Noroton River Monster
Posted by: Loren Coleman on August 3rd, 2010
Boston Daily Globe
August 18, 1889
SEA SERPENT SEASON OPENS.
With a Big Red Tongue and Hisses a
Monster Emerges from Noroton River
— Clam Man Saw it and Ran a Mile.
STAMFORD, Conn., Aug. 17. – All this week a party of men have been hunting
for a sea serpent on the Noroton river. The stream in question runs down
from among the hills two miles back of this town. That a sea serpent or a
reptile believed to be that famous monster was seen last Saturday [August
10] seems unquestioned. It was seen by over a dozen reputable people and is
confirmed by three or four women who got a glance of it and then ran
screaming into the woods.
Mr. Ruscoe saw the serpent first, and in a way he will never forget. The
sight was disastrous. Ruscoe was out clamming in the afternoon. He had the
bottom of his craft pretty well filled and was busy digging for more clams.
As he tells the story, Ruscoe was suddenly confronted by an enormous serpent
that stuck its head out of the water right alongside the boat. It had a
large black head and its back was a copper color. It ran a big red tongue
out of its mouth and emitted a hissing sound. It is a wonder Ruscoe’s hair
didn’t turn white in an instant. He admits he was terribly frightened. He
dropped his clamming forks into the river and pulled for the shore with all
his might. The moment he landed he left the boat and clams and ran for the
woods. He ran a mile before he sat down on a log from sheer exhaustion. He
has not seen either his boat or his cargo of clams since.
The sea serpent kept its head out of the water for some time, and was seen
from the shore by at least a dozen persons. A Mr. Ryles took a good look at
it from the limb of a tree that he ascended. Landlord Miller, who keeps a
tavern on the banks of the Noroton a mile away by the bridge, saw the
serpent from a carriage as he was driving along the river. Both Ryles and
Miller confirm the description of the serpent given by Ruscoe. They say the
reptile was very long, because it flapped its tail out of the water, while
its head was away out at the other end.
The news of the discovery was spread among the dwellers along the Noroton on Sunday, and at once an expedition was formed to capture the serpent. Men
went out in boats, armed with revolvers, guns and spears. The entire river
was searched, and the search has been kept up every day this week. But it
has not been seen. It is the general impression that the serpent went down
the river and out into Long Island sound. All sorts of things come up the
Noroton from time to time. Last year a shark was killed at almost the
identical spot where the sea serpent was seen this time.
Thanks to Jerome Clark.
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.
