Sea-Monster Mystery Captivates R.I. Town

BLOCK NESS FEVER broke out in June when two fishermen cast their nets for monkfish but pulled up a "monster" instead. The initial debate - sturgeon? shark? - has metamorphosed into a mystery: The remains have been stolen.

NEW SHOREHAM, R.I. - Some say it's a sturgeon. Some are calling the creature a shark. But others have nicknamed it the Block Ness Monster.

Found in a fisherman's net, the mysterious 14-foot serpentine skeleton has taken on a life of its own on Block Island, 14 miles off the Rhode Island coast.

First, people questioned what the skeleton was.

Now they wonder where it's gone.

"Bones that walk?" asked tourist Roseann Giorgio from Long Island, N.Y.

No, not really. The sea creature's skeleton has vanished at the hands of humans, and the community on Block Island hasn't been the same since.

No one professes to know what happened to the denizen of the deep or why it was taken.

Its "kidnappers" have said they were worried the creature would be shipped off the island and never returned. Others call that a fish story, and say the kidnapping was staged to create an attraction for the island.

As long as there's a mystery, people seem willing to plunk down $18 for the Block Ness Monster T-shirts that have made their way onto the shelves of island stores, next to the sunscreen and saltwater taffy. The back of the shirt shows a snakelike creature wrapped around the island.

Block Ness fever began in June, when two fishermen aboard the Mad Monk cast their nets for monkfish but pulled up the cartilage instead. They displayed the peculiar catch on the stone breakwater near the docks for the Point Judith ferry.

The spine stretched longer than two men and was attached to a narrow head with vacant eye sockets and weird whiskers. Lying in the sun, it was enough to draw a stream of curiosity-seekers to the Old Harbor for two days.

"Probably more people walked down there in two days than in the whole century, just about," said Chris Littlefield, one of the island's 800 year-round residents.

Disembarking from the ferry one of those days was New York state park biologist Lee Scott of Nyack. "What the heck is this?" Scott recalled saying. "I went back to my car and got the camera."

Scott took the skeleton to his island summer home and put it in his freezer to preserve it. He planned to ship it to the mainland for examination at the National Marine Fisheries Service in Narragansett.

Gary Hall, the fisherman who pulled it up, was to stop by Scott's home to pick up the creature and put it on the ferry, Scott said.

Like others on the island, Scott does not lock his doors. He went fishing for the day, and when he came back, the skeleton was gone.

A short time later, Scott got a phone call from the "kidnappers." They said they live on the island and were concerned that if the skeleton left, it would never return.

"They talked to me in a roundabout way," Scott said. "They talked to me about their position of keeping it on island. I agree."

Aboard the Mad Monk, Hall declined to talk about the mystery, while the other fisherman, J.T. Pinney, spoke only of how the creature's appearance - and disappearance - has affected islanders.

"Some people take it far too seriously, with contempt, even," said Pinney, who made up the T-shirts that are being sold at three shops. He also tacked up posters seeking information on the skeleton's whereabouts.

Pinney says the sea monster is generating lots of buzz. "It's got Republicans talking to Democrats," Pinney said. "That's what's happening. Some people who rely on the normal gossip are talking about this."

Islanders described Pinney as colorful. "Jay is capable of anything," said Vin McAloon, manager of The Oar bar and restaurant, and a former town police chief. "He's a very witty character. I know he's sold a lot of T-shirts. I think that's very clever. I bought one."

Meanwhile, the debate about the skeleton continues.

Lisa Natanson, a shark specialist with the fisheries service, said based on photos she saw, the skeleton probably is a basking shark, a docile, plankton-eater that can grow to 40 feet long.

Harold "Wes" Pratt, also a fisheries biologist, agreed, but said he understands why some people believe it's more mysterious. "It does look otherworldly. It does look like something from the deep past," he said.

Scott believes the creature could be a type of shark never before discovered. He noted the creature's snout measured 12 inches. The average snout of a basking shark is 6 inches.

Natanson explained the whiskers protruding from both sides of the nose actually fit underneath the snout, propping it up and making it shorter, like the basking shark's.

For now, Pinney plans to keep selling T-shirts, islanders plan to keep talking, and one local bar plans to keep selling "Block Ness cocktails."