Top 10 Times Mysterious Things Washed Up On Beaches
#10: Mystery Blob
The Mystery of the Chupacabra Explained
An unexplained blob isn’t a new concept, but it’s usually something in cheesy sci-fi movies, not in real life. In 2021, at Cape Lookout National Seashore in North Carolina's Southern Outer Banks, officials asked for help identifying a “mysterious mass” on the beach. Distinguishing traits of the mass were its finger-like digits and the numerous white balls inside. Officials said they thought it might be from a squid and many Facebook users agreed. They were correct, as it was an egg mass, made up of different squids' eggs. We hope the mass was safely returned to the ocean, and that the young squids were able to enjoy a prosperous undersea life.
#9: Rubber Ducks
It's not unusual to see ducks in large bodies of water, but typically, they're not rubber. In the North Pacific in 1992, a shipping container headed to the U.S. from China lost its cargo, which included more than 28,000 rubber ducks. These beloved bath toys proved both their resilience and their buoyancy, as currents brought them all over the world. Many of the so-called “Friendly Floatees” washed up on shores in Australia, Hawaii, the Arctic, and South America while others are reportedly still in the water. And there’s even been a book published about the subject, called, of course, “Moby-Duck.”
#8: Gold
Even if you believe in miracles, this story is remarkable. In September 2020, a fisherman in the Venezuelan fishing village of Guaca encountered a gold medallion that had washed up on the beach, along with a picture of the Virgin Mary. The good fortune didn't stop there, with villagers discovering other gold pieces on the shore, primarily rings. These have helped villagers purchase food during a time of serious economic difficulty. There's no telling exactly where this gold came from, but at least one villager has a very succinct theory, saying, "This is God, setting his agenda."
#7: World War II Love Letters
World's Best Crystal Clear Water Beaches
There are few things more romantic than corresponding with a loved one you’re oceans apart from. But imagine if you got an in-depth look at a real-life example of this? In 2012, when Hurricane Sandy took a toll on the East Coast, Kathleen Mullen came across 57 letters that had washed up around the Jersey shore. Upon drying them up by fire, Mullen discovered it was a five-year correspondence between soldier Lynn Farnham and Dorothy Fallon. She was able to track down their niece and learned that the two got married and started a family. Dorothy was also still alive and living in a New Jersey nursing home. We hope she was able to receive and enjoy the letters once more.
#6: Garfield Phones
Harry Styles QUITS ACTING? House of the Dragon CRASHES HBO GO! + Andrew Garfield's Method Acting!
It's one thing to find a catfish in the water but a cat phone? This was a particularly intriguing mystery that goes back to the '80s. In Brittany, France, pieces of landline phones modeled after everyone's favorite lasagna eater began washing up on the beaches. There had to have been an explanation, but nobody could figure it out. That is, until 2019 when the shipping container they were stored in was found in a sea cave. We’ve heard of a cave full of bats, but not a cave full of… Okay, we can stop now.
#5: Brain
What If Humans Only Had A Left Brain? | Unveiled
About 75 percent of the brain is made up of water, but it might be even more in this case. In 2020, artist James Senda was scouring the beach for sea glass in Wisconsin when he came across something covered with aluminum foil. It looked like a chicken breast, but Senda soon realized it was a different body part. In this foil-and-rubber-band-bound package were also Chinese currency and pink flowers. While the brain was determined to not belong to a human, authorities were unable to determine what animal it might be from. It’s possible that the whole package was part of a burial routine. We might need some bigger brains to solve this mystery.
#4: LEGO Man
Top 10 Lego Sets Based on TV Shows
An 8-foot-tall man was found drifting in the water at a Florida beach in 2011. However, this was no ordinary 8-foot-tall man; this one was a giant LEGO man with his blue LEGO shirt reading “NO REAL THAN YOU ARE.” It turned out this handsome fella was known as "Ego Leonard," and his creator was Leon Keer, a Dutch artist who was featured at the 2011 Sarasota Chalk Festival. This wasn’t Ego's first beach appearance. In 2007, he popped up on the Netherlands' Zandvoort beach. The best part of an 8-foot LEGO? You don’t have to worry about stepping on it.
#3: The St. Augustine Monster
Top 20 Times Karens Faced Justice
We’re no marine biologists, but we’re pretty sure we know the difference between a whale and an octopus. However, this was a source of debate in 1896, when some boys in Florida came across this giant animal mass, known as “The St. Augustine Monster.” They thought it was a whale. However, Dr. De Witt Webb of the St. Augustine Historical Society was convinced it was an octopus. The debate wasn't settled until 2004 when it was finally determined that it was whale blubber. The moral of this story? Kids are a lot smarter than we give them credit for.
#2: Hands
Finding one human hand would be unnerving enough. But try multiplying that by 54. In 2018, some Russian fisherman discovered a bag of more than four dozen hands in the Siberian snow. Fingerprint tests determined these were the hands of at least 27 people. Was this from some kind of grisly organized crime scene? An investigation determined the hands were from a hospital or forensic lab. They just hadn't been disposed of properly. They also found hospital shoe covers and bandages near the bag, making that theory even more likely. But it's still not clear why they didn't just remove one hand from each body.
#1: Ainsdale Anomaly
At number one, we have a 15-foot-long creature that washed up on Ainsdale Beach in England in 2020. Among its other traits are its four flippers, protruding bones, furry exterior, and, according to its finder, very foul odor. Photos were posted on social media to determine what it is, with responses ranging from walrus to wooly mammoth. Natural England, an environmental advisor for the English government, hypothesized it was a kind of whale. But we’re still waiting on a conclusive answer. The Ainsdale Anomaly might not be an undiscovered creature, but we’re still fascinated by this aquatic mystery.
