In Episode 392 Jeff Belanger and Ray Auger explore the shores of Plymouth, Massachusetts search for a giant sea serpent that as spotted here by multiple witnesses back in the mid-1800s. One of those witnesses was none other than stateman and orator Daniel Webster.
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CREDITS:
Produced and hosted by: Jeff Belanger and Ray Auger
Edited by: Ray Auger
Guest Voice: Dave Schrader
Theme Music by: John Judd
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EPISODE TRANSCRIPT:
*A note on the text: Please forgive punctuation, spelling, and grammar mistakes. Like us, the transcripts ain’t perfect.
[OCEAN BEACH SOUNDS]
RAY: Not a bad Spring day to be here by the beach in Plymouth, Massachusetts.
JEFF: Not bad at all. We’re standing not too far from the Plymouth Rock monument.
RAY: Ahhh yes, our nation’s number one most underwhelming national landmark. We covered that story way back in Episode 14.
JEFF: We did.
RAY: I assume we’re not just here to stroll the beach next to rocks with questionable history.
JEFF: No, we’re not. We’re here to keep an eye on the sea.
RAY: Ooooo, what are we looking for?
JEFF: Ray, we’ve come to the shores of Plymouth to look for a giant sea serpent.
[INTRO]
JEFF: I’m Jeff Belanger.
RAY: And I’m Ray Auger, welcome to episode 392 of the New England Legends podcast. Thanks for joining us on our mission to chronicle every legend in New England one story at a time. Did you know most of our story leads come from you? This one did. Thanks to Rebecca for emailing us through our website.
JEFF: We’ll go searching for the Plymouth Sea Serpent right after this word from our sponsor.
SPONSOR
RAY: Plymouth has a sea serpent?
JEFF: That’s what they say. And in this case, one of the witnesses is a household name, as is the person who reported the sighting.
RAY: No kidding.
JEFF: The witness was none other than Daniel Webster.
RAY: From the Devil and Daniel Webster fame?
JEFF: That’s the guy.
RAY: Quick rundown on Daniel Webster. He was born in 1782 in Salisbury, New Hampshire. He was an attorney, a famed orator, he served in the United States Congress for New Hampshire and later his adopted state of Massachusetts. He even got close to running for president under the Whig party, but he came up short. He spent his later years in the town of Marshfield which is just a few miles north of where we are here in Plymouth.
JEFF: The legend of Daniel Webster grew to the point where a lot of us read that children’s book the Devil and Daniel Webster.
RAY: They say he was such a good lawyer he out-argued the devil out of a man’s soul.
JEFF: But we’ve also learned that just about anytime someone makes a deal with the devil for their soul, they somehow find a loophole and get out of the deal.
RAY: That’s true. In one of my favorite Simpsons episodes, Homer trades his soul for a donut. But then he figures out if he doesn’t finish this soul donut, then the deal isn’t happening. But then, in a fit of hunger, Homer ultimately eats the donut and loses his soul. But then, his wife Marge comes to his defense reminding the court of demons that Homer already pledged his soul to her, so it was never Homer’s to wager. Homer keeps his soul, and they all live happily ever after.
JEFF: That is the perfect example of a loophole that gets a person out of their deal with the devil. But we’re not here to talk about devils or deals, we’re here for a sea monster.
RAY: Right. We’ve covered several sea monster stories before from Block Island in the south, to Gloucester, Mass, to Casco Bay, Maine.
JEFF: We have. In the nineteenth century there’s no shortage of sea serpent stories. They turn up over and over and over in the newspapers with similar descriptions.
RAY: Considering some of these descriptions are of a giant serpent that’s 200-feet long, do you think it could be the same animal?
JEFF: Definitely. From here to Casco Bay by sea is just over 100 miles. That’s not that great of a distance for a 200-foot-long sea creature to swim. Plus, it would be strange to assume there’s just one of them.
RAY: Right, there could be a whole group of them and the New England coast is their home. Or at least WAS their home.
JEFF: Yeah, we don’t hear about sea serpents much anymore.
RAY: So who is the other household name? The one who reported the sighting?
JEFF: That would be New England’s acclaimed poet, essayist, and philosopher, Henry David Thoreau.
RAY: No kidding?
JEFF: Nope. Thoreau documented the sea serpent sighting in one of his journals. So let’s head back to 1841, and search for this monster.
[TRANSITION]
RAY: It’s April of 1841 here in Plymouth, Massachusetts. A man named Frederick Douglas who escaped slavery in Maryland three years ago, has recently begun a brilliant speaking career on the subject of abolitionism in Massachusetts. And Massachusetts is no stranger to brilliant orators, either. Around the Plymouth area, one name stands above the others: Daniel Webster.
JEFF: Ahhh yes, Daniel Webster, attorney, statesman, and a man who owns a country home in nearby Marshfield. He’s had the estate since 1832. But one thing most people don’t know about Webster is that he has a love of fishing.
RAY: That’s true. And having an estate close to Plymouth Bay works out well for the angler. He’s got a sailboat to take him around the harbor where he can visit friends and get to the best fishing spots.
JEFF: If he’s out on the water, I hope he’s keeping his weather eye pealed for a sea serpent!
RAY: A sea serpent?! I know the folks up north in Gloucester have been talking about a sea serpent for decades, but down here in Plymouth too?
JEFF: There’s a local man who lives by the sea here in town. Each morning with his breakfast, he looks out on the harbor with his spyglass. He’s been doing it for years now. They say he sees everything.
RAY: Everything, huh?
JEFF: That’s what they say. Well, not too long ago, he said he saw the sea serpent. There he was looking out at the sea with his spyglass when he spotted something. He said its body was as wide as an oak barrel. It had a head like a horse that rose at least six feet out of the water on its long neck. He said the giant serpent was chasing mackerel who ran ashore in fright – many of the fish died on the beach.
RAY: And locals believe him?
JEFF: They do. His reputation is beyond reproach.
[OCEAN SOUNDS SLOWLY FADE IN]
JEFF: Today Daniel Webster and his friend Peterson are sailing across Plymouth harbor toward the town of Manomet—the next town southeast of Plymouth. The plan is to meet up with some men in town for a day of fishing.
RAY: It’s a great day for it too. Not too cold, not too hot. A perfect spring day.
[OCEAN SOUNDS FOR A FEW SECONDS]
JEFF: A few hours of fishing pass. The group of men have had some luck and caught a few fish. As the afternoon sun starts to dip, Webster and Peterson decide they should get back in the sail boat and make the journey home before it gets dark.
RAY: It’s about a ten-mile sail back home, and the winds are good. It shouldn’t take too long to reach the docks in Duxbury.
JEFF: Nope, it’s been a fine day to be by the ocean and on the ocean. The seas are calm, and the skies are clear.
RAY: Huh…
JEFF: What?
RAY: Look at that over there. Something is stirring up the water.
JEFF: Yeah… I see it. What do you think it is?
RAY: Oh man… do you see those humps in the water?
JEFF: I do! Daniel Webster also sees it. He’s pointing it out to Peterson. Webster is just shaking his head.
[OCEAN SOUNDS FOR A FEW SECONDS]
DANIEL: It passed directly across our bow only six or seven rods off, and then disappeared. A few moments later, after having time to reflect, I said to Peterson, “For God’s sake, never say a word about this to anyone–for if it should be known that I should have seen the sea-serpent, I should never hear the last of it. Wherever I went I should have to tell the story to everyone I met.”
RAY: It’s getting near sundown as Webster and Peterson pull into the docks at Duxbury. The two men still can’t believe what we just witnessed on the water. Peterson promises to keep his mouth shut.
JEFF: But how do you keep quiet about seeing something that extraordinary?
RAY: Yeah, I’m not sure.
JEFF: Each of the men confides to a person or two about their sighting, but also ask for discretion considering how prominent Daniel Webster is.
RAY: Still, once more than two people know a secret… it’s going to get out.
JEFF: I love that it’s getting out! Webster and Peterson weren’t anywhere near the first to spot this creature, and they won’t be the last either. Before we head back to present-day, let’s give Daniel Webster the last word.
DANIEL: There is nothing so powerful as truth – and often nothing so strange.
[TRANSITION]
RAY: So true, Daniel Webster. So true.
JEFF: Most of what we know about this story comes from the June 14, 1857 journal of Henry David Thoreau. Thoreau had heard the tale from Plymouth local B.M. Watson. He called the source reliable, and told of the description of the creature.
RAY: When you add this story to some of the other sea serpent stories we’ve covered, it actually doesn’t sound strange at all.
JEFF: I agree.
RAY: It’s amazing how every description from Gloucester to Casco Bay sounds so similar to this one. The serpent had a body as thick as a barrel and a head like a horse when it rose out of the water. Which begs the question: What happened to this animal?
JEFF: The most prominent theory is that as the nineteenth century passed by, the shores and harbors of New England were fished to the point where this giant serpent didn’t have as much food to eat so it was forced to move on to waters with more fish.
RAY: Pretty straight-forward, but you’d think we’d have captured one of these things by now, or caught one on camera, or something.
JEFF: I get that, but you need to remember that stories of a giant squid circulated among sailors for centuries. It was considered a myth, a legend. These sailors must be mistaken—a notion that offends every red-blooded sailor. It wasn’t until 2012 that a giant squid was filmed on camera for us all to see.
RAY: Wow, that wasn’t that long ago. So maybe there’s still a chance once of these giant sea serpents will get caught on camera one of these days.
JEFF: There’s always a chance. For the countless witnesses, their stories of the giant sea serpent are the truth… even if it sounds so strange.
[OUTTRO]
RAY: And Strange is our bread and butter. That takes us to After the Legend where we fish a little deeper on this week’s story and sometimes go off into the deep end.
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To see some pictures related to this week’s story, click on the link in our episode description, or go to our website and click on episode 392.
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We’d like to thank Dave Schrader from the Paranormal 60 Podcast for lending his voice acting talents this week, thank you to our patreon patrons, thanks to our sponsors, and our theme music is by John Judd.
Until next time remember… the bizarre is closer than you think.
