Sea Monster sighting? - Ever wish your flashlight wasn't so bright

[mudmojo]

So here I am backwoods camping in a big park hanging out at about 0400 in the morning all alone by the edge of a quiet freshwater lake.

We had friends over at another campsite situated about a km away from my campsite. Earlier that night, before it got misty, I was using my Mr.Bulk Space Needle II to guide the way as a beacon for my canoeing friends so I'm aware of the angles and distances for spotting, etc.

It was a crisp and absolutely quiet night at this point by 0400 but it was severely clouded over with no stars or light in the sky and the mist was thick over water.

So here I was SN II turned on admiring the fog when about 500 meters away I see two big white dots near the surface of the water which I instantly recognized as potentially being eyes. Those eyes looked to be at least as large as grapefruits from where I was. Maybe it was the aura from the glow though. The SN II lit them up like hitting a stop sign from a distance making them almost light up like a Luxeon shining right into my eyes from that distance... the reflected light was pure white but I guess that's because it was actually the SN II's light coming back at me.

From where I was between clouds of lake mist, I could make out a silhoutte and it scared the crap out of me. It was at least half the length of a 16 ft.long canoe. It had a back. It had a neck!

At first I thought it was a moose but this object travelled across the water at a rate of speed about 15-25 kph in silence and I don't think moose move that quickly in deep water. Didn't see any antlers either?

So now I'm thinking Sturgeon but they are fish and they swim in the water, not on top. They have gills and they don't have necks.

Then I made a scary realization, the parts of the body I saw above the surface of the water (don't think I'd be able to see underwater with an SN II at that distance as it's not exactly in Megaray territory) remained perfectly still while this thing was booking across the top of the lake leading me to think, instantly, that this thing was freaking big whatever it was.

There are no motorboats or any motorized crafts allowed on this lake, besides I can hear a quiet conversation across the lake and this thing was moving silently meaning that it was being propelled underwater by legs, fins, tail, flippers, whatever.


At first, it was moving from my left to my right and now it changes directions and I can see that the space between the eyes grew further apart and the eyes got bigger... WHOA, it was coming at me!

Now I'm not usually one to be afraid but I took a step backwards and up the embankment a bit.

All the while I'm thinking, it may just be following the light not knowing what it is. A reactionary movement if you will towards novel stimuli or maybe a trigger to aggressive territoriallism. I was worried about the developing situation but knowing that this light could blind humans with sunglasses on, I was desperately trying to convince myself that it would knock a nocturnal sea serpent flat onto its tail with its 200+ lumens.

I stood my ground now. It came towards me at an alarming rate of speed, as if picking it up a notch out of curiosity or anger, but stopped shy maybe about 250 meters out. Seemed to come to a near dead stop almost instantly. Then as quickly as it stopped, I saw it pull its head into the water straight down without changing the orientation of its eyes. Another reason for me to believe that it had a head and a distinct neck. It made a loud splash at that point.

I continued to stand my ground.... stunned... it's disappearance was now more frightening than its appearance.

One part of me was hoping that it wouldn't resurface and the other part of me desperately hoping that it would come right up to shore.

After two or three minutes of my taking quick short breaths, it never reappeared. Scratch that fast swimming moose theory as they don't hold their breath or swim underwater right?

Now I was shaking in my sandals and was deathly afraid that this thing was actually intelligent and was coming onto shore from another location to flank me. Maybe I watch too many movies but at that point, I quickly snuck into the tent where I turtled until sunrise.

My friends think I'm nuts now.

I'm going to spend the rest of my life wondering what I saw that night.


Sometimes I wish I didn't have such a bright flashlight...




BTW, this was not fiction. This is a true story in my eyes. And yes, I WAS drinking but not enough to come up with this far fetched story.

Maybe there's a simple explanation out there or maybe this 1000 year old native indian picture is correct after all...
http://www.algonquincanada.com/uploaded_images/IMG_49301-790182.jpg

 

[PoliceScannerMan]

Did it look like this??? :buddies:

 

[mudmojo]

Haha, well the eyes were slightly over the level of the what I guess was the back so I would say no. I didn't get a good look at the body with the mist.

If it were a clear night, I would have been able to tell you any birthmarks this guy had.

 

[C4LED]

Space alien.... Big foot! ;-)

 

[attowatt]

<<snip... And yes, I WAS drinking but not enough to come up with this far fetched story.
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Did it look like this guy on the left ?

 

[Pila_Power]

Hey, do you have that original pic link working?

How big is the lake?

Are there any underwater caves leading to air pockets this fella could have holed up during the daylight hours? Obv its nocturnal otherwise it would probably have been seen and reported by now and it would help explain the reflective eyes...

I dunno. It's hard to say something doesn't exist unless you can prove that it does.

 

[HunterSon]

Moose are quite aquatic, able to hold their breath for minutes at a time and capable of diving to 30 feet in search of food.

 

[KevinL]

Well, a less-often-discussed part about high performance lighting is that it makes YOU extremely visible too!

I carry my lights with a finger on the kill switch, even a clickie. In fact, clickies are easier to latch in constant-on mode and kill in a hurry for me. Otherwise I'd keep on flickering the light on and off with tailcap pressure and eventually just twist it on, requiring two hands to turn it off.

There have been two situations with my U2 when I ran into something unexpected and the first reaction was to kill the light and take cover. I'm not trained to do that either, it's just that I realize my light makes me visible to whatever the heck is coming my way. Kill it and move, then you can make a more accurate assessment and determine whether you should turn your light on again.

 

[JackBlades]

What is the name of the park/lake? I love stories like this!

 

[SJACKAL]

YOU ARE OBVIOUSLY LYING! That's not a SEA monster, no, it should be a LAKE monster! You know, something like nessie. Where is the lake, could it be some type of aquatic creature? Great experience!

Sturgeon can get huge too. Take a look at this picture.

http://www.ossining.org/sturg1G.jpg

 

[flashlite]

I noticed that you're from Ontario Canada. Perhaps you saw a seal? Check out this link.

http://collections.ic.gc.ca/ogopogo/lake_creature/igopogo.html

 

[SJACKAL]

Great link, I love stories like these too!

 

[sniper]

Ah Yesss, something to curl the kiddies' hair on a dark, foggy night! Which brand of liquid painkiller had you partaken of?

It's a GREAT story, but kinda like some of the "horror" flicks I've seen.

Ummm...just another thought: WHAT good would your tent have done? Don't you know that those creatures (and they are out there, we all know they are!) will open a tent like a twinkie wrapper with their 8 inch, razor sharp claws? But it's those TEETH...

 

[DocArnie]

I don't know what kind of lake you are talking about and where exactly it is located, but I think it is very possible, that you saw what you think you saw. Scientists are sure, that mankind still hasn't seen every single species on this planet. And these expectations become true every day. In the year 1996 the US Navy found this little monster near San Diego. I don't know where exactly, but it's the same kind of "monster" saylors kept talking about for hundreds of years, while nobody believed them, or better, nobody WANTED to believe.
And this is just one example of many.

While nobody could prove the existence of a monster like "Nessie" yet, they still couldn't prove that it doesn't exist either. That counts for many other mythical monster you hear all around the globe, too.

That kind of experience you had, mudmojo, is extremely rare, so consider yourself extremely lucky and thank your flashlight, which made it possible for you to see it in the first place!

 

[KDOG3]

What the hell is that thing?

 

[DocArnie]

What the hell is that thing?

I didn't know the english word for "Riemenfisch", but thanks to google ("Seamonster San Diego 1996") I finally found an english page with information about the creature. It's called the "Giant Oarfish".

 

[DragonFlame]

Cool story!
Although I immagine it was really scarry and stunning realising the thing was heading straight at you.
It's an amazing story and I'm glad you shared it. I too think it might have been exactly what you thought it was.

 

[bindibadgi]

Yep, oarfish alright.



Apparently they are now finding some quite remarkable giant squid and such in the Tasman Sea while deep sea trawling. Some of these monsters look much like the old paintings depicting ships getting torn apart (you know the ones), right down to the size. What if they really did/do come to the surface alive every now and then? What if the paintings were of real occurences?

Freaky.

 

[Mike Painter]

In the year 1996 the US Navy found this little monster near San Diego. I don't know where exactly, but it's the same kind of "monster" saylors kept talking about for hundreds of years, while nobody believed them, or better, nobody WANTED to believe.

The Oarfish has been well known for a very long time. There is a stuffed one in eithr the aquarium or museum of Natural history and has been there since I was a kid in the 40's.

It's known tht thre are huge squid and octopus and probably a lot of other big beasties out there. I saw a show detailing science using some of the declassified Navy listening devices and the guy played a very loud sound from some creature in the Indian ocean, several thousand miles away. They have no idea what it is, but it is not a whale.

 

[SJACKAL]

Cool story about the Oarfish!