Matt

Found or not, their identities shouldn’t be secret.

And citing Hovind as a source sure isn’t making it more believable.

Nope still not buying it.

Several newspapers stated that a barracuda was more generally held as the culprit, although they expressed their uncertainty. As to the shark theory - that was refuted for several reasons which sound quite logical. Simply said, there was an element of doubt. A star swimmer who was lethally attacked by a shark was already sensational enough. By referring to a sea serpent as the possible culprit, there was not an element of sensationalising, rather, it was a risk taking. For this, one has to understand the dynamics of sea serpent reporting in the 19th and 20th centuries.

But - what really killed that poor girl is not the issue; the issue is that this is the first modern account of a victim of an alleged sea serpent. The case clearly precedes the one Bille cites; both are equally uncertain as to their veracity and truthfullness. So, when it comes to the statement that “there is only one known case of a victim of an alleged sea serpent”, that is obviously in error.

regards,

Theo

In late 1998, I was preaching in Ft. Walton Beach, Florida. A lady came up to me after the service, and I told this story, and she said, “Mr. Hovind, my name is Val Bill. My step-son, Larry Bill, was one of the boys that was eaten.” She said his dad was involved in search and rescue for the president. He was real high up in Navy Search and Rescue. And he was in charge of trying to find his own son and they searched for days and didn’t find a clue. One body was found. One boy apparently panicked and drowned. The other three apparently were eaten. You can call Val Bill. Her address is 612 Powell Dr. N.E., Fort Walton Beach, FL 32547. You can write her a letter.

I remember this story from many years ago and always wondered why it never got any attention. The only known animal that might be a candidate seems to me to be some kind of Pinniped. Might the wreck have been a territory the creature was defending?

I for one find the story compelling, all the more so because he had nothing to gain and everything to lose in the telling of it. As others have pointed out, there was a full moon, and the dispersion of light within fog may easily have been enough for him to make out such details as he described.

It reminds me also of a French case in which a man was accused of murdering his wife and child while swimming. Their bodies were never recovered, and he was the first to report their disappearance- He said they had both been swallowed up by an immense jellyfish! He was put on trial and refused to recant his testimony, even when facing a likely death penalty.

Speaking of which, surely the trial must be over by now. Does anybody know if he was convicted?

Blown far out to sea, yet conveniently he was still within easy paddling distance of the shipwreck they were planning to explore. Must’ve been a pretty punk storm if he was still in sight of the place he’d been when it started.

At night, in the fog, he gives a detailed description of the beastie, even down to the pupils of it’s eyes. Are the nights that bright and the fog that thin in the area usually?

And who were his four friends that no one even seems to have noticed went missing? You’d think their relatives might have noticed they were gone.

Sorry, I’ve no reason to believe any such undocumented nonsense.

Interesting that it is stated he became an alcoholic and drug user due to the severity of the events, whether that be from an attack by a sea serpent or other events.

Was there an investigation into the incident? Some of the articles mention the victims names. I wonder what the death certificate listed?

I think one point that makes this believable, or at least plausible, is the fact that McCleary said that they were attacked bt a sea serpent. Why, as others have stated, make up such an outlandish reason as to his friends death.

If nothing else this would make a great film ala Fire in the Sky with a murder mystery sub-plot built around a re-enactment of the events.