STATE FILE · ME
Cryptids of Maine
What cryptids are in Maine? The best-known are Cassie, Specter Moose, Turner Beast and Wessie, among 5 on file.
Maine may be the cryptozoology capital of New England. It is home to the International Cryptozoology Museum, founded by researcher Loren Coleman in Portland and moved in 2026 to a historic building on Broadway in Bangor, where visitors can see thousands of items from Bigfoot casts to sea-serpent artwork, along with a section on famous hoaxes. The state’s dense North Woods – millions of acres of forest with hardly a town – and its long, foggy coastline make it easy to see why.
Cryptids reported in Maine
LAKE & SEA MONSTER · 1779
Cassie
Casco Bay, off Portland and Cape Elizabeth, Maine
Maine’s great sea serpent: a long, snakelike animal reported in and around Casco Bay since the 18th century, last famously seen off Cape Elizabeth in 1958.
REGIONAL LEGEND
OTHER · 1891
Specter Moose
Lobster Lake and the North Maine Woods
A giant, ghostly white moose said to roam northern Maine since 1891, shrugging off hunters’ bullets and chasing sportsmen up trees, as old papers told it.
REGIONAL LEGEND
DOGMAN & CANINE · 1991
Turner Beast
Turner, Androscoggin County, Maine
A dog-like “mutant” blamed for years of eerie cries in Androscoggin County, Maine; a roadkill carcass found in Turner in 2006 tested as 100% dog.
HOAX / DEBUNKED
REPTILIAN · 2016
Wessie
Presumpscot River, Westbrook, Maine
A giant snake seen by police along the Presumpscot River in Westbrook, Maine, in 2016 – an escaped pet, a hoax or the state’s newest cryptid?
LOCAL LEGEND
HOMINID · 1958
Bigfoot
Pacific Northwest forests, reported across North America
North America’s most famous cryptid: a huge, hairy, upright ape-like being reported from the Pacific Northwest to Florida since the 1958 “Bigfoot” tracks.
WIDELY REPORTEDThe legends of Maine
Maine’s legends are old. Sailors reported a great sea serpent in Casco Bay, later nicknamed “Cassie,” from the 18th century onward. Beginning in 1891, hunters and newspapers told of a giant, ghostly white moose – the Specter Moose – roaming the north woods around Lobster Lake. More recent mysteries include the Turner Beast, a strange animal killed by a car in Turner in 2006 that DNA testing later identified as a dog, and “Wessie,” the large snake police reported seeing in the Presumpscot River in Westbrook in 2016, likely a released pet python or anaconda.
These cases show how Maine’s mysteries often end with a natural answer – albino or leucistic moose, misidentified marine animals, escaped pets – while still capturing the public imagination. Enthusiasts visit the museum, the islands of Casco Bay and the North Maine Woods.
Hotspots
The world-famous cryptid museum founded by Loren Coleman, now at 490 Broadway in Bangor after years at Portland’s Thompson’s Point.
Island-studded bay off Portland where the sea serpent “Cassie” has been reported since colonial times.
Remote forest where the giant white Specter Moose was said to roam.
Where police reported “Wessie,” a 10-foot snake, in 2016.
Sightings timeline
- November 1900The cyclist in the tree Specter Moose
A story from the New York Sun, reprinted as far away as Minnesota, said a bicyclist had dropped his bike and climbed a tree to escape the charging moose. The same report estimated the animal at 2,500 pounds with ten-foot antlers.
- 1905The Merriam family sighting Cassie
Retired Major General Henry C. Merriam and his sons reported a “monster serpent” that swam circles around their boat. The account adds a well-known, respectable witness to the record but no physical evidence.
- March 1938The vanishing bull of Chesuncook Specter Moose
Wire reports said a hunter named Houston had seen a large herd of moose that included one huge white bull, which disappeared when he looked away. It is among the last sightings to make the newspapers.
- June 1958Ole Mikkelsen’s encounter Cassie
Fisherman Ole Mikkelsen and his first mate said a huge animal approached their boat in fog, dove to show a large tail and resurfaced with a broad head on a snakelike neck. Mikkelsen estimated it at more than 100 feet and said it stayed in view for about 45 minutes. It is generally cited as the last notable sighting.
- Early 1990sRumors begin Turner Beast
Residents began reporting monstrous cries and glowing eyes in the woods, and a mystery animal was later blamed for killing a Doberman pinscher and a Rottweiler. The Sun Journal dated the creature’s reputation to about 1991.
- Early August 2006Face to face in a Turner yard Turner Beast
Michelle O’Donnell said she briefly locked eyes with a strange, foul-smelling animal near her yard, about a week before the carcass was found.
- August 16, 2006“Mysterious Beast” makes the front page Turner Beast
The Sun Journal of Lewiston published photos and a story about a carcass found days earlier along Route 4. Wire services spread it worldwide within days.
- Mid-September 2006DNA says dog Turner Beast
DNA testing commissioned by the Sun Journal showed the animal was 100 percent dog, effectively closing the case of the carcass.
- Late June 2016A snake by the playground Wessie
A resident reported a snake “as long as a truck” moving past a children’s playground and into the Presumpscot River. It was the first report of what would become Wessie.
- Late June 2016Police officers see it feeding Wessie
Two Westbrook officers said that at about 3:30 a.m. they saw a snake around ten feet long eating a large mammal, possibly a beaver, before it swam across the river. The darkness kept them from recording video.
- August 20, 2016A giant snakeskin turns up Wessie
A resident found a large shed skin, which police collected and measured at 12 feet, 1 inch. Samples were sent away to identify the species.
- August 30, 2016Lab says anaconda Wessie
Biologist John Placyk reported that tests matched the skin to an anaconda rather than a python. Skeptics noted that the result says nothing about whether a live anaconda was ever in the river.
Latest from Maine
Videos
ARCHIVE.ORG3:07
Patterson–Gimlin film (unedited)
Roger Patterson and Bob GimlinThe original 1967 Bluff Creek footage – the most famous and most debated minute in Bigfoot history. Marked public domain on archive.org.
ARCHIVE.ORG4:59
The Film That Made Bigfoot A Star
Oregon Public BroadcastingOPB’s short documentary on how the Patterson–Gimlin film turned a regional legend into a global icon – and the hoax claims around it.
▶ VIDEO
Sts’ailes Sasquatch Days in Harrison Hot Springs
Tourism Harrison River ValleyShows the festival celebrating the Sts’ailes people’s Sásq’ets, the being behind the word “Sasquatch” (no archive.org equivalent).
▶ VIDEO
Tales from the Morgue | Casco Bay’s sea serpent
NEWS CENTER MaineLocal TV feature digging into the historic newspaper reports of the serpent.
▶ VIDEO
Do you know the tale of the Casco Bay Serpent?
NEWS CENTER MaineA short Maine news segment on the legend and its sightings.
ARCHIVE.ORG31:00
WBZ News, August 30, 2016
WBZ-TV Boston via the Internet Archive TV News ArchiveFull evening newscast from the day the anaconda test result was announced; includes coverage of the Westbrook snake.