The 1,000-pound creature had been seen swimming in the harbor for several days in water too cold for it to survive. A team was dispatched from Sea World in Orlando to retrieve it and truck it back to warmer waters in Florida.

But before the manatee could be netted, it disappeared. Now, after a two day search, the Sea World team is headed home – minus one manatee.

Needless to say I swam away, up river toward the spring. Not scared, but knowing that it was illegal to harrass these animals. They followed me! They mimicked the things I was doing underwater. It was until the birth of my son the most amazing day of my life.

The long and short is that these are wonderful playful animals with a great deal of curiousity about humans. Problem is, most humans aren’t caring enough to watch out for these guys while boating and such.

Anyway, if a manatee can swim all the way to Memphis, do you think a Bigfoot could wander down to Wartburg, Tennessee that is ???

Since we are in an age where word travels at light speed, and getting a picture out to the media channels was easy, it was quickly identified.

However, the “Loch Ness” type reporting just goes to show how myth and legend can be intertwined when the person reporting the curiousity doesn’t have a clear idea of what he/she is looking at and may fill in the blank with something that they figure is close.

I’m not suggesting that all early reports without pictures are less credible, only that the credibility of the witness and the careful review of their statements is even more critical.