The Gloucester, MA. Sea-Serpent (Cape Ann)
Here is a tale of a New England Sea Serpent, the Serpent of Cape Ann/ Gloucester MA. I suppose sightings and records of other Sea Serpents exist around Lake Champlain in New York/ Vermont, as well as "Ogopogo" in a lake in British Colombia, Canada. As a young boy I was always fascinated with the tales of sea serpents, and was aware of the Gloucester Serpent even back then.
One of the first records of a sea-serpent off the shores of Gloucester, MA. was recorded in 1638. A white settler on board ship was about to shoot it, but there were several local Native people on board, who dissuaded the colonist from shooting it, saying, "if you do not kill the creature out-right, we will all be in danger of our lives". Below is a YouTube link where this sighting, as well as others, such as the 1817 sightings, is re-counted by a folklorist. (5 mins):
Another link, with some nice original drawings of the Gloucester Serpent (as will as pics of other sea-serpents). 7 mins:
Last is a song that was made about the Gloucester Sea Serpent (2 mins):
From what I have read and heard, the sea serpent is described as being 60-100 ft. long, as wide or maybe wider than a barrel, with a horse-like head and a great horn on top of it's head. From all accounts this sounds like a Great Horned Serpent of the Americas, which is probably the same basis as the Chinese Dragon, and other such creatures around the world.
We can also glean from the 1638 account of the Gloucester serpent that Native people in the New England were aware of this creature- "if not killed outright, we will all be in danger of our lives", indicating their familiarity with the creature(s). This lines up with other accounts of large serpents in other parts of the country that could not be killed by bow and arrow (which could easily penetrate through a buffalo), that occasionally harassed communities of Native people. There probably would have been reverence, and in some cases fear, of such creatures. If you follow this blog you will notice that serpent symbolism has come up time and again in some of the stone-works (serpent rows, effigies, carvings in boulders, etc.)
It appears there has been no recent sightings of the creature. One theory about this is, with fishing and commercial boats sailing through the waters of the serpent's traditional territorial waters, it has found other, more evasive roots to travel, avoiding the disturbances of modern industry. Another thing I have contemplated myself is if such a large creature might hibernate for substantial periods of time, only to re-surface centuries later (much like how frogs hibernate in the winter, but in this case such a creature may hibernate for hundreds of years.) My feeling is that the Gloucester Serpent and other serpents like it (Champ, Ogopogo) are genuine and are the real deal. Their serpent bodies probably give off high pulses of electro-magnetic energy (which may sometimes have a paralyzing affect on humans), which may be the original inspiration for indigenous people to build, over a period of thousands of years, things such as meandering stone walls and rows that are aligned to true north, and things of this nature, which subsequently have taken on an energy of their own, or in other words increase the energy of the landscape.
Old drawing rendition of the Gloucester Serpent:
The Great Horned Serpent of the America's is also known to dwell in the three terrestrial realms- water, land and sky. Everyday sightings have been reported in water and land (coiled around boulders). One may experience such creatures in the Sky World during altered states of consciousness, or even simply in a raised state of consciousness- at least perhaps, the serpent's spiritual bodies may dwell in the sky. This is similar to other world belief systems such as the traditional Chinese Dragon, the Tibetan Dragon, etc.
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