1848], a similar creature was seen by the crew of the British naval frigate Daedalus.
This day is sacred to the Cherokee Earth-Goddess Elihino and her sister Igaehindvo, the sacred goddess of the Sun.“Days of August,” Autumn’s Meadow, 2007.
I’ve corrected “Autumn’s Meadow,” which got the year off by 100 years, as the Daedalus event (see illustration below) occurred in 1848, not 1948.
A procession of the damned.
By the damned, I mean the excluded.
We shall have a procession of data that Science has excluded.Charles Fort, Book of the Damned.
Of perhaps more importance is the fact that August 6th is the birthday of the great American intellectual who has given his name to the entire study of unexplained phenomena, Charles Hoy Fort (August 6, 1874 – May 3, 1932). Most people reading this are Forteans, even if they don’t know it.
We are not realists. We are not idealists. We are intermediatists — that nothing is real, but that nothing is unreal: that all phenomena are approximations one way or the other between realness and unrealness.Charles Fort, Book of the Damned.
For Boing Boing’s, click here on the David Pescovitz post about Charles Fort’s Birthday.
For the hypertext of all of Charles Fort’s books, see “The Fortean Web Site of Mr. X “.
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Happy Fort’s Day, Loren! Or Sea Serpent Day, whichever you prefer
Quite interesting. I don’t think most people realize that everyday is a something day, and some of them are more out there than sea serpent day. Happy s.s. day!
August 6th is also “Halfway Day,” the midpoint of the summer season on the calendar.
Interesting. I had no idea there was such a day and the fact that they hold it on August 7th, my birthday, makes it even better. Even though it should really be on the 6th.
I’m a Fortean. Kool. I didn’t know that. Wish I was Fortean enough to see Bigfoot. Dang it!
Loren
Thanks for bringing a smile to my face today. Some of us are forteans and do know it, and are proud of it. Having grown up in Gloucester I was aware this was a special day (6th). As we know it was a special month, perhaps a chance to give your readers who might not know, a run down of what happened 190 years ago in Gloucester and the surrounding area for over a month. Also on the anniversary theme don’t forget Cottingley 90 years ago. Best to forteans everywhere.
I saw this a day late, but coincidentally, I was reading about sea serpents yesterday anyway. As for Charles Fort, I was thinking about his opinions (though I’m sure he probably wouldn’t use THAT word for them) yesterday, but then, I do that almost EVERY day.
For Boing Boing’s blog on this, click here on the David Pescovitz post about Charles Fort’s Birthday.
For the hypertext of all of Charles Fort’s books, see “The Fortean Web Site of Mr. X “.