Swimming Maine Mystery Animal
Posted by: Loren Coleman on May 8th, 2007
Is the following first new videotape a mystery animal that you can identify?
Does the state of video technology tease us into thinking we can get images of cryptids that will assist the advancement of cryptozoology? Is this just a long distance view of a beaver or other known small mammal swimming across a waterway?
The first tape is the “mystery animal.” The ones that follow are of two known animals frequently seen swimming in Maine – beavers and moose. At the bottom is the details on the first video.
I shot this video on March 31, 2007 in Northern Maine. My Great-Uncle lives up there and told me had seen some animal he could not recognize swimming around in the river down the road from his camp. He had seen it about 5-6 times in a 3-week period. Sadly, the land-owners around the river take the No Trespassing laws very seriously, and he has only been able to see it from a footbridge that crosses over the river. I went up to visit him to see if there was any truth to the story, as he was very worked up. I also have to say that my Uncle is an avid hunter and fisherman for over 50 years, and he could not figure out what this was. After hanging around the bridge for over 3 days looking for something to tape, I saw a dark object crossing on the afternoon of the 31st. I have posted this footage, and edited out the rest of the tape. I’m not saying what it is, because I really have no idea. I couldn’t get too close and the zoom on my old camera is awful. Any feedback would be appreciated, thanks. YouTube poster
What is it?
Thanks to John Kirk for pointing this one out.
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.
Looks like Nutria (Myocaster coypus) to me.
This is very interesting to see such ‘natural’ animals appearing to be something odd. Goes to show how someone could be fooled.
Keep up the good work Loren!
okay, well, what I have been able to see (and that’s not much with my slow connection speed) I would have to ask such questions as, how far away is the camera? Do you have a good zoom lens? If the camera is in the hundreds of feet away, that thing has a good sized head. But if we are closer, then it could be small like a beaver. If this is suppose to be a river, then it would have to be pretty deep for a moose. Besides, if it is a moose, then it is missing the good sized snout and antlers. I will go with something along the lines of beaver, muskrat, something in the larger rodent or weasel families.
It seems most like a moose — possibly a rather young one. We know nothing of the depth of the river; but here’s why I think the YouTube poster’s story is bollocks:
clearly the subject in the video is crossing the river. As it nears the opposite bank, the video stops. Even with the trees in the way, I’m sure we would have been able to get some idea of the subject’s appearance once it emerges from the water. The fact that the footage stops just then makes it highly suspect. I’m guessing said poster did take the footage of the animal emerging from the water, and then just chopped it off when posting to YouTube.
Just my two cents.
Well this is Maine after all, even a duck in the water could be a mutant 😛
UKCryptid, please be careful, be very, very careful. Your Queen is over here, and Mainers may have to petition her for a formal apology to the good people of the state.
😎
Loren (writing from Portland, Maine, of course)
Beaver. No, it doesn’t look like they tend to look. But I’m sticking with it.
Otherwise? Blobwash. (Heck, it could be a duck.)
You certainly expect Mr. Worked Up to give some kind of detailed description of what was getting him so worked up. When you don’t see one, for a guy who’s allegedly been out there for five decades? Red flag.
At one point it turns it’s head and I immediately thought “Dog”. I’m almost sure I saw a floppy hound type dog ear.
Could be some sort of ferel dog and many dogs love to swim. If you watch closely you can see a very slight bobbing that is often associated with swimming dogs.
Yeah, I’m gonna go with probably a beaver.
I agree with Pvolitans. I lived in southeast Louisiana for 10 years and this looks exactly like a Nutria. The question is how did it get so far North?
DWA: “Beaver…Otherwise? Blobwash. (Heck, it could be a duck.)”
DWA, maybe ‘your’ duck mated with a Bigfoot and produced a SASQUACK.
Well, I think that the videographer’s great-uncle’s expertise has to be taken into consideration when approaching his sightings. I am sure that with over 50 years of hunting and fishing experience, he would probably be able to identify most things swimming about in those parts. So maybe the sightings themselves are indicative of some sort of cryptid.
But who is to say that what was captured on film was the same thing the great uncle had been seeing? Just because this person went to where the sightings occured does not mean that this is footage of the same thing. It is the same thing with the Maine Mutant. Just because a dead dog was found does not mean that it was the culprit or that something more mysterious isn’t causing the sightings. Did he show this video to his great uncle for some sort of corroboration? I’m just not sure whether this is the same thing the seasoned great uncle had seen.
From what I can see, this video could be a lot of things and it is not clear enough to say for certain that it isn’t footage of one of the many known animals that could have been swimming around there. It is inconclusive, doesn’t offer to me any signs of anything unusual that would not be expected from a known animal, and as such, I don’t feel that too many assumptions should be made about it. I see nothing here to make me think this is an unknown animal or anything wholly out of the ordinary.
Good call on the Nutria. I have hunted both the Nutria and Beaver in Texas, this is definitely the Nutria.
They were introduced to the country about 40 years ago, and have made a havoc of things ever since. They can cause a lot of problems for the beaver and some other animals, as they do gnaw on trees like beaver, and eat many of the same plants, but they breed much more effectively here than the beaver, and will quickly overpopulate an area.
The footage is pretty fuzzy, so its hard to determine scale, let alone make a solid identification.
It could be a nutria, as someone mentioned. Nutria are a highly invasive species, and although according to the map they are not supposed to be in Maine they have made it to some neighboring areas. See here.
But the footage is so fuzzy it could be anything. Hopefully the witness can get some more footage.
Whatever it was appeared to go under the ice at the end of its swim – that means it’s an otter or a beaver. Not a big mystery.
It goes out of the frame, but I don’t know if you can say it goes under the ice – what’s on that side of the bank on the right is indistinct, there could be more water their. If it does go under ice you still have muskrats, nutria, and some other possibilities as well.
The first couple are beavers. The others are moose.
I’m sorry, but the experienced hunter that could not identify these typical animals should retire from hunting.
Being an avid outdoorsman myself I know a beaver and a moose when I see it.
The beaver’s tail is just barely visible under the water in a few shots and the immature bull moose was easy to identify.
By the way, I hunted in Newfoundland in 2005 and tagged out on a nice bull.
We had to call in a trapper last year to remove some beavers from the neighbors pond. They were damming up the drain pipe and causing problems. I saw these beaver several times while fishing. They were exactly like those videoed above. Too bad the beaver didn’t slap their tail on the surface of the water as they so often do when they spot danger. They are nearsighted though and probably did not see the cameraman.
I am really disappointed that these videos are getting even a second look .
Come on people!
They are beavers and moose.
Do a search on images of moose and beaver. You’ll see the same animals.
He says he edited out the rest of the tape. Well? Wouldn’t that be the more interesting part of the tape showing the creature climbing the river bank and revealing its anatomy?
Um, Richard888: that’s sorta how you know it’s fake.
I can’t believe I came back just to say that.
Like Windwalker7, I am astounded that as of my post there are 20 on here.
(And that he and I have 1/5 of them. :-D)
Windwalker7- Not all of the videos are supposed to be anything strange. Read the article, it is only THE TOP video that is the supposed cryptid. The others are videos of beavers and moose for comparison purposes.
Perhaps I am misunderstanding the level of concern, frustration, or confusion on the part of Windwalker7, but there is only ONE of these tapes that are labeled as “unknown.” That is the first one that is noted as a “mystery animal.”
It was posted as such; please re-read the blog.
However, this entire blog was an illustration of how a probable common ordinary animal (#1), via distance and the use of an old videocamera, can be turned into a cryptid, when it surely must not be one.
All the other videotapes here are of known, recognized, and non-cryptid species of two kinds – beaver and moose. One of the moose is of a young (calf) coming to its mother. None are noted as unknowns by any of the people who have posted them on YouTube. They were posted here to illustrate what closer imagery shows of species swimming.
No trickery or need for identification is needed on those. They are all of known and not mystery animals.
As for what is in the first footage, definitely smacks of something known.
On the other hand, I agree with Mystery-Man, according to the author/recorder of the footage, if he was by himself, we don’t know that what he got is actually what his uncle saw…and we do not know at this point if the uncle was along at the time.
If the uncle was along, then I say they are definitely mis-identifying a known critter, but if not, then it could be that the uncle did indeed see something else entirely.
Once again, we only get scant information and just a tantalizing video from the infamous YouTube.
I do agree with the point of the article however, in our excitement to see something crypto, as observers and as cryptos, we also have to keep our own judgment under scrutiny lest we be taken for a ride by our desires to see that which we want and not what we truly seek.
1st one no clue, too blurry
2nd one, a beaver
3rd, beaverrrrrrrr
4th wont play
5 & 6th both moose
7th MOOSE
Rockerem- Read the blog and the comments from Loren and I. Only the TOP one is an unknown. The others are what you say they are.
It could be a beaver but the head reminds me of a Fisher Cat (Martes Pennanti). They are common in New England and responsible for many missing house cats and small dogs.
It could be a Duck Billed Beaver Puss, a mammal that lays eggs that hatch into Beaverpusses.
I apologize for my frustration.
I understand NOW, that only the first video is the one in question. Sorry, I missed that part.
It isn’t a moose.
I still say it is a beaver except that there does appear to be too much of the head above the surface of the water.
I’m sticking with beaver.