Giant sea serpent: incident at Stinson Beach in 1983

This sea serpent sighting is one of my favorites. I first read about it in a "time-life book" , mysteries of the unknown-mysterious creatures. I still have the book.

Recently at mysterious universe. Micah Hanks, did a couple of articles on that sighting and it's really a good read!! Some quotes :

3) Would you liken this animal to being more like a reptile, or a mammal? (I recall you describing the teeth being similar to an alligator).3) Would you liken this animal to being more like a reptile, or a mammal? (I recall you describing the teeth being similar to an alligator).

“Reptile. Gigantic snake.

“We were taking turns watching through binoculars. I observed it through binoculars while it was further from the beach. It swung it’s head upward and opened it’s mouth “V shape” and I saw it’s teeth that appeared to be sharp and all about the same size, like an alligators teeth. I did not see fangs. Keep in mind, I only saw the left side of it’s head.”

Basically a road crew saw this giant sea serpent swimming near shore....and it's hard for me not to believe that they really saw a unknown sea creature.

You need to read the whole account... and see what I mean... it's one of the better sea serpent stories out there.

Click here >>> mysteriousuniverse.org...

What do you think ??? Have you a favorite sea serpent sighting to share ??

a reply to: Lassiecomehome

The Stinson Beach Serpent: A California Sea Monster, Reconsidered.

Here is the first article for lazy folks hahaha ...

The initial sightings occurred on October 31, 1983, shortly after 2 PM, when a group of five construction workers said they observed a large creature swimming in the direction of Cliffside road, where their present operations were underway. The animal, they judged, had been close to 100 feet in length, and appeared to be swimming 100 yards off shore.

Other witnesses with the construction team noted how fast the creature appeared to be moving. “The sucker was going 45 to 50 miles an hour,” Steve Bjora told reporters following the incident, saying, “It was clipping. It was boogying. It looked like a long eel.”

" “It shocked the hell out of me… It was hard to describe how big it was. I have no creative imagination. It was a snake-like thing that arched itself up and was so long it made humps above the water. It had a wake as big as a power boat’s and it was going about 65 miles an hour. It looked like a great big rubber hose as it moved. If someone had gotten in its way it would have plowed right though them. It was like it was playing… [it was like a] giant snake or a dragon, with a mouth like an alligator’s. It was at least 15 or 20 feet in circumference, but it was hard to tell how long it was. I mean, how long is a snake? He should have the whole damn ocean. It’s his territory. He’s the King of the Sea!”

Link >>> mysteriousuniverse.org...

Thanks for this, I have not heard of this before, it's very interesting to me, but I love this kind of stuff. Most are not-so-believable, but actually this sounds very believable, and there's no telling how long it is or isn't, but I'd bet they saw something very interesting that we don't ever see.
One thing I learned a long time ago after watching some documentary about people, you can tell a joke to one person, then they tell it to another, then another tells it to someone else, and so on. By the time it is being told to the 3rd person they joke has already being told as a completely different story. The same is true with this stuff, it may all have happened, but each person sees things differently and tell their stories differently.

That would explain why one person says, "It was going 60-75 mph!", then another says, it was going, "45 to 50 mph", you know, that kind of stuff.

Probably a giant oarfish. On warm water years they show up on the California coast.

Maybe 'Caddy' has grown over the decades

Cadborosaurus willsi is said by witnesses to resemble a serpent with vertical coils or humps in tandem behind the horse-like head and long neck, with a pair of small elevating front flippers, and either a pair of hind flippers, or a pair of large webbed hind flippers fused to form a large fan-like tail region that provides powerful forward propulsion

Cadborosaurus

originally posted by: recrisp
Thanks for this, I have not heard of this before, it's very interesting to me, but I love this kind of stuff. Most are not-so-believable, but actually this sounds very believable, and there's no telling how long it is or isn't, but I'd bet they saw something very interesting that we don't ever see.
One thing I learned a long time ago after watching some documentary about people, you can tell a joke to one person, then they tell it to another, then another tells it to someone else, and so on. By the time it is being told to the 3rd person they joke has already being told as a completely different story. The same is true with this stuff, it may all have happened, but each person sees things differently and tell their stories differently.

That would explain why one person says, "It was going 60-75 mph!", then another says, it was going, "45 to 50 mph", you know, that kind of stuff.

I'm with you !! I love this kind of stuff also ! And as far as the speed...of the creature, it's not to far off ..10-20 mph...

and as far as an Oarfish ...this thing was moving!! It had teeth!! (read the account) ..most oarfish are in the process of dying..and sort of floating along...until they are beached. IMHO...not an oarfish.

I believe they saw something. however i think they are off with their measurements.

the guy with the binoculars said it was a quarter mile out. that's about 400 yards. Stinson beach 400 yards out Iis between 14 and 19 feet deep. elsewhere it said 100 yards out. that's only 11 feet deep there. another witness said it was 15 to 20 foot in diameter.

then they added its speed to be between 45-65 mph. at 100 foot in length that would leave one hell of a wake. but they dont mention a wake being bigger than a power boat. it would have displaced tons (literally ) more water in a wake than that. and the creature is thicker than the depth of the water. at 1000 yards out or over half a mile distance the waters only 45 feet deep. it may have been swimming there but it would have been very difficult to see teeth on the thing at that distance even with binoculars.

I believe they saw something strange but at the heat of the moment their adrenaline made them exaggerate or see things as much to large.

originally posted by: Pilgrum
Maybe 'Caddy' has grown over the decades

Cadborosaurus willsi is said by witnesses to resemble a serpent with vertical coils or humps in tandem behind the horse-like head and long neck, with a pair of small elevating front flippers, and either a pair of hind flippers, or a pair of large webbed hind flippers fused to form a large fan-like tail region that provides powerful forward propulsion

Cadborosaurus

I dig Caddy !! Maybe ??

Check this out ...

Sea Serpent Sightings in SF Bay-Historic and Modern Day Reports of Unknown Sea Creatures in San Francisco Bay...
In November 1983, a construction crew working on Route 1 near Stinson Beach north of the Golden Gate Bridge saw a creature, underwater, approaching the land. They estimated it to be 100 feet long and about five feet in diameter. They described it as black in color. With binoculars they observed it throwing its head about and whipping it's body around in what appeared to be coils. MysteriousDestinationsMagazine.com was able to contact one of the members of this crew, who confirmed the sighting.

Link www.mysteriousdestinationsmagazine.com...

a reply to: Lassiecomehome

from the link above...

"The Clark Brothers Embark on a Mission

The Clark brothers’ fascination with the San Francisco Bay Sea Serpent began on the morning of February 5, 1985 while they were sipping coffee parked along the shore side walkway at Marina Green in San Francisco. They observed some sea lions cavorting about 150 yards offshore directly in front of them, and while they were watching the group of sea lions they noticed what they thought was another sea lion approaching the group. When it got within a few yards of the group of sea lions it suddenly raised its head and a portion of its body approximately 10 feet straight up out of the water and then it lunged forward into the group of sea lions. The sea lions scattered with one of them making a mad dash for the shoreline in front of their car.

As it was being chased by the large serpentine marine animal, the sea lion swam over a submerged rocky ledge that, due to an extremely high tide that day, was covered by about three feet of water. The creature’s pursuit of the sea lion caused it to crash onto the submerged rocky ledge, partially exposing itself approximately 20 yards away from where the stunned brothers were sitting in their car. "

What a hoot!!

a reply to: Lassiecomehome

orca maybe?

originally posted by: BASSPLYR
I believe they saw something. however i think they are off with their measurements.

the guy with the binoculars said it was a quarter mile out. that's about 400 yards. Stinson beach 400 yards out Iis between 14 and 19 feet deep. elsewhere it said 100 yards out. that's only 11 feet deep there. another witness said it was 15 to 20 foot in diameter.

then they added its speed to be between 45-65 mph. at 100 foot in length that would leave one hell of a wake. but they dont mention a wake being bigger than a power boat. it would have displaced tons (literally ) more water in a wake than that. and the creature is thicker than the depth of the water. at 1000 yards out or over half a mile distance the waters only 45 feet deep. it may have been swimming there but it would have been very difficult to see teeth on the thing at that distance even with binoculars.

I believe they saw something strange but at the heat of the moment their adrenaline made them exaggerate or see things as much to large.

The key is what you said, "I believe they saw something strange", and if you read the account...it was booking..maybe because of the swallow waters? It had an effect on those that saw it.

A quote from the SF sea serpent link above

so cool

"Another witness posted a sighting in the comments section of an article about the Clarks posted on Crytomundo.com. She related the following:

“My husband and I live in the Candlestick Point condos off the 101 and saw the sea serpent twice in the summer of 2007. I saw it first while driving alone. It was undulating in and out of the water and I could clearly see what looked like several humps moving. We last saw it in August 2007. My husband saw it eat a pelican sitting in the water and those birds are huge. (This occurred) as I was driving and trying to watch the road. I didn’t see it happen, but immediately after we both witnessed a bunch of pelicans wildly dive-bombing the serpent in the water as if on the attack.”

In August of 2009 another witness saw something unexplainable in the bay while riding in a car. According to her description, a child in the car said he saw something in the water. She turned to look and observed an “enormous sea serpent in silhouette against the dark water and night sky with it's head and neck section poised out of the water at least six feet, whiskers, or appendages on its head”. She could clearly see the eyes and it was not too far from the shoreline, and was stationary in the water with two large coils rising behind it,” according to the witness. The arches rose behind the head and neck roughly four feet high, then the head moved slightly back and forth but the rest of the animal remained stationary in the water, the witness said. She only saw it for a brief period as the car sped past but she had no doubt about what she saw."

the video footage of the Clark brothers sighting is interesting.
to me I don't see a serpent but a flock of sonething. dolphins or porpoises maybe. perhaps even birds. to my eye it doesn't seem like a solid long creature but a group of somethings. they say the creature is very far away but in the video and with its resolution it's hard to get a good idea of the creatures distance. could be closer that they claim.

here's footage of an orca attacking and killing a pelican at seaworld.

m.youtube.com...

December through May is orca season for whale watching tours in the San Francisco bay.

originally posted by: BASSPLYR
here's footage of an orca attacking and killing a pelican at seaworld.

m.youtube.com...

December through May is orca season for whale watching tours in the San Francisco bay.

Jeezze...I ain't watch that ..haahaa... I love pelicans' ..I once (while on guard duty) remove a fishing line and hook from one. It was a great feeling ..and messed my shirt up.

I'm still thinking something is out there ...unless the orca's killed them ..a book I read a while back talks about that ...and I can't remember what it was (book) ...it'll come to me ...

Got to be an orafish!
(as someone already suggested)
They can get as big as 50 feet.
Here is a video about one in Califonia and then several pictures of them.

As much as I love mysteries and the unknown, I think this is the most logical and most likely answer.

s&f

A Danish sea scientist, Anton Bruun, captured an eel larvae that was 6 foot long off the coast of South Africa in 1930.
He estimated that if it grew to adulthood it would have been around 180 foot long.

a reply to: skunkape23

Dr Lionel walford saw the same thing off the coast of new York on 1963.

a reply to: Darkblade71

good possibility. the real question though is how are they as sushi

originally posted by: BASSPLYR
a reply to: skunkape23

Dr Lionel walford saw the same thing off the coast of new York on 1963.

there you go !! We just don't know!! .. Got to be an orafish!
(as someone already suggested) ...no-way....remember the teeth