St. Augustine’s Monster Mystery
News4JAX
Cryptozoologist Sheds Light On Monster Stories
POSTED: Friday, January 7, 2011

Video: St. Augustine Monster?

Video: St. Augustine Monster?

The story goes that two boys were playing on the shore of Anastasia Island in 1896 when they noticed a huge carcass on the beach.

That carcass became known as the St. Augustine Monster. On Friday night [January 7, 2011], cryptozoologist, Loren Coleman came into town to share stories of the monster at Ripley’s Believe it or Not Museum.

Coleman has been studying to figure out what really washed up on St. Augustine’s shore all of those years ago.

“It could have been a giant octopus, so the mystery increased,” said Coleman. Coleman said he’s surprised that not many tourists head to St. Augustine in search for answers to the mystery monster.

There are still some jars of tissue from the “monster” on display at the Smithsonian. A few years ago a similar blob washed up in Chile and scientists determined the “monster” there was a decomposing sperm whale.

“It is what happens when they decay,” said Coleman. “When they decay and come ashore, they change their form so much so that they fool people and people think that they’re some kind of monster.”