NC Cryptid File #008<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Outer Banks have claimed more ships than just about anywhere on the East Coast.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Maybe they claimed something else, too.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Long before ferries carried visitors to Cape Lookout, sailors crossing these waters traded stories about something large moving beneath the waves. It wasn’t a whale.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It wasn’t a shark.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And whatever it was, they hoped it stayed beneath the surface.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Reports described an enormous serpent-like creature gliding through the water with only parts of its back visible. Some claimed its neck rose several feet above the sea before slipping back below the waves. Others told of a long body that seemed to go on forever, leaving an enormous wake behind it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The stories usually came from people who spent their lives on the water.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Commercial fishermen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Merchant sailors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Lighthouse keepers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Men who knew the difference between rough seas and a tall tale.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Most never claimed to know what they’d seen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Only what they hadn’t.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It wasn’t uncommon for ships rounding Cape Lookout to disappear without explanation during the age of sail. Storms, shifting shoals and Diamond Shoals accounted for most of them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But not every strange story was blamed on the weather.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
As the years passed, sightings became less frequent, though they never disappeared entirely. Every generation seemed to produce someone who insisted they’d watched something impossible rise from the Atlantic before vanishing just as quickly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Marine biologists point to more familiar explanations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Whales surfacing in unusual ways.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Schools of porpoises swimming in line.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Large oarfish.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Optical illusions created by waves and heat rising off the ocean.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Those explanations probably solve many of the sightings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But the Atlantic has always been good at keeping secrets.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And if there really is something enormous swimming beyond the breakers, it has had centuries to learn how to avoid being found.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Field Notes<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Classification:<\/strong> Sea Serpent<\/p>\n\n\n\n Location:<\/strong> Cape Lookout, North Carolina<\/p>\n\n\n\n Habitat:<\/strong> Atlantic Ocean<\/p>\n\n\n\n First Recorded:<\/strong> 1700s<\/p>\n\n\n\n Historic Sightings:<\/strong> 18th\u201320th centuries<\/p>\n\n\n\n Estimated Length:<\/strong> Unknown<\/p>\n\n\n\n Folklore Fame:<\/strong> Regional Favorite<\/p>\n\n\n\n Current Status:<\/strong> Unexplained<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" NC Cryptid File #008 The Outer Banks have claimed more ships than just about anywhere on the East Coast. Maybe they claimed something else, too. Long…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":79,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8,2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-77","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-coastal-plain","category-cryptid-sightings"],"brizy_media":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/northcarolinacryptids.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/77","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/northcarolinacryptids.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/northcarolinacryptids.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/northcarolinacryptids.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/northcarolinacryptids.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=77"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/northcarolinacryptids.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/77\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":80,"href":"https:\/\/northcarolinacryptids.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/77\/revisions\/80"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/northcarolinacryptids.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/79"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/northcarolinacryptids.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=77"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/northcarolinacryptids.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=77"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/northcarolinacryptids.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=77"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}