Tuesday, December 22, 2009

An Electric Monster...

From today's Anomalist: a definite weird one!

Awesome or Off-Putting: Tacoma's Electric Sea Monster Hecklerspray. An archived news account of a fantastic encounter along the seashore near Tacoma, WA, is revived. The alleged encounter is supposed to have taken place in July of 1893 when several men on a fishing trip pitched camp near some surveyors. As a group the two camps then faced a monstrous form from the sea that possessed the ability to hurl "electrified water" at the men. Did the men witness a creature from the deep, or was their fear brought to the surface by some underwater vessel? That tale was no doubt included in the top tales of unexplained creatures for 1893, but what about such anomalous creatures for the year that's quickly slipping away?

4 comments:

cryptidsrus said...

Great story, Nick!!! Merry Christmas, by the way!!!

2010 will surely have lots of "goodies" for Forteans!!! :)

Nick Redfern said...

Hey C:

Merry Christmas to you too, and have a great 2010!

Unknown said...

You know, there's more to this story for the rabid researcher.
This is off-topic, as they say. But, I'm currently working on a documentary of the infamous 1924 Ape Canyon incident and my search for the remains of the mine and cabin on Mt. St. Helens. I used to keep project ideas under wraps until I was sure I could pull it off, mostly out of lack-of-confidence, I guess. Then, some bastard would beat me to it.... then I'd get all pissed, 'cause no one knew that I was the one to come up with the great idea in the first place .... anyway. Now, I'm working on interviews, until the snow melts and I can get back up there to continue looking. I've researched the thing to death and have a pretty high confidence level that I can find something up there.
But, to the topic at hand. This sea-monster story has some real legs to it, I think.
While the fishing party and any evidence they may have left is probably long gone, there's probably more to look at. One would be amazed at the tidbits that surveyors (yes, I'm one) leave behind in their numerical hyroglphic notes. Field notes from 1893 are readily available.
On a first blush however, there is no current geographic name of Blackfish Bay (this may be a historical name). Moreover, there is no Henderson Island nearby (although two Henderson Inlets in the vicinity).
However, by plotting out Mr. McDonald's rough time-log from the 1893 account, I suspect he was referring to Anderson Island. You gotta understand that McDonald was an out-of-towner and may have had his names all screwed up too. It's worth checking up on the "Keely Treatment", which McDonald received just prior to his trip to the Pacific Northwest. Apparently, a rash of insanity followed the treament, which was used to cure issues of "inebrity" (booze, girls morphine, etc.).
Anyway, Santa's coming in abaout 5 hours, so I gotta blast.
More later, hopefully.....

Nick Redfern said...

Many thanks for the comment, Marc!