The following letter to the editor ran in the Oct. 7th edition of Tampa Bay Newspapers:

Editor:

At the risk of having everyone think I have lost it, gone bonkers or whatever, I must share this visual sighting with everyone since it has happened two times now.

The last time was a week ago and it came out of the water further than previously and I could estimate the girth that came out of the water at 12 to 15 inches in diameter.

It continued its roll seemingly for a long time and it had to be 12 to 15 feet in length judging by the roll time. It was brown on top with mottled brown and yellow lower side. It finally flipped its tail before disappearing and it was a flat, lamprey like vertical caudal fin an estimated 9 to 10 inches maximum flare tapering to a point. I never saw the head and there was no dorsal fin nor pectoral fins visible.

I have seen many porpoise almost daily here that swim up and down the canal usually in pairs and this was NOT a porpoise, no way!

After the first sighting I thought it might be a huge snake (python like in the Glades) that someone turned loose, escaped or whatever because it did not roll as high out of the water so the size (girth) was not real evident although it was the same color on back and sides from what I could see. It did not flip its tail that time so the weird shaped caudal fin was not visible.

I am sure glad that I told Bet about the sightings so the little guys in the white jackets don’t come for me. She believes me though it sounds a bit far out! LOL!

I see people in their wee kayaks paddling up and down the canal and think about how they could be a snack for the Normandy Nessie! LOL!

I am dead serious and this is not a spoof, joke or ruse. From the size of this thing it could pose a real danger to people and small animals.

Russell Sittloh
Madeira Beach

The first thing that I think we as skeptics should acknowledge is that there’s no reason to assume Mr. Sittloh is crazy. People see unusual or apparently inexplicable things all the time. Most of the time they’re not lying or crazy.

So what did Mr. Sittloh see? I don’t think there’s enough information here to know for sure.

Where I would part from Mr. Sittloh is in his assumption that the animal he saw was something large and hostile (“a real danger”). From what little Mr. Sittloh admits to seeing, it’s tough to even be sure that he saw the same animal both times, because only on the first sighting did he see the distinctive “caudal” fin. Furthermore I have some evidence that Mr. Sittloh is letting his imagination run away with him. Some heavy duty web searching turned up Mr. Sittloh’s Picasa account (finally, the skills acquired from years of Google stalking Kirsten Dunst pay off!), and he posted a picture that implies he thinks he saw a mosasaur. That’s certainly an assumption far beyond the evidence available.

A more likely possibility, though by no means the only one, is that Mr. Sittloh saw a manatee, maybe one with a damaged tail. Manatees are unusually active this time of year and are in the midst of their migration, resulting in hilarious poop-centric headlines.

Location of sightings of "Normandy Nessie," Madeira Beach FL. Normandy is the name of the street the witness resides on. Note that Boca Ciega Bay is attached to the ocean via John's Pass. (Map courtesy Google.)