MYSTERIOUS AMERICA

Morton’s BMW Motorcycles presents Dr. Seymour O’Life’s MYSTERIOUS AMERICA

THE SERPENTSOF NORTH JERSEY

1894. Odd things were happening in northern New Jersey. Odd things have always happened in northern New Jersey. Why do you think we planted Backroads here? In northwest New Jersey the state’s largest lake, Hopatcong, was quickly becoming a great getaway from the cities of New York and Philadelphia. Lake Hopatcong is the largest freshwater body in New Jersey, about four square miles in area. Located 30 miles from the Delaware River and 40 miles from New York City, the lake forms part of the border between Sussex and Morris counties in the state’s northern highlands region. In truth the lake is semi-manmade. Lake Hopatcong was produced by damming and ooding two ponds, known as the Great Pond and Little Pond, and the Musconetcong River, its natural outlet. Historically known as a resort lake for vacationing New Yorkers, it is now a mostly suburban residential lake. Today it is Jersey’s shining jewel. Maybe. It’s not just humans who call Lake Hopatcong home; dating back to the late 1800s, rumor has it an old-fashioned sea serpent lurks beneath the water’s surface. Oh, of course. North Jersey needs a Bigfoot (Big Red-Eye), the Jersey Devil, and now…. Hoppie? So sad. But O’Life, your humble correspondent, is not here to judge but to report. Feh. In 1894 a sherman set sail on the lake where he said he spotted a creature with the head of a dog and a forty-foot serpentine body. It was the subject of an 1894 article in the Lake Hopatcong Angler and New York World newspaper. But that did not stop locals from “Several shots have been red at it,” read the article. “One man asserts that he hit the head of the supposed serpent with a ball from his 38-caliber ri e and the bullet rolled off like water off a duck’s back without even making the monster wink.” A man named A. Chamberlain claimed the monster rose out of the water near his boat. He said that “if it was one inch in length it was 40 feet and as thick as a man’s leg.” The top of the creature was black while the lower parts were a “dirty white.” The article speculated Hoppie might have been an old mud turtle said to inhabit the lake that was “as big as molasses hogshead and its head is like a lager beer keg.”

But after it made headlines, it was never seen again. Well, until Backroads showed up… Well, me actually. Rathjen is clueless. However, there is a story about the fate of what remains of “Hoppie.” Oh, this is New Jersey. We just can’t be done with a cryptozoological tome…no! Now, we take this to the next ridiculousity. (Thanks Gabe!) But who is to say this is not true? Are you gonna argue with Jersey Boys? C’Mon! I thought not. According to the tale, the creature’s giant bones washed ashore after its demise, and the bones were used to construct a rollercoaster near Bertrand Island Amusement Park. Here comes that word again…. ridiculousity!

Like the Police’s Syncronisity, “Many miles away, something crawls from the bottom of a dark Jersey lake!” Love it! But that was then. In recent history, other things have surfaced along the big Jersey lake. In 2014, a 20-foot anaconda was spotted at Capp Cove. They have a video of this. Really. Do you have to swim in Hopatcong like Ka-Zar and Zabu in the Savage Land?

The truth probably is some Jersey boy’s snake got loose… really, not a serpent? But called BS by our intrepid reporter Jason Lane. Still, according to our friends at Weird NJ, there was something far bigger and badder back around the same time. Just a few years earlier, in 1879, the Sandy Hook Life Saving Service was cruising along familiar waters just off the coast of Sandy Hook’s shore. Traveling by boat, the service team was completing their rounds and ensuring the community was safe. They suddenly stopped, reportedly noticing something horrifying and large in the water. Quickly, they returned to shore, desperately explaining their ndings to onlookers. According to the life-saving service team, a 50-foot-long serpentine creature rose from the water near their boat. They reported it had two horns above its head, poking out above its large eyes. The creature’s head was bulldog-like, slithering to the front of the boat and giving off a loud roar. Each of them recounted these events in horri c detail. The individuals and their matching reports were so credible that a scienti c research team was dispatched to investigate them. They provided of cial statements, which researchers later used to determine the monster was a giant squid. Yet, nobody could explain the serpent-like movements the team described. As the waters largely cleared during that time, several more sightings popped up around the area. Who knows what is under the waters when you dive in? I will leave you with pure fact…. not conjecture. In 1916 the greatest shark attacks, the very rst in the United States history, occurred. In New Jersey. Duh. It was amazingly horrible and truly beyond anything in written history. Jaws was based on this… but Benchley took it lightly. Welcome to Jersey! You have a whole month to learn about the young man named Lester Stillwell, (do your homework) and we will move on from there. O’Life Out! ,