Field Report: Gloucester Sea Serpent

The Elusive Nain Rouge Encounters with cryptid can have deadly consequences.

Off the coast of Rockport, MA cryptid encounters have been rising in a popular scuba diving location, Front Beach. Front Beach is calm and protected from the Atlantic Ocean, with a sandy beach and shallow waters. Many local dive shops use this area for open water certification tests to graduate their brand-new divers.



It was at Front Beach where two men sadly lost their lives on the morning of October 4, 2023. The men were experienced divers with over 800 dives under their belts. They were simply out to test their equipment before an upcoming trip to the Caribbean. On that morning one man entered the water and disappeared near two boulders, just a stone’s throw away, after pausing and looking at something under the water for a few minutes. His companion entered the water shortly after following the exact same route only to meet the same fate in the same spot.

Unexplained diving accidents are often chalked up to cardiac arrest—that is exactly what happened here. When their bodies were recovered, the air the divers used was tested and shown to be safe. Suspiciously, both used the same amount of air despite entering the water at different times. There were no signs of injury, and no signs of equipment malfunction. The victims’ families were only left with unanswered questions.

Almost one year later, on October 19, 2024, another diver perished at the same spot still leaving no answers to why. It was a clear day and two divers were out hunting for crabs and lobsters along the rock wall. Following standard practice, the divers began swimming to the shore when their tanks were half empty. When one diver was nearing the shore, he looked back only to see his diving partner nowhere in sight. After frantic searching and a 911 call, the harbormaster located the diver’s body in just 12 feet of water near the two boulders where the first divers in this report were taken by the unknown. Cause of death, “accidental drowning.”

“I don’t believe in coincidences,” was the harbormaster’s repeated statement to the press about these incidents.

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What would make the improbable possible? Cryptids. These tragedies show telltale signs of a cryptid encounter, a statistically improbable "coincidence" with no real answers to explain what happened.



This area of Massachusetts is home to one beast that has been known and documented for hundreds of years—the Gloucester Sea Serpent. On the Cape Ann peninsula, Rockport and Gloucester have a rich history with the sea. This area juts out almost five miles from the mainland into the Atlantic and was incredibly rich fishing ground used by Agawam tribe then English settlers after first arriving in 1605.

Little is known about the Gloucester Sea Monster other than records of its existence. is estimated at over 60 feet long and described as snake like, it visits the coast of the Cape Ann peninsula for unknown reasons. It’s long but narrow body would allow it to come close to the shore without being seen.

In 1817, the area grew quickly in population and sightings were occurring at a rapid rate which alarmed the locals. A local Boston organization convened a panel to search for answers. They gathered sworn testimony from witnesses explaining what they saw. The original report have been preserved here: https://archive.org/details/b22333393/mode/2up



Naming the creature Scoliophis Atlanticus the Boston organization concluded it was a young sea serpent. Their best guess is this long multiple page drawing depicting its characteristic up-and-down movement.



The most dramatic encounter with the Sea Monster was from Captain Joesph Woodward aboard his schooner, Adamant, in 1817. His ship was attacked by the Gloucester Sea Monster and they engaged in a life-or-death battle. Capt. Woodward reported after firing their cannon at the Sea Monster:

The serpent shook its head and its tail in an extraordinary manner and advanced toward the ship with open jaws; I had caused the cannon to be reloaded, but he had come so near that all the crew were seized with terror, and we thought only of getting out of his way. He almost touched the vessel and, had I not tacked as I did, he would certainly have come on board. He dived, but in a moment we saw him come up again with his head on one side of the vessel and his tail on the other as if he was going to lift up and upset us.  However we did not feel any shock. He remained five hours near us, only going backward and forward.

British Literary Gazette, August 1, 1818 (page 489).

Still today, little is known about this elusive creature. Could it eat prey whole like Capt. Woodward's experience suggests? Could it create electricity strong enough to stop a grown man's heart like an electric eel? Were these three divers shocked from being eye to eye with Gloucester Sea Monster?

We don't know but let this be a reminder to be careful out there because whatever caused the untimely deaths of those three divers may be coming back.

Be safe, and keep on squatchin.