Screaming Fishermen Confirm Gator Sighting
Posted by: Loren Coleman on June 20th, 2009
Stan Maddux of The Times of Munster, Indiana, reports on the newest sightings of an alligator near LaPorte, Indiana:
Two fishermen screaming for help led police to Pine Lake where officers spotted an alligator in what’s the first confirmed sighting.
“It was no bigger than 4-foot long,” said LaPorte police Officer Matthew Drangmeister, who saw the reptile on Wednesday [June 17, 2009].
According to police, officers about 10 p.m. Tuesday [June 16, 2009] responded to Pine Lake near the channel.
Two fishermen were on a floating platform about 20 feet off shore when they spotted the alligator swimming.
The water was only knee deep but the men refused to get back in and head toward shore.
Their screams caught the attention of a passing motorist who contacted authorities. Police shined flashlights on the water as the men waded to shore.
“They said they seen the alligator and got scared and was not going to walk back through the water to shore without our presence there to make sure the alligator didn’t attack them,” Drangmeister said.
The next morning [June 17, 2009], Drangmeister out of curiosity returned about sunrise and spotted the reptile about 200 yards off shore.
Officer Chae Uhlemann also caught a glimpse and “positively identified it as an alligator,” Drangmeister said.
An alligator sighting was first reported June 1 by fisherman near the same channel.
Ever since, Davis said DNR officers during the course of their regular duties are looking harder along the shoreline and using binoculars to try and spot the reptile believed to be a discarded pet.
Thank You.
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.
In Florida we call a four foot gator “lunch”.
John L. Johnsen:
Heh-heh. That’s funny. Very “politically incorrect,” but funny regardless.
It’s Probably an escaped pet like the officers said.
Since you seem to know, John L. Johnsen:
What DOES a gator taste like? Chicken, maybe? Anybody??? 🙂
I’m with JLJ…fried gator bites anyone???
This is being mis-reported. The men were proud graduates of LaPorte High School, the “Screaming Fishermen”.
I can’t speak for John L. Johnson, but to me Gator doesn’t taste like chicken. It’s closer to frog’s legs.
Screaming over a four foot gator? You can tell those boys haven’t ever been fishing in any Southern swamps or sloughs. Of course, I’ll bet that four footer looked more like fourteen feet in the dark. 🙂
Seriously, I know from experience that only about 300 square feet of standing water is needed to attract a gator this size in Florida.