The “Stronsay Beast” is the name given to the carcass of a large creature discovered on the island of Stronsay (Orkney Islands, Scotland) in 1808. Due to the condition of the body, identifying its biological species proved challenging, leading to hypotheses suggesting that this creature represented a previously unknown species, possibly resembling the mythical sea serpent. It is now believed that the carcass most likely belonged to a giant shark. The Stronsay Beast became the first documented globster in scientific literature.
History and Description of the Stronsay Beast
The “Stronsay Beast” was found on September 25, 1808, on the southeast coast of the island after a storm. A large number of seabirds circled above the carcass, attracting the attention of local residents. At that time, the body was near the shore on the rocks, making it difficult to access. A detailed examination was only possible ten days later when a new storm washed it off the rocks and onto the shore.
Local residents, led by a man named George Sherar, examined the body. The creature had a serpent-like body, measuring 16.8 meters (55 feet) in length, with a neck length of 1.8 meters (5 feet 3 inches). A portion of the tail was missing.
The presence of three pairs of appendages, as well as a long, bristly “mane” running along the body to the tail (witnesses claimed these bristles glowed in the dark), was noted. The creature’s skin appeared smooth when stroked towards the tail and rough when stroked towards the head. The stomach contained an undefined content of red color.
Research on the Stronsay Beast
Rumors of the discovery of an unknown creature quickly spread throughout Great Britain. Four island residents who examined and measured the carcass traveled to the capital of the Orkney Islands, Kirkwall, and swore before the magistrate that the information they provided about the body was true. By the end of September, reports of the beast had reached the Wernerian Natural History Society in Edinburgh. At that time, the body had decomposed to a state where further investigation was deemed unproductive.
Scientists were unable to identify the carcass and hypothesized that it might be a previously unknown species, possibly a “sea serpent.” Naturalist Patrick Neill gave the new species a scientific name, Halsydrus pontoppidani (“sea serpent of Pontoppidan”), in honor of the Danish bishop Erik Pontoppidan, who argued for the existence of sea serpents in his two-volume work “Versuch einer natürlichen Geschichte Norwegens” (“Attempt at a Natural History of Norway”), published in 1752-1753.
However, the discovery soon caught the interest of the renowned London anatomist Sir Everard Home. After examining the remains of the body, he noted that the creature’s dimensions were exaggerated, and it was only 11 meters (36 feet) in length. He suggested that it was the decomposed carcass of a giant shark, quite common in the waters around the Orkney Islands, particularly as the vertebrae of the “monster” were identical to those of a shark. Home’s assertion was later supported by other scientists.
The unusual appearance of the body is explained by the peculiarities of the decomposition of giant shark carcasses. During this process, the lower jaw detaches from the body, leaving only the upper half of the skull, which can be mistaken for a small head on a long neck. The lower part of the tail also decays rapidly, and its remnants resemble the tail of a reptile.
The “mane” on the creature’s back was evidently the rays of the dorsal fin. The six appendages were actually remnants of the lower fins and pelvic claspers—external male reproductive organs of sharks. In this case, the only surprising aspect is the size of the creature—the largest known giant shark was only 10 meters long or 33 feet (though there are dubious claims of larger sharks that precisely matched the size of the “Stronsay Beast”).
Similarity to the Loch Ness Monster
Yvonne Simpson, a geneticist from Orkney, conducted research to demonstrate that the Stronsay Beast was likely an abnormally large basking shark or a previously unknown shark species closely related to it. The sketches depicting the Stronsay Beast bear a strangely similar shape and size to those of the Loch Ness Monster. The creature is described as cartilaginous rather than bony, placing it among sharks rather than plesiosaurs or whales. The third pair of appendages could be the pelvic claspers of a male shark. It may also be a Regalecidae (Oarfish) of a size well above the norm.