New Maine Mystery Photos: Minot Beast
Posted by: Loren Coleman on October 15th, 2006
The woman in Minot, Maine, was out walking her mutt, which I will call a “mutt” instead of a “dog” for the stake of alliteration and to not overuse the word “dog.” But never mind. The animal walker saw the “thing” in the distance, and couldn’t quite believe her eyes. Thank goodness it was dead, she mumbled to herself.
But amazingly, she had her camera along, and snapped some photos of the “Minot Beast” (above and below, click on them to make them larger, if you dare).
With whom should she share these photos, she wondered. Ah, that crime beat news reporter Mark LaFlamme of the Lewiston Sun Journal, perhaps? And who should he show them to, he pondered. Ah, yes, LaFlamme decided to turn to Loren Coleman, intrepid cryptozoologist, “International Man of Mystery,” as Jess Kilby of the Phoenix called him.
Mark sent the images to me, and, well, my verdict was not too surprising to LaFlamme and even had a familiar ring to it. Another dead Maine canid, probably a domestic dog, had been found on the road, I told him.
Minot is a small rural town of a little over 2000 souls in western Androscoggin County, Maine, USA, only half as large as Turner, Maine, the site of last summer’s big “Maine Mutant” flap*. Minot is one of those slowly growing “bedroom communities” near Lewiston and Auburn, Maine, but still very much “out in the country.”
As far as looking at the photographs, to see the link to a dog, compare the dentition between the found animal to the teeth of a dog, shown here with the bone of the mandible removed to reveal the roots of the teeth. Pay attention to the form, spacing, number, and appearance between the Minot Beast’s jaw and teeth and the mandible/dentition of the verified dog skull shown here. It’s a match, no doubt about it.
Click on images for full-size version.
While the local legend of the real cryptid “Mystery Beast” lives on out in the forests of central Maine, near Turner, Minot, Greene, and other towns, this “Minot Beast” find is interesting, zoologically, but this dead find, again, is not “it.”
The above banner is by Artist Paul Szauter.
*For more on the beginnings of the Maine Mutant story, see August 16, 2006 – Mystery Animal Photos and August 17, 2006 – Mystery Beast Update.
Please click on the above photograph by Michelle O’Donnell for a full-size version. Used by permission.
About Loren Coleman
Loren Coleman is one of the world’s leading cryptozoologists, some say “the” leading living cryptozoologist. Certainly, he is acknowledged as the current living American researcher and writer who has most popularized cryptozoology in the late 20th and early 21st centuries.
Starting his fieldwork and investigations in 1960, after traveling and trekking extensively in pursuit of cryptozoological mysteries, Coleman began writing to share his experiences in 1969. An honorary member of Ivan T. Sanderson’s Society for the Investigation of the Unexplained in the 1970s, Coleman has been bestowed with similar honorary memberships of the North Idaho College Cryptozoology Club in 1983, and in subsequent years, that of the British Columbia Scientific Cryptozoology Club, CryptoSafari International, and other international organizations. He was also a Life Member and Benefactor of the International Society of Cryptozoology (now-defunct).
Loren Coleman’s daily blog, as a member of the Cryptomundo Team, served as an ongoing avenue of communication for the ever-growing body of cryptozoo news from 2005 through 2013. He returned as an infrequent contributor beginning Halloween week of 2015.
Coleman is the founder in 2003, and current director of the International Cryptozoology Museum in Portland, Maine.
I must have missed something. How could anyone call this a mystery beast ? It is obviously a canine. I do not even see this long tooth that was talked about. Like I said, maybe I missed something.
I’m a little surprised that someone may even need to do a comparison check on that photo with another to any part of a dogs anatomy, let’s hope nobody really needs it. Surely if she had her own dog with her, regardless of breed, all she needed to do was look at that one she had on a lead and realise they were one and the same thing?
I think people should realize that readers here are the exception, not the rule. Most people walk around in their lives, unaware of the natural world. Don’t forget that.
Your awareness of how much you can “learn” from merely looking at the evidence is often lost on the general public.
This blog is posted for informative and educational purposes.
The woman who submitted this photo had to have been aware of the world-wide media frenzy that followed the publication of that first, admittedly odd, photo of the first Maine “Mutt”ant. She probably hoped to stir things up again maybe get her name in the paper with this one. Especially with Halloween so close.
But the poor tyke in this picture is even more obviously a domestic dog. It even has cropped ears! And the ears are cropped short, the way people crop pitbulls’ ears. The face is short and has powerful jaws like a pitbull’s too. Maybe this one wasn’t killed by a car. Maybe its body was dumped after it was killed in a dogfight.
Cropped ears and tan forelegs in the first photo point to dog. There appear to be some markings on the foreleg in same photo. Reminds me of some dogs I have personally known, so dog is still my verdict.
I haven’t read much about the real “Maine Monster” – maybe Cryptomundo should do an entry re-capping all the best sightings, what is known, etc. If there really is something out there this reminds me of “Brotherhood of the Wolf” – all the false alarms while the real thing is still out there……spoooky
And that is a gruesome picture.
If anyone hasn’t seen “Brotherhood of the Wolf” you should check it out, its probably the best fictional movie that relates to a cryptozoological story that I’ve seen. This isn’t a “B” movie – top notch production value, good story, great action sequences, etc.
The woman who made the grisly find in no way referred to it as a creature or anything lurid like that. She simply wondered how what may be a dead household pet came to be in the woods near her home. She wanted to run it by someone and turned to me for advice. I forwarded it on to Loren as a matter of routine and for the benefit of his no doubt vast collection. No sensationalizing here at all, I promise. At the least, the photos are startling enough to befit the season.
Mea culpa!
It does look like it may have been a pit bull dog, so if it was found out in the woods and not beside a road as I had first assumed, somebody might have dumped it out there to get rid of evidence of an illegal dog fight.
Or maybe it was running loose chasing deer or something, and some hunter shot it. Some people will do that.
Poor puppy. He’s seen better days
Rottweiler.
Not Rott. People don’t crop Rottweilers’ ears.
I guess it could be a Boxer, though.
I think a pit bull dog is more likely, given that the body was found out in the woods.
Pitt Bull would be my guess also. With a gut feeling illegal dog fight may play a part.
Excuse us Mark, for presuming. I guess there have been too many ‘mystery’ stories floating around lately and it becomes too easy to try to decipher instead of checking the story first.
LOL yes One Eyed Cat I am guilty too.
Doberman Pinscher is what popped into my head when I saw the photos. Mainly due to the cropped ears, black head, and tan lower legs. Also the poor dog has a longer and more slender neck than the average pitbull.
Due to the tissue deteriorating the muzzle has drawn back considerably. The skin is actually about to pop off the end of the skull due to the skin drawing upwards. The lips are nonexistent. I think that’s why the dog’s muzzle looks shorter than a Doberman’s. The eyes have also been eaten away by scavengers.
At least that’s what it looks like to me.
We’ll see who’s right the next full moon…
My guess is werewolf….awwwwwoooooooooooooo
Perhaps this photo has been altered a bit? The teeth seem too white!
The material that teeth are composed of (dentin?) often turns very white and bleaches very quickly when exposed to the elements. At least in the dead animals I come across that have been out weathering for a while. Depending on the high and low temps since it died, I’m guessing he’s been dead for ..5-7 days. Down further south it’d be mostly liquid by now.
Kittenz,
In many locales it is requested that hunters shoot ‘wild’ dogs. They tend to wound and maim the deer, without killing them outright.(other animals too) I know that most military bases which allow hunting give the ‘wild dog’ talk to every hunter, or group. In fact while hunting on Fort Meade in Maryland we were offered a ‘bounty’ for any dogs brought in, dead. The price was $20.00 a head, not bad for 1978.
I think people were just touchy on this matter (including myself) because so many ‘obvious’ things, that should have been just as obvious to everyone else, get reported at times that it all gets a little crazy for us. I just don’t class this kind of thing as anything to do with cryptids, it would have more basis for animal rights groups to use. Even though the woman didn’t actually say it was strange etc etc, why would it then have been forwarded to be confirmed in the first place? If I’d wanted confirmation on WHY the poor thing had died (just like the first poor maine dog which I don’t actually think was very odd looking at all judging by the pictures) then I would have probably instead called the police and reported a possible case of animal cruelty. I guess that’s just my own brains way of trying to stay logical, who knows because of this I may have even missed something in other topics 🙂
My apologies for jumping the gun before if anyone felt that I did.
I know that a lot of hunters feel that they are more or less expected to shoot feral dogs. But too many of them just blast away at anything that moves and ask questions or look for collars later.
Besides, that’s what Animal Control is for. With all the options available for the management of strays nowadays, shooting them should be a last resort.
It’s not clear how this dog met its end. It does not say whether it was shot. But what is clear is that it is some sort of brachycephalic dog with ears cropped short. That generally spells Pit Bull Dog. It clearly is not a Dobie. Even though the soft tissue and muscles may recede during decomposition, the jawbones themselves do not, and these jawbones are not proportioned like a Dobe’s. I don’t think the head was black in life; it looks like the fur has fallen out due to advanced decomposition and the black color we see is the decomposing skin itself rather than black fur. You can still see some of the reddish fur in parts of the black skin areas.
The most logical explanation is that the dog was a Pit Bull which either died in a fight and was dumped, was so badly injured in a fight that it was killed and dumped, or wouldn’t fight so it was killed and dumped. Or maybe it was shot by a hunter.
However it died, it’s a sad end for a dog. Pit Bull Dogs can be really good dogs if they are socialized properly and they can be as loving and affectionate as any other breed.
Dead – 100%
Dog – yes.
Pit Bull – maybe, who knows.
Getting into debate over breed of dog – pointless and irrelevant, and off topic of original blog posting.
It looks like a dead dog someone is trying to pass off as a cryptozoological find!
“One Eyed Cat Says:
There appear to be some markings on the foreleg in same photo.”
It almost looks like a reversed 666. How did “The Omen” begin??
“Getting into debate over breed of dog – pointless and irrelevant, and off topic of original blog posting.”
Hmmm. I read the original blog posting again…seems to me like determining that it is a DOG, and pointing out facts supporting that premise IS the topic of the original blog posting.
“One Eyed Cat Says:
There appear to be some markings on the foreleg in same photo.”
Actually to me those marks look like bite marks from another dog. Occasionally at the clinic we have had to hold dogs that were confiscated from pit fights. The bite marks they exhibit look very much like the marks on this dog’s leg.
brindel pitbull-hybrid wth cropped ears no less.
It’s a poor burned Rottweiler 🙁
I’m a Registered Veterinary Technician. A large part of my workday is spent doing dental cleanings on dogs. As such, I feel that I have valid insight into the pictures of the decayed dog above. To be sure, that is not a pitbull, the head structure is entirely incorrect, nor is it a Doberman for the same reason. I do whole heartedly believe that due to the head shape and coloration (tan on the legs and muzzle, mottled bluish on what hair remains on the neck) that this is, in fact, a Blue Heeler or an Australian Cattle Dog, or mix thereof. The teeth are completely normal for either said breed, giving, of course, for individual differences from dog to dog. In fact, from looking at those teeth, it can also be safely assumed that it was an adult dog, although not terribly old, perhaps three years or so.
Those ears are not cropped. They are, however, the normal small and upright ears of aforementioned breeds as they would look after the dessication postmortem had advanced to the degree shown in the photo.
As to what breed that black dog is in the latter photos, without a size reference, it is hard to say, however, if it was a small dog, I would suspect a schipperke or some mix thereof. If it was a large dog, perhaps a Chow mix.
There is such a variance in dog breeds that just about anything is possible. Look at a Lhasa standing next to a Great Dane and it is easy to appreciate the diversity.
It is most likely someone’s pet that got out and either died of exposure, or was injured being hit by a car before dying in a later locale. I don’t think there is a conspiracy here. Sadly, dogs die out alone frequently.
I’m sorry folks, but I don’t see the point of this posting. A dead dog? Why are we still discussing this?
Let’s see, catvmex…all of these postings are from October 2006 – except, now, yours and my reply here. Yours was made today, January 30th. Who is still discussing this?
Ha ha.
The Mystery Beast reports happened last summer. This fall 2006 posting was shared as a bit of learning regarding identifying dead dog carcasses and skulls, versus random mystery ones found out there along roadsides.
Cheers.
I think everyone is missing the point here. The dogs pictured have been killed by the beast they are not the beast but victims of what this animal or thing can do.