The Old Man of Monterey Bay

For me, the washed-up whale harkened back to memories of my childhood in the Santa Cruz-Italian fishing community with the legend of "The Old Man of Monterey Bay," a mythical sea monster reputed to live in the deep waters off our shores and which several of my uncles and cousins reportedly encountered while fishing in their small, double-ended vessels.

My late uncle, Malio Stagnaro, once recounted for me the day that a badly shaken fisherman, Bill Totten, returned to the docks after a day of fishing in June 1941. "I saw that serpent or monster out there!" he screamed. "Get me out of here. I’m going home."

"He was scared to death," my uncle recalled with his characteristic high-pitched chuckle. "He must have seen something. I didn’t see him around the wharf for a while."

The anecdotal sea monster stories are the best!
Link (via Professor Hex)

Posted by JeremyT at October 11, 2004 04:10 PM