The Podcast: Sea Monsters (Part 1)

Sea Monsters (Part 1)

Or… Bellinghamsters v. Globsters (Part 1)

Or… BIG SNAKE IN THE BAY

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Summary

In this episode we dive in (pun intended) to the seemingly bottomless pool of sea monster stories.  Whether they be myth, lore or just a really big fish, “monsters of the deep” have inspired many a whopper of a tale here in Bellingham and the PNW over the years.  Release the Kraken!

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Ephemera

Big Snake in the Bay

Collector Stenger Sees a Serpent Fifty Feet Long. The Blade (Bellingham) August 10, 1895

Sea Snake of Puget

A Customs Collector Swears That it Is Fifty Feet Long. Los Angeles Herald August 20, 1895.

Leonard "Len" Stenger

Who saw the “Snake in the Bay” in 1895…Pictured with family: Clara (nee Fouts - his first wife) and children Urban and Lucile.

About A Real Sea Serpent

Tacoma Fishermen Prove the Monster Does Exist… Los Angeles Herald, July 26, 1896

Sea Serpent Ad

An Extraordinary Sight at 1113 Pacific Ave, Admission, 10 cents. Tacoma Daily News, June 20, 1896.

"From a Photograph of a Real Sea Serpent Captured Near Tacoma"

San Francisco Call, June 28, 1896.

Headlines about the "Monster Whale" in Chuckanut Bay

Bellingham Herald, June 1904.

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References and Resources

About a Real Sea Serpent.  Los Angeles Herald.  July 26, 1896.

A Hood’s Canal Monster. Tacoma Daily Ledger, June 21, 1896 

Big Devil Fish Caught in Dredge. The Bellingham Herald December 26, 1903.

Big Snake in the Bay.  Collector Stenger Sees a Serpent Fifty Feet Long.  The Blade August 10, 1895

Borden, Charles E.  The Skagit River Atlatl: A Reappraisal. BC Studies 1: 13–19. 1968–1969.

Bragg, Lynn E.  Myths and Mysteries of Washington.  Two Dot. 2005. 

Brown, Lynn.  Sea Monsters of the Pacific Northwest.  Jstor Daily.  July 15, 2017. 

Catch a Sea Serpent; Man and Wife Capture Strange Fish.  Seattle Daily Times, August 21, 1902.

Chuckanut Whale Man is in Jail.  Bellingham Herald August 4, 1904.

Cthulu.  Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, July 2023.

Declares That Whale Will Rise Tomorrow.  Bellingham Herald June 13, 1904.

Diver From Seattle to Inspect Whale.  Bellingham Herald June 9, 1904.

Faris, Peter.  Wasgo/Gonakadet - Sea Wolves of the Pacific Northwest Coast.  Rock Art Blog.

Get Boat Used by the “Whale” Man.  Bellingham Herald.,  August 15, 1904.

Gonakadet.  Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, July 2023.

Guthrie, Dan.  Postscript for a Whale:  An Oddity Ends in Mystery.  Bellingham Herald, May 8, 1980.

Haietlik.  Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, July 2023.

Hillaire, Pauline.  Lummi Legends: The Terrible Beast. From "Lummi Legends: Legends Told By My Father, Kwul-Kwul-'tu."  Whatcom County Library System. YouTube, Jan 17, 2018.

Hosek, Linda.  Dead Whale Found in Bay.  Bellingham Herald April 4, 1980. 

Hosek, Linda.  Chuckanut Bay’s Dead Whale Disappears.  April 24, 1980.  

Hosek, Linda.  Laboratory May Help with Whale.  April 22, 1980.

Huge Whale Headed for Bellingham, Monster is Cited Off Point Roberts by Crew of E.L. Dwyer. Bellingham Herald September 8, 1905

Jeers at the “Whale.”  Bellingham Herald June 21, 1904

Kraken. Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, July 2023.

Loch Ness Monster. Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, July 2023.

Monster Whale Dead in Chuckanut Bay.  Bellingham Herald June 6, 1904.

Mrs. Gourley’s Account.  The Blade.  August 15, 1895.

(No title) Morning Olympian September 27, 1895.

Parsons, A. W.  The Big Fish.  Bellingham Herald, June 25, 1904.

Paterson, Roderick Paul. The Northwest Coast Sisiutl. University of British Columbia Library, Vancouver, 1975.

Sea Monster.  Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation,  July 2023.

Sea Snake of Puget.  Los Angeles Herald. August 20, 1895.

Seattle Kraken. Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, July 2023.

Sisiutl.  Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, July 2023.

spooky_fawn. Can someone explain the difference between Cthulhu and Davy Jones? Pirates of the Caribbean Forum, Reddit, 2017.

Teorey, Matthew.  Do You See It Too? Relationality in Pacific Northwest Sea Serpent Lore. Mosaic: An Interdisciplinary Critical Journal, Vol. 52, No. 4 (December 2019), pp. 127-148 (22 pages)

They Captured a Real Sea Serpent.  San Francisco Call.  June 28, 1896.

Tiger Eels Caught in Puget Sound.  San Francisco Chronicle. June 28,1896.

Two Big Sea Serpents Seen in the Sound by Allen C. Mason and Others.  Tacoma Daily News, July 20, 1898.

Van Eijk, Jan P.   Who Is Súnułqaz'?: A Salish Quest. Anthropological Linguistics Vol. 43, No. 2 pp. 177-197 Trustees of Indiana University, Summer 2001.

Waters, Hannah.  The Enchanting Sea Monsters on Medieval Maps. Smithsonianmag.com, October 2013.

Whale is Resting.  Bellingham Herald June 14, 1904.

Whale of a Problem.  Bellingham Herald, April 20, 1980.

Whale Said to Be in Chuckanut Bay.  Bellingham Herald June 2, 1904.

Whale Still a Topic of Interest.  Bellingham Herald June 10, 1904.

Whale Still at the Bottom of the Bay.  Bellingham Herald June 11, 1904.

Whale to Be Put on Exhibition.  Bellingham Herald June 8, 1904.

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