Gloucester Harbor

Massachusetts · United States · Natural site

In the summer of 1817 an eighty-foot serpent was seen coiling through Gloucester harbour — sworn to under oath by dozens of named witnesses.

In August 1817 Gloucester harbour filled with something nobody could explain. Fishermen, skippers and townspeople described the same creature: eighty to a hundred feet long, with a row of humps along its back like a string of kegs, moving in vertical undulations rather than side to side. The reports came so thick that the Linnaean Society in Boston appointed a committee headed by Judge John Davis and took ten sworn depositions from 'men of unblemished character'. Sightings continued into 1818 and 1819 and spread south to Nahant. As far back as 1638 a local man had told John Josselyn of a serpent coiled on a rock at Cape Ann. The harbour looks much the same today.

FAQ

Where is Gloucester Harbor located?

Gloucester Harbor is in Massachusetts, United States.