Siren Sighted In Hudson
Posted by: Loren Coleman on August 2nd, 2006
Our friends over at The Anomalist have pointed out a cool out-of-place animal story, about a member of the Sirenia, that you will want to read. On a day like this, I feel good just looking at this photograph.
TA points out that the Poughkeepsie Journal of August 2, 2006, is reporting a ten-foot long, 1000-pound manatee (Trichechus manatus latirostris) has been sighted in the Hudson River near Manhattan, New York City.
The Journal notes:
Watchers tracked this one last month as it swam north — first near Delaware, then Maryland, then New Jersey. Saturday, it was seen at 23rd Street in Manhattan, then later at 125th Street in Harlem.
Unusual but not unknown, manatees have been seen this far north before, with a manatee seen off the eastern tip of Long Island in 1998, and another one migrated along Long Island in 2005. But up the Hudson River? Now that’s a new one.
"As far as I know, the first for the river. We did have one migrate up along Long Island last summer but it never moved inshore," said Tom Lake, the editor of the Hudson River Almanac. "Pretty exciting stuff."
If you read more media stories of this event, you probably will run across references to the 1994 sightings of Chessie, a manatee that swam up to Chesapeake Bay in Virginia-Maryland. But don’t confuse that Chessie with the cryptozoological Chessie, a large snake-like cryptid, literally a Sea Serpent seen in those same waters from the 1960s to present, with the majority of sightings in 1978-1982. (See pages 66-67, here, for more details.)
BTW, Cryptomundo would like to congratulate The Anomalist for the addition of their new editor who took over for the retiring Wisconsin paranormalist Richard Hendricks. The new guy is Illinois Fortean researcher Scott Maruna, author of The Mad Gasser of Mattoon.
Maruna appears to be a fan of out-of-place animal stories, and those are items that are certainly appreciated by me. Welcome to Scott.
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.
Congrats Scott… See you on the other forum sight.
That is a cool story.
This is a nice light hearted story but I hope this isnt going to be the out come for all the sea serpent sightings this would be a disappointment. I still think though the sea serpents are dinosaurs no matter what.
Interesting. Especially in light of John Kirk’s short note in his “BF/Maiden abduction” post about the “little people” of Lake Okanagan and debate over whether manatees could survive that far north of their warm native water. While Kirk does say that the speculation was that these reports could indicate a relict population of small, fresh-water Steller’s sea cow (and NOT the manatee that many posters noted do not inhabit colder waters), it is still intriguing to find reports of the warm water creatures so far north.
Could it be, as others have hypothesized when dealing with out of place critters far north of native habitats, that we are seeing the effects of global warming on the distribution of animal populations?
well, I do believe that dugongs and manatees use to live all around the coasal waters of America. Cool story.
Great story!! I worry for its health later on, though.
I got my first look at a manatee in a tributary of the Savannah river some 15 years ago while casting for menhaden and mullet when a friend and I were catching bait for tarpon fishing off the Ga. coast.
At first glance, we had no idea what we were seeing, as the wake it created was so large and seemed to be moving so slowly across the surface. Eventually, we got close enough see him (or her) in the clear water, and were just amazed at the sheer size and grace of this creature.
It doesn’t surprise me that manatees were mistaken, or misidentified, as sea monsters or sirens in simpler times. They are magnificent creatures, and if anyone here hasn’t seen one, you should make every effort to view a live manatee, even in captivity.
You’ll never forget it.
Unfortunately, I share the concerns expressed here about the health of this particular creature. If it is a manatee, it’s far from its natural warm-water habitat, and that’s not good.
Jeremy’s comment about this particular event being a possible result of global warming seems pretty plausible to me.
Manatees come on john kirk saw something in LAKE OKANAGAN that was serpentine remember there are many caves in all the lakes. John Kirk is a credible cryptozoologist. Manatees are all of a sudden a fan favorite for all the sightings of lake serpents give me a break. pleisiosaurs may still live among us.
crypto_randz:
I think you, like the readers over at John’s original post, misunderstand.
Neither Kirk in his post, not I here, say that Ogopogo is a manatee.
What Kirk did post, and what I said was interesting in light of this report, was that OTHER local legends of “little people” who lived in the waters of the lake were believed by some others to be accounts of a freshwater population of Steller’s sea cow or some other manatee or dugong type animal.
If you want to refer back to the original post I was referencing, it was “Kidnapped by Sasquatch” posted on July 29.
What John says in his article there is:
“there are some stories about other strange beings such as the little people who are said to have once lived in the waters of Okanagan Lake. From the descriptions gathered, it would appear that the little people are possibly a pod of manatees that some how entered Okanagan Lake from the Columbia river system before it was all dammed up in the 1920’s.”
Everything clear as mud now?