The Gloucester Sea Serpent
One summer, a long serpent appeared in a New England harbour, and hundreds of people lined the shore to watch it.
What was reported
In August 1817, people in Gloucester, Massachusetts, began reporting a huge serpent in the harbour, often described as dark, with a head like a turtle's or a snake's and a body that moved in vertical humps. Over the following weeks, hundreds of people watched from the shore and from boats.
The Linnean Society of New England, a scientific society, collected sworn statements from witnesses and concluded a new species had been found.
Explanations offered
The society then made an embarrassing mistake: it declared a deformed black snake found in a field to be a baby sea serpent. Modern suggestions for the sightings include a whale, a line of porpoises or tuna swimming in a row, and floating objects. The large number of witnesses still makes it one of the best-known sea serpent cases.
- When
- August 1817
- Where
- Gloucester Harbor, Massachusetts, USA
- Witnesses
- Hundreds of townspeople and sailors
- Status
- Disputed
Famous cases are real, widely reported events. Each file sets out what witnesses said and the explanations that have been offered, without taking a side.