Probably the explanation for the Montauk Monster

[dianeduane]

Some days ago the thought occurred to me that the original story got very viral very quickly. Well, maybe there was a reason for that. Gawker puts forward their theory here…

Myself, I’ve been chuckling over the whole business since it started, as I have my own referent for monsters off Montauk. …For certain values of “monster”, that is. I like Ed.

(As it happens, Robert Heinlein liked him too. He said to me on the phone once, “You know, I’m a Navy man. We don’t like sharks. You made me like that shark. That was a dirty trick.”)

Meanwhile I find myself wondering when we’re going to get a more open / transparent clarification of the present Monster than the somewhat veiled one that Gawker describes….

Tags: Montauk+Monster, hoax, viral, Long+Island, Robert+A.+Heinlein

Comments

[cholma.livejournal.com]

Heinlein! You walk in rarefied air M'lady! Then again, you both write Science Fiction, so your chance to meet was quite a bit higher than mine! :)

I, uh, rented a car to Alan Shepard a few times... does that count? (Ooh! Which reminds me: he gave an autographed photo of the Mercury Seven astronauts (signed by ALL seven!) to the daughter of my manager at the time. I almost died. This was in the early 1990's, and considering that Gus Grissom died in the Apollo I fire, and therefore an extremely rare item, I considered that a priceless gift!) I was very, very sad the day he died. He was always very nice to us at the counter. I thought it unprofessional to ask for an autograph (except on his rental contract!) but have often wished I had.

[dhole.livejournal.com]

I'm reasonably convinced by what Darren Naish over at Tetrapod Zoology had to say here: http://scienceblogs.com/tetrapodzoology/2008/08/the_montauk_monster.php

But once something like this takes off, you get a lot of people claiming credit, to get their fifteen minutes.

[snakey.livejournal.com]

The boringly prosaic explanation.... (http://community.livejournal.com/wtf_nature/318895.html)

EDIT: someone got there ahead of me before I managed to post that. Speedy on the comment-trigger, your readers!

[mizkit.livejournal.com]

Ed is hands down one of my favorite characters I've ever read. And that is an *awesome* anecdote about Heinlein. I swoon with envy over it. :)

[dduane.livejournal.com]

I was kind of blown away myself. :)

It was fun to be able to call him up every now and then. Unfortunately his present number seems to be unlisted. (sigh)

[mikailborg.livejournal.com]

I hear that you wouldn't like the charges you'd see on your long-distance bill, anyway.

[lady-autumnstar.livejournal.com]

I got hugged once by Christopher Judge. Does that count?

[starlady38.livejournal.com]

Ed was always one of my favorites. Some of the things he says in Deep Wizardry are absolutely amazing.

[danceswthcobras.livejournal.com]

Ask anyone familiar with mammal anatomy and they'll tell you the thing is a decomposed raccoon. No mystery about it, except that most people haven't done a lot of raccoon necropsies.

[lunalovegoddess.livejournal.com]

I love Ed. ~His name has teeth in it...~
Especially since lately I've been studying sharks. (I have no job, aside from raising children, and I hate to clean... what else am I going to do while they are at camp? LOL)

[ponygirl118.livejournal.com]

Personally, I think that it is a raccoon.

[handworn.livejournal.com]

I liked Ed, too. Seems sometimes that many of the best characters are the most appalling ones from a conventional point of view.