Comments on: San Francisco Sea Serpent, 1885

By: sfseaserpent

sfseaserpent — Thu, 07 May 2009 19:05:20 +0000

Richard888, The San Francisco Chronicle is a reputable daily newspaper and is still being published today.

Springheeledjack, we are the two guys you referred to in your comment. We have been cataloging our sightings as well as the sightings of these animals in the S.F Bay and along the S.F. Bay area coastline by other eyewitnesses.

We found it very interesting that the description of the mouth and teeth of the animal which was sighted in S.F. Bay in 1885 matches exactly the description of the mouth and teeth of the animal given by Marlene Martin who was one of the eyewitnesses of the October 31, 1983 Stinson Beach sighting. She was able to get a good view of the animal’s open mouth and teeth when she watched the animal through binoculars.

By: springheeledjack

springheeledjack — Mon, 04 May 2009 05:08:26 +0000

There is actually a good history of similar critters seen in the Bay area…there were a couple of guys a few years back who had video footage of several somethings, long and patterned swimming in the bay. There have been several sightings over the years…would be good if someone could catalog all of the sightings to see if there are any patterns for times of year, day, etc. to see if these things have migration times, following food, or just come into places like Frisco Bay when they feel like it.

By: urglen3

urglen3 — Thu, 30 Apr 2009 03:03:44 +0000

I can believe this story. For a year I lived and went to cooking school on Treasure Island. It is a man made island connected to “goat island” Yerba buena island. It was built for the 1939 worlds fair. Living on the island for year I saw a lot of sea life. The weirdest thing I saw was on the Oakland side of the island it was about 3am and it gets very dark on that side of the island. I saw something moving under the water, the only reason I saw it was the fact that it faintly glowed a light blue in spots, it was about 20 to 25 feet long. I don’t know what it was but living on the island and growing up on Lake Ontario and seeing everything from otters to sturgeon, I am a believer.

By: Shelley

Shelley — Wed, 29 Apr 2009 22:59:24 +0000

Was it, in fact, an elephant seal, or some other kind of marine mammal from further north? My knowledge of the more obscure ones is vague, but this sounds far more like a real animal than most sea serpent/monster stories.

And yes, the division between tabloid and respectable newspapers was a 20th century invention, as in the NY Times motto, “All the news that’s fit to print.” After the excesses of some of the Hearst chain, and the need for real news in WWI, newspapers only printed “sea monster” stories in the “silly season,” the late summer, when hard news was scarce, and it was usually presented with tongue very visibly in cheek. Which must make it very hard for cryptozoologists, as Loren will tell you.

By: Munnin

Munnin — Wed, 29 Apr 2009 20:40:17 +0000

Hmmm. The second part of this article sounds like it could be a sensationalized account of an encounter with a Sea lion, although the behavior would be out of the ordinary, and the head is described as “between that of a seal and a sea lion.” But being six feet and 300 lbs would make it kind of a small one. Not all that much of a “monster,” really. Such an individual would be dwarfed by the size of an Elephant seal.

By: Richard888

Richard888 — Wed, 29 Apr 2009 16:40:35 +0000

“at the same time elevating a sixty-foot tail, with which it thrashed the water for some time…”

I am not sure if the San Fransisco Chronicle still circulates today as I couldn’t find a main website for it in the first page of Google (excuse my ignorance) but judging from the name it sounds like it was a respectable paper in its time.

Clearly we don’t read unusual stories like this in today’s “respectable” press. This is justified by many cryptozoologists as meaning that cryptids spotted in the 1800’s and covered in the press of those times must have become recently extinct. But we do read stories of this sort today in another type of press… tabloids.

So a good question to ask is, did the respectable press in the old days include the occasional tabloid articles to increase sales? Did the distinction between “respectable” press and “tabloid” press form later?