Wednesday 5 February 2020

The Straits of Mackinac Sea Monsters


The sea serpent of the Straits.
The Straits of Mackinac are narrow waterways in Michigan . The main strait flows under the Mackinac Bridge and connects two of the Great Lakes, Lake Michigan and Lake Huron. The main strait is 3.5 miles (5.6 km) wide and 295 feet (90 metres)deep.
On June  25th 1976 approximately  600 feet from the shore near the Straits of Mackinac , people witnessed two unknown creatures in the water. According to The Grand Rapids Press, the local sheriff came to the spot on the beach where people saw the monsters, and he saw something he’d never seen before. “I’m looking at something 20, maybe 30 feet long, swimming just below the surface,” he told The Grand Rapids Press. “I was amazed. I didn’t know what it was, but it sure wasn’t a publicity stunt.” The creature would occasionally rise to the surface of the water before diving back into the depths.

The owner of a resort along the Cheboygan lake front also reported seeing two large creatures frolicking in the Mackinac Straits on Lake Huron in front of his property on the same day. He estimated they were 45 feet long.
It was thought that it must have been large fish or eels but eels don’t normally grow to that size.
There are also supposed to be lake monsters in Lake Huron which adjoins the straits.The local indigenous people the Ojibway have legends that  say there is a giant reptile, or serpent creature with large horns that rules the waters of Lake Huron. They call it "Mishebeshu" which means 'great lynx' and it dwells in an underwater den.
An  8 foot seal-like creature was sighted off Wasaga Beach in 1938. There have apparently been many reports of creatures within Georgian Bay over the years, but none as large as those seen in 1976.
In 1975 the London Ontario Free Press reported that a group of creatures were seen on June 12th near Kincardine and another sighting was reported in the Goderich area in 1989.
Two, long, log-like creatures were reportedly observed in the Goderich area, frolicking in the water.

I think the smaller creatures reported were seals but the larger creatures remain a mystery. Even at the smallest estimate of  20 feet long it is difficult to find a marine creature that fits the descriptions. So an unknown creature  or a mis-identification? What do you think?

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