P.T. Barnum, like Gawker, wouldn’t really care what this is, so long as he could get it into a display case and charge people to have a look at it. The story has been a great one for the simple reason that there is no story to speak of. Something- a sea turtle without its shell, a dog with its fur burned off, a raccoon missing its upper jaw, or just a Monster of Montauk-washed up on a beach in New York. The Montauk Monster was not fully born until it showed up on the web and everyone starting guessing about what it might be. They are talking about a new Cloverfield movie after all-and we all know that J.J. Abrams loves a good bit of viral marketing.
But to me, the Montauk Monster looks like nothing more monstrous than some lowlife torching a dog. Which is pretty real world monstrous. The idea of a sea turtle seems out as sea turtles and their shells don’t easily part company. Since we have no idea of the size of the Montauk Monster we are left with the general shape, which looks a lot like a standard issue dog. The ‘beak’ is the thing that seems to have everyone up in arms. But is it really a beak? Or just a dog with its upper jaw missing?
I was watching Showtime’s Masters of Horror recently and saw the episode H.P Lovecraft’s Dreams in the Witch House in which a rat with a human face is a witch’s familiar. Perhaps this is one of Lovecraft’s rat people that didn’t quite make it all the way through. Whatever the Monster of Montauk is, it’s all the rage on Google Trends.
It’s possible that the Montauk Monster will be explained, as The Feejee Mermaid and Piltdown Man were explained. Maybe just a clever bit of Photoshopping. Or maybe the Montauk Monster will remain a mystery and people will forever wonder-what the hell is that thing?
