FIELD FILE · GLOUCESTER-SEA-SERPENTLAKE & SEA MONSTERREGIONAL LEGEND
Gloucester Sea Serpent
Also known as Great New England Sea Serpent, Cape Ann Sea Serpent, Scoliophis atlanticus
A huge, humped serpent that hundreds said swam in Gloucester Harbor in August 1817 – so convincing that a scientific society named it a new species.
In August 1817 the fishing port of Gloucester, on Massachusetts’ Cape Ann, was gripped by a sea-serpent sensation. Over several weeks, fishermen, ship masters and crowds of townspeople reported a long, dark animal swimming in and around the harbor. The Boston Daily Advertiser reported that “hundreds” had seen a prodigious snake 50 to 100 feet long, as thick as a barrel, with a head the size of a horse’s, and attempts to shoot or catch it all failed.
Unusually for a monster story, the sightings were investigated at once. The Linnaean Society of New England, a Boston natural-history society presided over by federal judge John Davis, appointed a committee – Davis, the physician-botanist Jacob Bigelow and Francis C. Gray – which took sworn statements from witnesses. Ship captain Solomon Allen estimated the creature at 80 to 90 feet long, with a head like a rattlesnake’s nearly as big as a horse’s; others described it moving like a caterpillar, its back rising in a line of humps the size of kegs, with dark, shining skin.
Then, on September 27, 1817, a Gloucester man named Gorham Norwood killed an odd three-foot snake on the shore with a strangely humped spine. The committee concluded it was the sea serpent’s offspring and, in its November report, named a new genus and species: Scoliophis atlanticus, the “humped snake of the Atlantic.” European scientists were unconvinced, and a French naturalist soon showed the little snake was simply a common black racer with a deformed spine – a debunking that made the whole affair a source of mockery, including an 1819 stage satire, The Sea Serpent; or, Gloucester Hoax.
Reports continued off Cape Ann in 1818 and 1819 and sporadically afterward, and a much older sighting of a coiled serpent on a rock off Cape Ann was recorded by John Josselyn in 1638. The Boston Society of Natural History later declared Scoliophis atlanticus a myth, and suggested the 1817 animal had been a humpback whale. Even so, the sheer number of witnesses keeps the Gloucester serpent near the top of every list of American sea-monster mysteries.
- Status
- Regional legend
- First reported
- 1817
- Best-known location
- Gloucester Harbor and Cape Ann, Massachusetts
- Also called
- Great New England Sea Serpent, Cape Ann Sea Serpent, Scoliophis atlanticus
- Reported in
- Massachusetts
What witnesses describe
A long, dark brown or black serpent-like animal estimated at 50 to 100 feet, about as thick as a barrel, with smooth, shiny skin and a back rising in a row of humps. The head was compared to a horse’s or a rattlesnake’s, sometimes with a projecting horn or spear; it moved with a vertical, caterpillar-like undulation.
Where and when it’s seen
Gloucester Harbor and the coastal waters of Cape Ann, Massachusetts, and nearby Massachusetts Bay; most sightings were on calm summer days.
Notable sightings
- 1638John Josselyn’s report Cape Ann, Massachusetts
The English traveler recorded a story of a sea serpent seen coiled on a rock off Cape Ann – the earliest known account from these waters.
- August 1817The great Gloucester sightings Gloucester Harbor, Massachusetts
Over several weeks hundreds of people reported a huge humped serpent in the harbor. Former Washington aide David Humphreys wrote that it was seen by 200 people at one time.
- September 27, 1817The “baby serpent” Gloucester, Massachusetts
Gorham Norwood killed a small snake with a humped spine on the shore. The Linnaean Society took it for the monster’s offspring.
- November 1817<em>Scoliophis atlanticus</em> Boston, Massachusetts
The Linnaean Society of New England published its report with witness depositions and named the serpent as a new species. The classification was later shown to rest on a deformed black snake.
What could explain it?
- The Boston Society of Natural History later concluded the 1817 animal was probably a humpback whale, whose back and flukes can look like a line of humps when feeding.
- The supposed offspring was a common black racer with a deformed spine, undermining the scientific classification.
- Skeptic Joe Nickell has suggested a narwhal or other whale for reports of a horn or spear on the head; others propose large eels, rows of porpoises, or tuna and basking sharks swimming in line.
- Excitement, distance on the water and the snowballing effect of a popular story may have shaped later testimony.
Legend, culture and tourism
The Gloucester Sea Serpent is New England’s classic sea monster, studied by naturalists from the Linnaean Society to Bernard Heuvelmans and satirized on the stage in 1819. A bronze sea serpent by sculptor Chris Williams greets visitors at the Cape Ann Museum in Gloucester, and the story is a favorite of local historians and the New England Legends podcast.
Places to visit
Museum of Cape Ann art and maritime history, with a bronze sea-serpent sculpture by Chris Williams at its Pleasant Street entrance.
Where it’s reported
Gloucester Sea Serpent in the news
No recent headlines about the Gloucester Sea Serpent. Our news desk checks every day — see all cryptid news.
Sources
First published · Updated
