'Montauk Monster' Mystery Gets More Mysterious

[Sledgstone 8,672]

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,396182,00.html

The "Montauk Monster" may just be a bag of bones by now, but the people who know where it is aren't saying.

The riddle of the beaked beast found on a upscale East Hampton, N.Y., beach in mid-July got even trickier Thursday as various experts weighed in — and its "discoverers" revealed they might have something mysterious of their own planned.

First, "Animal Planet" wildlife expert Jeff Corwin appeared on FOX News Channel to proclaim that we're all suckers.

"What you think is a beak is actually the canine teeth," Corwin told Bill Hemmer and Megyn Kelly. "What we have is an incredibly rare" — dramatic pause — "raccoon."

• Click here to visit FOXNews.com's Natural Science Center.

New York magazine contacted the East Hampton Department of Environmental Analysis, which denied the town's animal-control unit had disposed of the beast.

"It's a raccoon," Margaret Carry-Smyth told the magazine.

Later in the day, the three women who said they'd come across the purplish flotsam a few weeks ago showed off a second snapshot of it on a digital camera.

"It exists," Rachel Goldberg, Courtney Fruin and Jenna Hewitt asserted on local cable channel Plum TV, denying suspicions that they'd Photoshopped a picture of a dead dog.

But pressed by interviewer Nick Leighton about where the animal was now, the semi-glamorous trio suddenly got cagey.

"It decomposed in our friend's back yard," said Goldberg. "It's been since removed ... by friends of ours."

"You're a little shady with the details," observed Leighton. "You planning to write a book about this?"

Goldberg only shrugged and nodded with a faint smile.

"We're hoping to have scientists contact us to find out what it is," she conceded. "It's in a box."

To complicate matters, Alanna Nevitski, who e-mailed the original photo that started the whole brouhaha, told New York magazine the three women were "full of" what dogs and raccoons produce a lot of, and that they had nothing to do with the picture.

The trio's elusive friend apparently popped up on one of FOX News Channel's rivals, where reporter Jeanne Moos played a video she'd gotten from a young surfer-dude type who said the carnivorous corpse was in his back yard.

"We're gonna try to have some experts analyze it," Davis said as his buddies used a stick to hold up what looked like bones with skin still attached. "It's a really cool beast."

Meanwhile, the marketing team for a new energy drink called Venom threw up a blog offering a lifetime supply of their product for anyone who captured a live Montauk Monster.

Finally, a third, better picture of the bloated body showed up on New York Newsday, whose site appeared to have crashed from all the excitement.

It's clear from this angle that the dead animal is, or was, quite male. It's also clear from an examination of the half-rotted head that it looks awfully like that of a — drum roll — dead raccoon.

CNN has a good video description:

http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/us/2008/07/31/moos.montauk.monster.cnn

Did you catch that last part in the video? There is an animal disease clinic near where this thing washed ashore? And the monster has a cloth on its arm? Maybe from a bandage or gauze? If it was a raccoon, why would it have a possible bandage on its arm? Why would a disease clinic care about a raccoon and why hasn't anyone talked to that clinic to even see if there is a possible connection? Its a shame they don't have something in the picture to show its scale. Maybe it is only the size of a raccoon...

But what do you think, turtle without a shell? Racoon? or... Monster!?

[Ladywriter 7,783]

thats messed up.

it looks different from different angels.

[CabbitGirl 4,018]

no idea what it is, but it definitely is weird looking

[Crazy Gravy 100]

I saw this pic, this morning. I thought it was a turtle and in the back of my mind all day trying to figure out why its not green. I do feel the bandage is a dead give away prob had mange.

[Crazy Gravy 100]

I don't post good. I meant a raccon with mange.

[Myk JL 1,731]

But what do you think, turtle without a shell? Raccoon? or... Monster!?

It's not a turtle with out a shell because the spine would be missing if it was.

From that angle there's no way it's a raccoon.

I agree with the idea that it's a rotting dog.

Funny though that all 3 animals are mention on Faux News but the fans that mention the possibilities ignore "rotting dog" then laugh at the possibility it's a raccoon; skewing the skewed.

[Sledgstone 8,672]

True, rotting dog could be a possibility too. But it could also be an escaped chupacabra.

[Myk JL 1,731]

True, rotting dog could be a possibility too. But it could also be an escaped chupacabra.

I'd like to think to a certain extent it's a Rotting Griffin missing it's wings.

[Myk JL 1,731]

Although the original picture made me think it was a rotting dog I'm starting to think it was a rotting raccoon. If it isn't small though then... those are some pretty big flies...

http://gawker.com/5032597/is-the-montauk-monster-satans-bacon

http://www.montauk-monster.com/

[Sledgstone 8,672]

I don't think it could be a pig because of the possible decomposing fur.. maybe it is a capibarra or maybe some kind of pig/boar thing. But the size of the skull in the one guy's hand makes the thing look bigger than a raccoon.

BTW, those pics with "Monty" in them are hilarious. X'D

http://montymash.com/

Ah, heres a pic of a capibarra, look at the paws, they're webbed looking. Maybe there is a connection.

http://lh5.ggpht.com/_w6hdgw84yE4/RrY_rPAyC0I/AAAAAAAAAKo/k_vf5-XD9Hc/IMG_3328.JPG