At least every summer since 1975 has been plagued by some variation on “the Jaws Effect.” Following the arrival of the bloated creature that washed ashore in Montauk in the summer of 2008, another cryptozoological feeding frenzy has erupted from the shores of Big Trout Lake, Ontario. On the local Kitchenuhmaykoosib Inninuwug community’s website, the native tribe’s elders have called it “the Ugly One,” an ancestral beast and a bad omen.
Well, it is certainly ugly. The furry, foot-long creature is waterlogged and its face and feet have splotches of hairless white flesh. Like the so-called Montauk Monster, which was effectively dismissed as a decomposing raccoon, the Big Trout Lake Creature is likely an otter or a mink. The relatively intact features of its body would make you think that this would be end of it, but you would be wrong. That’s where the bad omen comes in.
Gawker’s article in August 2008 caused a media storm and wild speculation about the nature of the Montauk Monster. Was it a drowned rodent or the horrific result of genetic experimentation from the nearby and sinister Plum Island? Could it be a dog with a beak or an alien pet? Was it Kirstie Alley?
