The Mississippi River Monster

The Biggest Missouri Fish Tale of All

It was August 19, 1877 and reports of a “sea serpent” were echoing across the frontier town of St. Louis. This Mississippi River Monster was reportedly spotted in the Mississippi River by several people along the banks, so word spread fast. The story was apparently credible enough, or at least believable enough, that the St. Louis Globe Democrat even wrote a story about it later. The headline that day proclaimed:

“An Aquatic Monster” was seen by several men who were sober and trustworthy while working on a levee.

The men described the beast as 30 feet long with dark scales, a head like a dog, and a mouth like a pelican. Some of the workers speculated it might have been a giant alligator, while others surmised it might have been the devil.

Later stories were also published in the local papers, but it’s hard to tell if they were responding to the original sighting, or if people read about the story and dreamed up their own sighting of the serpent.

Scientists from around the area even came to the city to see what they could uncover. Even though they were reportedly intrigued, they eventually gave up on the search for the Mississippi River Monster because nothing was ever found.

Here is a story 10 days later in the St. Louis Globe-Democrat

August 29, 1877
“An Aquatic Monster.”
St. Louis Globe-Democrat

The men working at the Government dike in the Mississippi River, opposite Quarantine Station, tell a very curious story concerning a singular monster seen in the water at that point on the 6th inst. The reporter’s information in the case is Mr. Thomas Eagan one of the workmen alluded to, who lives at 2525 South Seventh street, in this city, who was himself the first to discover this strange aquatic animal, and to call the attention of his fellow-laborers to it. It was about 10 o’clock in the morning, and the day so clear and bright that there could be no optical illusion resulting from any unusual condition of the atmosphere.

Mr. Eagan states that his attention was first directed to a peculiar movement of the water about forty feet above where he was working on the dike. The motion seemed to be caused by a round body rolling over and over in the water with considerable violence, throwing the waves a foot high with each revolution. The object rolled in this manner until it reached a point immediately opposite Eagan and his fellow-workmen, and here it seemed to pause for breath, though at no time being perfectly still. It remained comparatively quiet, however, long enough for the men to get a good sight of part of its body, though it was plain that not more than one-third of its length could be seen.

There was about ten feet of the middle portion of the body partly lifted above the water, and though the head was visible several times, the tail was not seen at all, and thus no accurate estimate of the entire length could be made. The back of the monster was covered with course black or dark brown scales, much like those of the alligator, while the under portion of the body, brought frequently to view as the monster turned over, was observed to be of a dark blue, and bright and glistening like that of the Mississippi catfish. The head, most curious to relate, was that of a dog, the ears and eyes being plainly discernible, while the mouth or bill was in the perfect shape of a pelican’s, and more than a foot in length.

Some of the men who got a good look at the head and ears declare that they were covered with a thick coating of hair, black in color, and hanging down in long, stringy locks. The ears were long and pendant like those of a hound or sea-lion, and several fins. The monster shook them as if to rid his head of the dripping water. From the long bill he threw a stream of water, at intervals, much like the spouting of a whale, and with a noise that was heard by all on shore. The spouts of water were thrown at least two feet high, about a minute apart.

The reptile had either six legs, or four legs and two huge leg-like fins. At any rate two of these members were much longer and larger than the other four, and were thrown out of and along the surface of the water as if they were being used as paddles for propelling, or keeping the body still, or turning it over. On the thick, corrugated neck there was a long, black mane, roached like that of a horse, and reaching so far down that the ends were lost in the water.

Why the monster paused so long opposite the dike cannot be surmised, but it is believed to have been attracted by the noise and shouting of the men at work, for several times it was observed to turn its head in that direction, as if curious to know the cause of so much commotion. One of the men went to a neighboring house for a gun, but a few moments before he returned the monster turned over several times with great velocity, spouted violently, and sunk in the water.

The event created a decided sensation among the large number of workmen engaged in work on the river front, and there was no end to the surmises concerning the real nature of the strange sight. Several contended that it was a sea-serpent, others that it was nothing more than a huge alligator, and others (of a superstitious turn of mind) that it was nothing less than the devil, who had assumed this monstrous guise for some porpentous or premonitory purpose. An equal diversity of opinion was held concerning the shape, size, and length of the monster. Some thought it was forty, others sixty, feet in length, and one or two were certain its body was as large as a hogshead, and undoubtedly 100 feet in length. Mr. Eagan’s judgement is, and he is doubtless correct, that its length would not exceed thirty feet.