It happened while I was on vacation, but a local TV station ran a story about a “mysterious sea creature” being spotted off of  Sand Key Park. The incident happened on August 30th, and the news story is quick to connect the monster to the Normandy Nessie flap from last year.

I’ve embedded the entire story below. There’s not much to say about it. The family that spotted the creature isn’t identified, and the cell phone video of the incident shows absolutely no creature at all. I’m sure the witnesses saw something, but there’s no reason presented to explain why we should assume they saw a sea monster and not some normal sea creature, like a manatee or a shark. And yet again the anaconda explanation is trotted out again, because Florida still isn’t over worrying about giant snakes for no reason.

Is the Normandy Nessie dead? I don’t mean in the literal corpse kind of way, because that any such creature lived has not yet been proven. I’m referring to the fact that after a flurry of local media interest three weeks ago, including stories in both major newspapers and on at least three TV stations, the Normandy Nessie story appears to be moribund. No new sightings, no more heated speculation about giant aquatic snakes.

But how will history see this incident? Will the Normandy Nessie live on as an example of an animal unknown to science, perhaps cited from time to time on the web as a genuine mystery? Or will the story die here? Let’s look at the factors that will go into deciding Normandy Nessie’s fate.

Reason Nessie Will Live On #1 – People Love a Mystery

No denying this one. The fact that one person saw something in the water he couldn’t identify became international news says a lot about how we hunger for the unknown.

Reason Nessie Will Live On #2 – The Video Footage

Unlike a lot of of other creatures that are reported, we don’t have to take the one witness’s word that there’s something in the water. He has footage that shows something in the water. That might not sound like much, but keep in mind that in the world of cryptozoology (the study of creatures that haven’t been recognized by science) the standards for evidence are very low. For example,  the chupacabra became famous despite existing only as a collection of highly improbable and often contradictory eyewitness reports for a full decade. It wasn’t until recently that bodies starting showing up, even if they are coyotes and other mangy dogs.

Reason Nessie Will Live On #3 – The Name Is Catchy

At first glance this may seem shallow, but I think it’s more important than most people realize. “Normandy Nessie” is nicely alliterative, and instantly evocative of a sea monster . It is a little odd that the one witness to the creature, Russ Sittloh, decided to name the creature after the street he lived on, especially as the creature lives in the water and has never been on the street, but I can’t fault him for choosing a memorable moniker. As one wag pointed out, a monster seen off Madeira Beach should logically be called Messie, which doesn’t really work. Incidentally, the only other major cryptid (i.e., creature cryptozoologists claim to study) that I can think of that’s named after a street is the Beast of Bray Road, a werewolf reported to live in Wisconsin.

Reason Nessie Is Dead #1 – Nothing New To Report

There was about a week where Mr. Sittloh was claiming periodic sightings and even other witnesses, but nothing much has happened since. From what follow up I was able to do the other witnesses didn’t claim to see anything more than something in the water, which doesn’t do much to convince me that there’s a giant aquatic snake in the area.

Reason Nessie Is Dead #2 – The Video Footage

The video footage shows one or more manatees moving through the canal. Though Mr. Sittloh claims that what he saw wasn’t a manatee, if what he saw was what is in the video footage then he saw a manatee. I should add that while the footage is clearly manatees, to people outside this area it may still appear suitably mysterious. The TV show MonsterQuest has structured entire episodes around manatee footage.

Reason Nessie Is Dead #3 – The Crank Factor

While the existence of Normandy Nessie should be judged based on the evidence, the quality of the evidence is going to be tied inextricably to the person presenting that evidence. It’s now become clear that Mr. Sittloh is not exactly the most rational person. He’s declared he’s going to sue the state wildlife commission, in a posting full of incorrect punctuation and misused legal terms. My personal correspondence with him has consisted of me asking, politely and respectfully, for more information, and him replying with insults like “I do not know what ails you but a shrink visit may well be in order,” and “I would almost bet that you are a far left liberal wacko, commonly referred to as “Dummycrat” but that is your right.”

With no new activity in weeks and the only person who saw the creature descending to threats of lawsuits, I think that Normandy Nessie is dead. I doubt even the hardcore cryptozoologists are going to want to touch this one, now that’s fallen off the news cycle.

Another day, another Normandy Nessie story. Today’s comes from the Tampa Tribune’s website, though it looks like it may be a transcript of a TV story. I’ll reprint it below, but first I want to talk a bit about what we’re seeing happen here.

Now that Russ Sittloh’s story of a monster is hitting the media it’s starting to develop into something more complicated. Initially he was saying that he had seen the monster twice in October, but now he’s saying he saw it as far back as April. Originally he specified that he didn’t see the creature’s head, now he’s saying he saw the creature’s head during the first sighting. Other people are now coming forward to say they’ve also seen the monster. From what I can tell, none of these other witnesses are saying they saw any specific animal, but rather that they saw something in the water they didn’t recognize. I’ll probably try to contact some of them, just to see what they have to say.

Meanwhile, Mr. Sittloh continues to produce videos from his backyard security camera, though the animal shown in them is almost certainly a manatee.

I expect that if the story of the monster continues to be disseminated we’ll have more people claiming to see the monster. Most of these will probably just be people seeing a manatee or a fish or even a shark for a second, and reporting it as an unknown animal because they didn’t recognize it. I’m sure that there will also be a few people, either hoaxers or fantasy-prone individuals, who will give ultra-detailed descriptions of giant aquatic snakes. And the physical evidence will remain elusive, other than more videos of manatees.

I suppose I should explain for the benefit of our out-of-state readers why everyone seems to be jumping to the conclusion that there might be giant snakes swimming around Pinellas County. During the slow news months of late summer this year, or “silly season,” the media in Florida became obsessed with snakes, based on reports about an exploding Burmese python population in the Everglades. (Florida Wildlife workers then went hunting for the snakes and came back with far fewer than they were expecting, so the whole thing was probably overblown.) Around the same time there was also a young girl who was tragically killed by her family’s pet snake, but in a lot of people’s minds the two stories got conflated and now there are people who are afraid giant Everglades pythons are sneaking into people’s homes and killing children. Hence the speculation about dangerous snakes in the following article.

There’s something strange and big swimming in the canals of Madeira Beach along the Pinellas County coast. Those who have seen it say it’s no fish and think it could be a sea serpent.

Russ Sittlow, 78, has seen it. He calls the creature “Normandy Nessie” because he lives on Normandy Road.

The retired engineer said he first saw “Nessie” in April.

“His head come up out of the water, and then he rolled up in a double roll behind him and he was long he was huge,” he said of that first sighting.

Sittlow said he has seen two of the creatures in the canal, one very large, and the other a bit smaller. He estimates the largest one is at least 30 feet long.

Sittlow set up a surveillance camera to record video if the creatures came back. He said his camera recorded “Nessie” three times since September, the latest Saturday.

He showed the video to a reporter. It shows a dark form swimming along the surface of the water. It appears to be about 30 feet long. Another clip shows the creature splashing in the water.

“I don’t know what it is,” he said.

When a reporter asked if he thought it was really a monster, he hedged.

“No, no, well, call a monster what you will, it’s something different, it’s something strange, it’s something I’ve never seen in salt water,” he stated.

Sittlow’s account of what he saw is backed up by neighbor Maria VanAiken, 47, who said she saw the “monster” this summer while on her back porch.

“I looked up and I saw this like huge-looking creature,” she said, adding that it wasn’t a manatee or dolphin.

“This huge thing just came out of the water,” she said.

Her husband saw the creature later.

When pressed, Sittlow backed off his sea monster theory, but not totally.

“This is a snake I guarantee you, or a serpent like thing that looks like a snake,” he explained. He thinks it could be an anaconda or a python or “a mutation there of.”

State wildlife officials who have seen Sittlow’s video believe the creature is a manatee.

Sittlow disagrees. Whatever is in the canal is dangerous, he said, and he doesn’t recommend swimming there until it’s positively identified.

The Normandy Nessie has hit the big time, or at least as big as being on the inside of the Neighborhood section of the largest newspaper in the 14th largest media market in the United States allows something to be. Today the St. Petersburg Times ran a little story on Russ Sittloh and his alleged monster, under the headline “‘Big beast’ reported in Madeira Beach canal.”

MADEIRA BEACH — If you believe retiree Russ Sittloh, the canals around Crystal Island have their own version of the infamous Loch Ness Monster.

After four sightings of the mysterious creature, he is so convinced that something’s out there that he has dubbed it Normandy Nessie.

Sittloh and his wife, Betty, say they’ve seen the creature from their Normandy Road waterfront home once in the spring, again in September and twice this month.

Nessie doesn’t have a regular routine, Sittloh says, but usually swims by in midafternoon.

The couple used to watch dolphins frolic in their canal, but since Nessie arrived the dolphins have been a no-show.

“At first, I was puzzled. I couldn’t figure out what it was. Then in September I thought it might be a python or some big snake. But then this month, I saw a caudal fin. He looks like he is over 30 feet long and about 15 inches in diameter. We are talking about a big beast out there,” Sittloh said.

When he told friends and neighbors about the first two sightings, he was met with skepticism and even laughter.

So he decided to prove his discovery. He spent $370 on a surveillance camera to monitor the canal from his window. He kept watch and downloaded both video and still pictures to his computer and then posted them on the Internet.

He even sent a letter to a local newspaper.

“At the risk of having everyone think I have lost it, gone bonkers or whatever, I must share this visual sighting with everyone,” he wrote.

He worries that the creature “could pose a real danger to people and small animals,” and particularly to those who swim or kayak in the canal.

Sittloh says his most recent sighting was about a week ago. The creature was in the middle of a school of baitfish, did a double roll and came back toward Sittloh with a “mouthful of fish.”

Now Sittloh’s Nessie sightings have gone viral on the Web.

Depending on how you structure your search, Google returns between 449 and 8,000 Web pages that reference “Normandy Nessie.”

Chatter on Web sites and blogs speculate on what Nessie could be. Guesses range from a large manatee to a Cretaceous-era mosasaur, a serpentine marine reptile that could reach nearly 60 feet long. Fortunately, it is extinct.

As for Sittloh’s first guess — a large python or snake — pythons can swim and have been reported in the Everglades. Presumably they are former pets turned loose by their owners.

A state-sanctioned hunting program reported capturing and killing 37 pythons this month. Officials estimate that 30,000 Burmese pythons live in the Everglades.

In July, an 8-foot pet Burmese python escaped from its terrarium and strangled a 2-year-old girl.

“I don’t know if we have a mutated species here or what,” Sittloh said. “Whatever he is, my God, is he big. He is some kind of big.”

Sittloh said he has warned his neighbors and called the city, but did not report the creature to the Sheriff’s Office.

“From the video, it appears most likely it is a manatee,” said Carli Segelson, media relations coordinator for the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission.

Sheriff’s Office spokeswoman Marianne Pasha said no one else in Madeira Beach has reported seeing Nessie.

“It sounds like there is something out there, but we don’t know what it is,” she said.

I’d say these videos feature a manatee, or in the first video, possibly two. In the first video you can see the animal take a breath by poking its nose above the water, and in the second you see the animal move with the vertical undulation that typifies a mammal (reptiles undulate horizontally, so a snake is right out) and, though it’s far from the camera, even a hint of a manatee’s circular fluke. I replied to Mr. Sittloh, politely thanked him for taking the time to reply, and I laid out the case for why what’s in the video is probably a manatee. Mr. Sittloh responded with a long diatribe that was nothing but childish insults.  All things considered, I think we can assume that Normandy Nessie isn’t a giant snake or mosasaur, but rather a misidentified sea mammal.

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.)