the mexican tongue monster? strange squid monster? real or no? you decide

hello ats while surfing the web i found another strange story i wouldn't say i believ this but it is told very well what do you think?

i found this here paranormal.about.com...

This story takes place, I think, in the summer of 1995, making me 9 years old. Practically every other year, my family would take a trip to Florida. We would usually go to DisneyWorld, but my mother was getting sick of that, so that year we actually didn't go to DisneyWorld to my sister's and my dismay.

On one of these days, we were on a beach. I don't remember what the beach was called, but the people sitting next to us mentioned it being the bottom tip of Florida. After a while of nothing happening, everybody was either in the ocean or sunbathing silently. A woman sitting to the left of us pointed past us, to our right, asking, "What is that?" We all turned and looked to a surprisingly vacant corner of the beach. There were no people down there, but what was there was something really strange.

We all got up to get a better look, very quickly forming a crowd around it. If I had to describe the creature we saw in one word, that word would be "cartoonish." I will never forget what it looked like. It was green and looked like a ball of slime about the size of a basketball. It had tentacles resting on the ground around it with two longer tail-like tentacles sticking out of its back. The thing that was the most bizarre and made it look cartoonish were its eyes, which were on stalks that stood about a foot off its body. The eyes looked creepily human and just looked at us in an almost disinterested way. The other strange thing about it was its mouth, which never seemed to close, and where you'd expect teeth were tooth-shaped fleshy protrusions. No one, not even the creature, seemed scared, and after a while it lazily slithered back into the ocean.

There were roughly 10 witnesses to this thing, and we all spent most of our time talking about what it must have been. One idea was that it was a parasite organism for a much larger creature, one also possibly never identified.

This next story happened to my parents and aunt and uncle about two years ago. My parents had planned to go on a trip to Mexico, and since it was my aunt and uncle's anniversary, they invited them to go. I wasn't invited. Since it was apparently dangerous there for tourists, the hotel would have them driven to wherever they wanted to go instead of them traveling by themselves.

On a day about halfway through the trip, they did some diving and spent the rest of the day shopping. At the end of the day, it was starting to get dark, so they started to drive back. After a while of driving, they saw something weird. They were driving through farmland and the sun was setting below the horizon. They were all talking about their day while driving through a pig farm, when one of the other tourists looked out the window and said, "What's that?"

The driver pulled over to the side of the road. They all looked out the window and under the light of a street lamp they saw a creature walk out from behind some trees sneaking up behind some pigs. They said it stood four to four-and-a-half feet tall. It walked on all fours, its front legs taller than its back legs. The front legs ended with long, curved claws, like a sloths, and it walked on them like a monkey walks on its knuckles. It was gray with black on its back with a white line going down its spine, like a skunk, and it had a long head, like an anteater.

The thing that caught their eye was its tongue, which was so long it would never fit into its mouth. It was thick and round, unlike most animals, whose tongues are relatively flat, and ended with an inward curve like the letter J, dangling just a couple inches from the ground. They watched as it snuck up behind one of the pigs and stopped right behind it. Suddenly its tongue jumped to life and stabbed the pig in its hind quarters. The pig screamed out and fell to the ground silent. (Did the creature possibly inject it with some kind of venom?)

The driver slammed on the gas and sped away. After a little while of calming down, they started talking about what they saw. The driver called it el chupacabras. When they came home, they told us all about it, and another uncle came up with the great idea that they should each separately draw what they saw -- and what they drew was practically identical. The driver called it el chupacabras, but it doesn't sound like any description of chupacabras I've ever heard, so I just call it the Mexican Tongue Monster.
[ex/]

[edit on 18-3-2010 by ashanu90]

where did the mexican tongue monster come from? what is it?
ditto for the slime monster mentioned before hand
i have no theories or explanations i can only say the story is not likely to be true.....but then again.....who knows?

Originally posted by ashanu90
It was green and looked like a ball of slime about the size of a basketball. It had tentacles resting on the ground around it with two longer tail-like tentacles sticking out of its back. The thing that was the most bizarre and made it look cartoonish were its eyes, which were on stalks that stood about a foot off its body. The eyes looked creepily human and just looked at us in an almost disinterested way. The other strange thing about it was its mouth, which never seemed to close, and where you'd expect teeth were tooth-shaped fleshy protrusions. No one, not even the creature, seemed scared, and after a while it lazily slithered back into the ocean.

This sounds like a beached octopus. They can change their color and texture to camouflage themselves, have tentacles, can be the size of a basketball, and have eyes on stocks.
[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/03befe992426.jpg[/atsimg]

Originally posted by ashanu90
They said it stood four to four-and-a-half feet tall. It walked on all fours, its front legs taller than its back legs. The front legs ended with long, curved claws, like a sloths, and it walked on them like a monkey walks on its knuckles. It was gray with black on its back with a white line going down its spine, like a skunk, and it had a long head, like an anteater.

The thing that caught their eye was its tongue, which was so long it would never fit into its mouth. It was thick and round, unlike most animal

This sounds like a giant anteater:
[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/d3d72f696def.jpg[/atsimg]
Giant Anteater

Originally posted by ashanu90

The thing that caught their eye was its tongue, which was so long it would never fit into its mouth. It was thick and round, unlike most animals, whose tongues are relatively flat, and ended with an inward curve like the letter J, dangling just a couple inches from the ground. They watched as it snuck up behind one of the pigs and stopped right behind it. Suddenly its tongue jumped to life and stabbed the pig in its hind quarters. The pig screamed out and fell to the ground silent. (Did the creature possibly inject it with some kind of venom?)
[ex/]

[edit on 18-3-2010 by ashanu90]

defcon5,
i don't think an anteater does that kind of stuff

i guess the first thing could be an octopus but i didn't know they had eyes on stalks
thank you posting



[edit on 19-3-2010 by ashanu90]

Originally posted by defcon5
This sounds like a beached octopus. They can change their color and texture to camouflage themselves, have tentacles, can be the size of a basketball, and have eyes on stocks.

I lived in Florida for a couple of years, on the beach, and I can tell you that in all that time — living on the beach all day, every day — I never saw a live "beached octopus"... I did occasionally see an octopus, but always dead. Additionally, I've never seen an octopus anywhere with its eyes on "foot-long stalks"...

It is known that octopuses can be removed from deep water and that they can maneuver their way back, immediately slithering off the deck of a fishing boat, for example — but you will never see a live octopus come up on a beach and then slither back into the surf. They don't travel anywhere near the shallow surf, it's far too dangerous for them.

One more thing that disqualifies this "sea monster" as an octopus is the description of its "mouth"... You will not see the mouth of a live octopus unless you pick the damned thing up and turn it upside down, and then you will see a black beak that looks very much like a parrot's beak... Not fleshy protuberances that look like teeth.

I've seen a lot of weird sea creatures at the beach, especially during Florida's many annual "red tides," but I've never seen anything like the beast described in the OP.

As an asides, I will mention that I've witnessed a number of "red tides" (algae blooms) in Florida, have seen literally millions of dead sea creatures washed up over miles of beach — some creatures almost too weird to believe, actually — but I never saw a SHARK washed up as a victim of a red tide. Not even a baby shark. It's as if the sharks sense the danger far ahead of other gill-breathers, and they just evacuate the area.

As for the description of the "Mexican tongue creature," I would agree that the OP gives a dead-on description of the giant anteater, except for the carnivorous behavior described. That part sounds a little contrived, although the Giant Anteater IS found in Central & South America.

— Doc Velocity

Here are a few examples of the stuff lurking out in the ocean that you never see except under the most extraordinary circumstances, such as red tide or tsunami...



And there's LOTS MORE than that.

— Doc Velocity






[edit on 3/19/2010 by Doc Velocity]

reply to post by Doc Velocity


Hey Doc…
I have lived in Florida for decades, and frequently do shore dives right off the beach. I have seen all kinds of stuff up on the sand that did not belong there: Sharks, jellyfish, octopus, squid, etc… Stuff gets caught by fishermen and dumped on the beach, stuff gets tossed up in rough surf. I have literally been hit in arm by a jellyfish that got slung out in rough surf before a storm made landfall. The reason I believe that its most likely a octopus, is the size, color, tentacles, and the eye stocks, and eye description.

Octopus do have eye stocks, and when one is oozing along the beach they will protrude more so then when they are in the water, not in feet, but I suspect that the writer of that is a kid and is recalling details in an exaggerated sense. After all, remember that an octopus is nothing more then a giant slug, it belongs to the same phylum (Mollusca). Their eyes have a very distinct look to them:
[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/91506b7ca16e.jpg[/atsimg]
The description of the teeth is most likely a misunderstanding of what the viewer was looking at. Probably part of the tentacles, or of the skin texture that the octopus was displaying at the time. Remember, when they are trying to be sneaky, like trying to get back to the water after having a near surface experience, he is going to try and look like foliage of some type. They also frequently have a greenish cast to their coloration, and I imagine if its trying to bland into the sand it would use that pale green/tan coloration.
[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/c9717a35a303.jpg[/atsimg]
Anyway that is my reasoning for why I believe that he saw an octopus, if you guys figure out something that matches better, fantastic.

You should probably start looking in the same phylum for the answer, I believe that is where you will find it.

reply to post by Doc Velocity

Good video Doc.
As I said, I am a diver, so I am somewhat familiar with a lot of what is down there. I’ve seen a lot of it face to goggles, so to speak … You would be surprised at what comes up in the shallows here in FL though. For example, you would think that the largest amount of Giant and Colossal Squid would be found in the Pacific, yet most are found here in Florida. When those types of creatures get sick, or disoriented they come into the shallow water, often to die. Same as whales beaching themselves. There has been speculation over the years that many beachings are actually due to active sonar pings from Subs, which we get a lot of Naval activity down here. I cannot tell you the whys, I can only tell you it happens. You mention Tsunamis, yet you forget the more frequent cousin of the tsunami that we frequently get… Storm Surge.

Here’s to hoping that I never see a giant squid face to face, eh…


[edit on 3/19/2010 by defcon5]

Well, the part of the OP that struck me was the "foot-long eye stalks," which is an extraordinary detail to mention. Perhaps it was an exaggerated detail, an exaggeration of the octopus's ability to raise its eyes above its body. Certainly it doesn't have foot-long stalks, but perhaps its "eyebrow-raising" was enough to make a startling impression on a beach tourist.

But this also brings up the contention that a live octopus would come up on the beach, linger, then slither back into the surf. I agree, a heavy surf can bring in all sorts of stuff, but the OP is describing a typical day at the beach, not a tidal surge during a hurricane. My contention is that, under normal conditions, an octopus will not come out of the depths and into the shallow surf, where it would be a quick meal for a big drum or even a shark.

The Octopus may may be a slug on steroids, but it's a damned smart slug. Like, a sentient being smart. Ask a diver.

Speaking of beach diving, that's how I made money when I was living on the beach at Siesta Key. I'd go out about a hundred yards and dive for big live sand dollars and conch shells, which I'd sell to the tourists for $5 a whack.

That was the charm of the thing, right? Tourists could go to any souvenir shop and buy a giant sand dollar or a conch shell for less than $5... But they wanted to see the tanned, sun-bleached-blond diver go out there and retrieve the items on demand.

Oh, hell yeah, they'd pay for it. Big score with the bikini girls, too, aye-yi-yi...

And I loved the life, I loved swimming and diving in the beautiful, warm ocean for 8 hours a day. It was so therapeutic, I became a different person, a stronger person, a healthier person... But it was under bad circumstances, because I was on the run.

But that's another story.

— Doc Velocity

Double-post! That hasn't happened in a long time.

— Doc Velocity


[edit on 3/19/2010 by Doc Velocity]

I'm going to have to agree that the first one is most likely some kind of octopus. But it sounds like this is strange behavior and a slightly strange description for one; it might be a member of an unknown or lesser known species of octopus, a variety which is very smart. He may have been a scientist, up to observe the humans -- normally they hide away, you know? I'm thinking some sort of cross between Atlantis and The Great Race of Yith; when Atlantis sunk, they all consciousness jumped into octopi. Or they're just really smart octopi.

But how likely is that?

And while I do agree that, physically, the tongue monster sounds just like a giant anteater (which, by the way, are ADORABLE! Did you see the pictures on that wikipedia page?), its unprovoked attack on a pig does not. It may not have been carnivorous; all we k now for sure about the event (assuming it happened) is that it attacked the pig.

Originally posted by Doc Velocity
But this also brings up the contention that a live octopus would come up on the beach, linger, then slither back into the surf. I agree, a heavy surf can bring in all sorts of stuff, but the OP is describing a typical day at the beach, not a tidal surge during a hurricane. My contention is that, under normal conditions, an octopus will not come out of the depths and into the shallow surf, where it would be a quick meal for a big drum or even a shark.

When they get close to laying their eggs, they hunt for any food they can get their tentacles on quickly. They are masters of figuring out how to eat as much as possible with as little effort as required; it’s all about energy levels with them at that time. Once they lay their eggs they will not eat again, sometimes eating their own limbs to get by until the eggs hatch. After the eggs are hatched they are so depleted of energy that they pretty much get sick and die. So what might have happened is that one either grabbed a fisherman’s bait or whatever a fisherman caught and refused to let go until it got dragged out on the sand.

Originally posted by Doc Velocity
The Octopus may may be a slug on steroids, but it's a damned smart slug. Like, a sentient being smart. Ask a diver.

Again, I am a diver…
I know that they are smart creatures. I would venture to say that they might be some of the smartest. I personally find them to be more intelligent then even things like dolphins. You ever hear this story from Miami?

The Seaquarium in Miami Florida had a display of Florida lobsters. The lobsters kept vanishing and the manager thought, perhaps, one of the employees was making off with them. Or maybe somebody was sneaking in over the fence at night and stealing them. The Night watchman himself was one of the suspects and was determined to catch the thief if only to clear himself. Again and again the lobsters vanished but he couldn't catch anyone doing it. One night he went about his rounds as normal and then slipped back into the main display area and waited. After 30 minutes he thought he saw something happening in the lobster tank and he turned on all the lights. A big octopus was in the lobster tank. The watchman ran around to the walkway above the tanks and as he entered the area he saw the octopus lugging its captive lobster along the walkway, hell bent for its own tank. When they checked the octopus tank they found the empty shells of the stolen lobsters buried under the rocks.

The thing even figured out to hide the shells so he would not get caught…
Now that is smart!

Originally posted by Doc Velocity
Speaking of beach diving, that's how I made money when I was living on the beach at Siesta Key. I'd go out about a hundred yards and dive for big live sand dollars and conch shells, which I'd sell to the tourists for $5 a whack.

That was the charm of the thing, right? Tourists could go to any souvenir shop and buy a giant sand dollar or a conch shell for less than $5... But they wanted to see the tanned, sun-bleached-blond diver go out there and retrieve the items on demand.

Siesta Key is not too far away from where I am located. You have to go down to Venice or Boca Grande for decent diving though. It’s a bit to shallow further to the north. It might be Ok for free diving, but I am not really a free diver, though I have done it. I am far more invested into Scuba, especially underwater photography and Videography

Originally posted by defcon5
Here’s to hoping that I never see a giant squid face to face, eh…

Man, some of the stories (the real stories) that I've heard about Architeuthis are enough to make you think twice about diving. Sheesh.

I mean, just the idea of being snatched by a giant squid and getting torn to bits in a matter of seconds by that nasty beak is a worse thought, to me, than encountering a man-eating shark.

With a shark, you might have a chance to punch it in the nose — I've punched bull sharks in the nose in open water, which sends them scurrying away with their tails between their legs.

But a squid? They're too primordial, they don't retreat once they start an attack. It's just snatch and rend and consume — it's more vicious than a shark attack, and the little fish are cleaning up the crumbs just a few seconds later.

Architeuthis is NASTY.

— Doc Velocity

reply to post by ashanu90

hello ats while surfing the web i found another strange story i wouldn't say i believ this but it is told very well what do you think?

Ok just to be sure I got this right.
You've created a thread about something you don't believe in?
Ok that's fine just had to be sure everything was as it should be.

SnF on a good find. This is the stuff that keeps my butt out of the ocean.

[edit on 19-3-2010 by randyvs]

Originally posted by Solasis
its unprovoked attack on a pig does not. It may not have been carnivorous; all we k now for sure about the event (assuming it happened) is that it attacked the pig.

remember though that’s what the writers parents, and relatives saw not the writer him/herself. There might be an amount “of lets exaggerate to tell the kids a good story” going on here. The Giant Anteater is not a cuddly, cute creature, they can be very lethal, and can kill a jaguar. As to it licking the pig, who knows, maybe the pig had insects on it and it was an easy meal for it. The physical description though is dead on for a Giant Anteater, the size, the coloration, the head, the tongue, the claws, the way its walks, etc...

Funny:

Originally posted by defcon5
Siesta Key is not too far away from where I am located. You have to go down to Venice or Boca Grande for decent diving though. It’s a bit to shallow further to the north. It might be Ok for free diving, but I am not really a free diver, though I have done it. I am far more invested into Scuba, especially underwater photography and Videography

Actually, the surf down there at Venice was pretty shark-infested when I lived on Siesta. I went down to Casperson on a regular basis, sometimes walked all the way to the nudist colony (is it still there?). I actually got stalked by sharks at Venice, not a pleasant free-diving encounter.

However, I did beachcomb over 3000 perfect fossilized shark and cetacean teeth at Casperson Beach, including Megalodon.

My standard procedure was to collect several hundred beautiful specimens, scrutinize them for imperfections, wrap them with gold-filled wire, then sell the bastards at the flea market over in Naples.

Hey, man, I was essentially homeless, living straight off the beach. Never stole, never begged, never got in trouble while I was there... I was just one of the beach fixtures back in the early 90s, along with the beach artists and tai-chi practitioners, right. Hey, I lived in that big tree down at Siesta Beach by the volleyball pits.

Seriously. Lived in a tree. Like reverse-evolution. I had a lot of time to think, too.



— Doc Velocity





[edit on 3/19/2010 by Doc Velocity]

reply to post by Doc Velocity


They are having a problem out in California, from what I hear, with the Humboldt Squid. They are not as large as the big boys, but they attack in swarms and go into frenzies just like sharks do. Not 30 feet long like a Colossal, but big enough you don’t want to run into one. You’re right though, I’ve been around a number of sharks, but running into a large squid scares me far worse.

Humboldt Squid are carnivorous marine invertebrates that move in shoals of up to 1200 individuals. They swim at speeds of up to 24 kilometers per hour (15 mph/13 kn) propelled by water ejected through a hyponome (siphon) and by two diamond shaped fins. Their tentacles bear suckers lined with sharp teeth with which they grasp prey and drag it towards a large, sharp beak. They are known to be very aggressive and attack divers that venture too close. There have been reports that in December of 2009, three divers were killed in the Sea of Cortez after they found themselves caught in the middle of a Humboldt Squid feeding frenzy. The scuba tanks of Nicholas Barbin and two other unnamed divers washed up on the shores of northern Mexico four days after their disappearance. Torn pieces of their wetsuits were found to be soaked in the ink discharged from the Humboldt Squid as a defensive measure.

Originally posted by defcon5
They are having a problem out in California, from what I hear, with the Humboldt Squid. They are not as large as the big boys, but they attack in swarms and go into frenzies just like sharks do.

Yeah, out in the Gulf of California the Humboldt Squid are like the pit bulls of the sea. I've seen footage of divers out there fending off those bad boys, like little red torpedoes racing around — with ATTITUDE. Man, those damn things can take a plug out of you the size of a golf ball!

How'd you like to get one of those nasties tangled up on your regulator? Time to head for the surface.

— Doc Velocity

Originally posted by Doc Velocity
Actually, the surf down there at Venice was pretty shark-infested when I lived on Siesta.

I have never seen one when I was in the water there, but I have seen the silhouettes of some pretty big ones cruising between the beachgoers playing in the water oblivious to the shark that was feet away from them.

Originally posted by Doc Velocity
(is it still there?)

I don’t know, the only one I ever heard of was near land of lakes.

Originally posted by Doc Velocity
I actually got stalked by sharks at Venice, not a pleasant free-diving encounter.

Funny when I dive there I am always looking over my shoulder. I often swear that I feel stuff brushing against my legs, but then its gone when I turn around. It’s a pretty barren bottom, other then the fossil beds, so its not like vegetation is brushing up against me. Lots of divers down there now since the city put in an artificial reef about 100 feet off the beach.

Originally posted by Doc Velocity
However, I did beachcomb over 3000 perfect fossilized shark and cetacean teeth at Casperson Beach, including Megalodon.

The year of the four storms put a pretty good end to that. They had to backfill the beach with sand to replace what the storm surge pulled out to sea. Now only divers who can reach the fossil beds themselves can find anything worthwhile. I am not sure on the laws anymore either, Florida had put in some very stringent laws about picking up anything you found. It got to the point where of you touched anything they classified as a fossil or archeological find they could take pretty much everything you owned or would ever own. I am not sure if they amended those laws or not, but they got to the point of ridicules at one time.

Well, times change, but I don't see the State of Florida criminalizing the collection of sharks' teeth. It would kill off their tourism in a significant way. I mean, Casperson Beach itself was promoted by the State as a shark tooth haven. But one of the great secrets, of course, is that the fossils wash out of the land, they don't wash in with the tide.

Oh, sure, the tide washes things in, but it's the erosion of the coast that exposes fossil specimens; and the whole land mass of Florida is full of marine fossils.

I mean, I was selling sharks' teeth in order to stay alive, but there were some serious shark-tooth venders in Florida, and they weren't getting their stuff from the beach. Rather, they were licensed to go into the commercial phosphate mines of inland Florida, where the heavy duty Megalodon teeth and many, many extinct cetacean fossils are found.

I can highly recommend the phosphate mines, BTW, for photographic and videographic subjects, although you probably know all about that.

Check Out the Phosphate Mines


— Doc Velocity