# Montauk Monster > Montauk Monster is a July 2008 viral photograph of an unidentified, hairless carcass washed ashore in Montauk, New York, sparking conspiracy theories and cryptid folklore. The Montauk Monster is a mysterious animal carcass that washed ashore at Ditch Plains beach in Montauk, New York, in July 2008. A single photograph of the bloated, hairless creature sparked a viral internet sensation, conspiracy theories about government experiments, and heated debate among experts and armchair zoologists alike. Most scientists who examined the photo concluded it was a decomposed raccoon, but the body was never formally recovered for study, leaving the mystery open enough to fuel years of online folklore. ## Origin On July 12, 2008, Montauk resident Jenna Hewitt, then 26, was walking Ditch Plains beach with friends Rachel Goldberg and Courtney Fruin when they spotted the carcass[8]. Hewitt borrowed a friend's digital camera and snapped several photos. "We didn't know what it was," Hewitt later told Newsday. "We joked that maybe it was something from Plum Island"[1]. The first media coverage came on July 23, 2008, when the East Hampton Independent ran Hewitt's photo in black and white under the headline "The Hound of Bonacville," a pun on the local "Bonackers" nickname for East Hampton natives and Arthur Conan Doyle's *The Hound of the Baskervilles*[1]. The article was deliberately lighthearted, floating theories from Satan to mutant turtle before noting that Larry Penny, East Hampton's director of Natural Resources, believed it was simply a raccoon missing its upper jaw[5]. - **Platform:** East Hampton Independent (first publication), Gawker (viral spread) - **Creator:** Jenna Hewitt (photographer), Loren Coleman (coined the name) - **Date:** 2008 ## Overview The Montauk Monster refers to a photograph of a strange animal carcass found on a Long Island beach during the summer of 2008. The creature appeared hairless and bloated, with leathery gray skin, clawed limbs, and a face that looked like it had a beak instead of a snout. Without fur or recognizable features, the corpse looked alien enough to convince casual observers it was something unknown to science[1]. The photo lacked any object for scale, which made it even harder to identify[3]. What made the image so compelling was the sheer ambiguity. Experts couldn't agree. Was it a dog? A turtle without its shell? A raccoon? A latex fake? The lack of consensus, combined with the creature's proximity to a government animal testing facility, turned the photo into a perfect storm of internet speculation[6]. ## How It Spread The story might have stayed local if not for Gawker. On July 29, 2008, the site published "Dead Monster Washes Ashore in Montauk," a brief post with the photo and a tip claiming "a government animal testing facility very close by in Long Island"[5]. The image had reached Gawker through a chain: Alanna Navitski, an employee at Evolutionary Media Group in Los Angeles, sent it to Anna Holmes at Jezebel, who passed it to Gawker[2]. Because the tip came from a marketing company, Gawker initially suspected viral marketing for the Cartoon Network show *Cryptids Are Real*[9]. That same day, cryptozoologist Loren Coleman posted about the creature on his Cryptomundo blog, writing "For now, it remains the 'Montauk Monster'" and giving the creature the name that would stick[3]. The moniker spread globally within days. Navitski denied any marketing angle. "I'm in marketing. We were like, 'Maybe we should send it to a few blogs and see if anyone else is as freaked out as we are,'" she told New York Magazine on July 30[2]. Multiple eyewitnesses backed up the story. Michael Meehan, a waiter at the Surfside Inn above the beach, told the magazine: "It kind of looked like a dog, but it had this crazy-looking beak"[2]. On August 1, 2008, BoingBoing published a second photograph showing the creature from a different angle[5]. The same day, New York resident Nicky Papers launched montauk-monster.com as a dedicated resource for theories and news[5]. By August 4, Darren Naish at Science Blogs published a detailed analysis titled "What was the Montauk Monster?" arguing convincingly that the creature was a raccoon (*Procyon lotor*), with its bizarre look caused entirely by decomposition and water exposure[4]. Naish pointed to the elongate fingers typical of raccoons and overlaid a raccoon illustration on the carcass photo to show matching proportions[4]. The story hit cable news. Jeff Corwin appeared on Fox News and identified the carcass as a raccoon or dog[1]. Fox News also floated the capybara theory on August 5, which made little sense since capybaras don't have tails[9]. In December 2008, Animal Planet ranked the Montauk Monster at number four in their "Top 10 Animal Stories of 2008," driving a second spike in search interest[5]. ## How to Use The Montauk Monster isn't a traditional meme template. It functions more as a reference point and reaction image. People typically use it in a few ways: - **Comparison jokes:** Posting a photo of a weird-looking animal (often a wet or hairless pet) next to the Montauk Monster photo - **Conspiracy humor:** Referencing the Montauk Monster when joking about government cover-ups or mysterious discoveries - **Cryptid discussions:** Bringing it up in threads about unexplained creatures or beach finds - **Nostalgia bait:** "Remember the Montauk Monster?" posts that tap into late-2000s internet nostalgia The photo itself sometimes appears in image macros or "cursed image" compilations. Fan artists on DeviantArt and similar platforms have created their own interpretations of what the creature might have looked like alive[5]. ## Cultural Impact The Montauk Monster hit mainstream media hard for a summer 2008 story. CNN, Fox News, the Huffington Post, and New York Magazine all covered it[8]. Newsday, the Long Island daily, ran multiple articles[11]. Even niche publications got involved: the Jewish Journal published at least five articles, including one with the headline "Montauk Monster Anti-Semitic?"[7]. DISCOVER magazine issued an "official stance" that it was a raccoon, while Wired asserted it was "a pit bull, a dogfighting washout"[7]. The story became a case study in early viral media. The Observer noted that Gawker Media properties generated twice as much traffic as the country's fourth-largest newspaper in July 2008, with Richard Lawson's Montauk Monster post pulling millions of views[7]. Snopes covered it as a potential urban legend[1]. The creature appeared on *Conspiracy Theory with Jesse Ventura*, *MonsterQuest*, and *Ancient Aliens*[1]. Montauk itself leaned into the legend. The town was already associated with conspiracy theories through the Montauk Project (alleged mind-control experiments at the decommissioned Camp Hero), which later inspired *Stranger Things*[12]. The Monster added another layer to the area's reputation for the weird and unexplained. ## Fun Facts - Loren Coleman, who coined "Montauk Monster," is the founder and director of the International Cryptozoology Museum in Portland, Maine[3]. - William Wise of Stony Brook University's top guess was that the creature was a latex fabrication. His second guess was a diseased coyote[6]. - Fox News suggested the creature might be a capybara on August 5, 2008, apparently unaware that capybaras don't have tails[9]. - The photograph never included a scale reference, so no one could determine the creature's actual size from the image alone. Coleman specifically complained: "Why can't people put some sort of size reference object in these mystery photos?"[3] - Indigenous groups in North America have a name for similar bloated carcasses that wash ashore: *omajinaakoos*, meaning "the Ugly One"[1]. ## Frequently Asked Questions ### What is the Montauk Monster? The Montauk Monster is a mysterious animal carcass photographed on Ditch Plains beach in Montauk, New York, in July 2008. The bloated, hairless creature sparked intense online debate about its identity[5]. ### Where did the Montauk Monster come from? The carcass was found on July 12, 2008, by Jenna Hewitt and friends at Ditch Plains beach. It gained its name on July 29 when cryptozoologist Loren Coleman dubbed it the "Montauk Monster" on his Cryptomundo blog[3]. ### What does the Montauk Monster mean? As a meme, the Montauk Monster represents internet mystery culture and the public's appetite for unexplained phenomena. It's often referenced in conspiracy humor and "remember when" nostalgia posts about the late 2000s internet[7]. ### How do you use the Montauk Monster? People reference it in comparison jokes (posting photos of weird-looking animals), conspiracy humor, cryptid discussions, and late-2000s internet nostalgia threads[7]. ### Is the Montauk Monster still popular? The Montauk Monster is a classic piece of internet folklore. As of 2024, people still reference it on social media every few days, often nostalgically[7]. ### What animal was the Montauk Monster? Most experts concluded it was a decomposed raccoon. Palaeozoologist Darren Naish demonstrated that the creature's dentition, skull shape, and elongate fingers all matched *Procyon lotor*, and that decomposition in water caused the hair loss and "beak" appearance[4]. ### What is the Plum Island connection? Plum Island Animal Disease Center, a federal research facility about 10 miles off the Montauk coast, studies livestock diseases. Conspiracy theorists speculated the creature escaped from the facility, though no evidence supports this[10]. ### Who found the Montauk Monster? Jenna Hewitt, 26, along with friends Rachel Goldberg and Courtney Fruin, discovered the carcass while walking the beach on July 12, 2008[8]. ### What happened to the body? The carcass was never formally recovered for scientific examination. Hewitt said "a guy took it and put it in the woods in his backyard" but refused to identify who[1]. Other accounts said it decomposed to a skeleton[1]. ### How did the Montauk Monster go viral? The photo stayed local until Gawker published it on July 29, 2008, under the headline "Dead Monster Washes Ashore in Montauk." The post went massively viral, reaching CNN, Fox News, and international outlets within days[8]. ### What is the Viking funeral theory? Reporter Nick Leighton uncovered rumors that a dead raccoon found on Shelter Island in late June 2008 was given a "Viking funeral" by locals, burned and set afloat. The charred carcass may have drifted to Ditch Plains[8]. ### Was the Montauk Monster a marketing stunt? Gawker initially suspected it was viral marketing for the Cartoon Network show *Cryptids Are Real* because the tip came from a marketing company employee. Alanna Navitski of Evolutionary Media Group denied this, and multiple eyewitnesses confirmed seeing the creature[2]. ## References 1. [Investigating the Montauk Monster: The Story Deepens!]() 2. [Montauk Monster - The Official Home of the Beast | The Truth, The Legend, The Mystery.]() 3. [Cryptomundo » Cryptid Washes Ashore At Montauk]() 4. [Montauk Monster - Know Your Meme]() 5. [Montauk Monster]() 6. [Montauk Monster - Urban Dictionary]() 7. [Montauk Monster / Panama Creature | Snopes.com]() 8. [The True Story Of The Montauk Monster — And What It Really Was]() 9. [Montauk Monster]() 10. [Why the Legend of the Montauk Monster Will Never Die | Observer]() 11. [The Montauk Monster Mystery Of 2008: Or, Hot Montauk Monster Summer]() 12. [New York’s Scariest Urban Legend: The Montauk Monster]() 13. [The Montauk Monster: Bizarre Mystery - Long Island Guide]() 14. [Investigating the Montauk Monster: The Story Deepens!]() 15. [What was the Montauk monster? | ScienceBlogs]() 16. [Montauk Monster / Panama Creature | Snopes.com]() 17. [Cryptomundo » Cryptid Washes Ashore At Montauk]() 18. [Search 'montauk monster' on DeviantArt - Discover The Largest Online Art Gallery and Community]() --- Source: https://meme.com/memes/montauk-monster Published by meme.com — The Internet Meme Library