(Above) - Two images taken by Russ Sittloh in the Fall of 2009 of the unknown creature
(Above) - Image from video taken by a vacationing family who say they saw a serpent-like creature in the water off Sand Key Park
wtsp - A family vacationing from Ohio says they spotted what they describe as a 30-foot long serpent like creature swimming in the water off Sand Key Park on Monday.
Was it another sighting of Normandy Nessie, the Bay area's version of the Loch Ness Sea Monster?
Russ Sittloh, who first video taped a mysterious black 20-foot long creature in the canal behind his Madeira Beach home more than a year ago, believes it could be Normandy Nessie.
Sittloh named the creature Normandy, after the road he lives on.
Experts say what Sittloh and others have seen could be anything from a manatee to an anaconda.
"Most of the time when people see this stuff, they don't get to see it for any real length of time and it's so far away, it's really hard to make out," said Vernon Yates of Wildlife Rehab and Rescue.
Sittloh now believes Normandy is an anaconda and he believes he's seen more than one swimming in the water behind his home.
"People don't want to believe that. They don't want it to be true, because of the tourist stuff," Sittloh said.
Yates says he's captured several dozen anacondas in the Bay area over the years with the largest measuring about 15 feet long. But Yates says anacondas will usually stay away from salt water.
"Does the possibility exist it could be an anaconda? Very much so. Probability, not really, because again, he would stay out of the salt water," Yates told 10 News.
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Originally posted 10/9/2009
Unknown Creature Reported in Madeira Beach, Florida
The following letter was published in the Tampa Bay Weekly:
At the risk of having everyone think I have lost it, gone bonkers or whatever, I must share this visual sighting with everyone since it has happened two times now.
The last time was a week ago and it came out of the water further than previously and I could estimate the girth that came out of the water at 12 to 15 inches in diameter.
It continued its roll seemingly for a long time and it had to be 12 to 15 feet in length judging by the roll time. It was brown on top with mottled brown and yellow lower side. It finally flipped its tail before disappearing and it was a flat, lamprey like vertical caudal fin an estimated 9 to 10 inches maximum flare tapering to a point. I never saw the head and there was no dorsal fin nor pectoral fins visible.
I have seen many porpoise almost daily here that swim up and down the canal usually in pairs and this was NOT a porpoise, no way!
After the first sighting I thought it might be a huge snake (python like in the Glades) that someone turned loose, escaped or whatever because it did not roll as high out of the water so the size (girth) was not real evident although it was the same color on back and sides from what I could see. It did not flip its tail that time so the weird shaped caudal fin was not visible.
I am sure glad that I told Bet about the sightings so the little guys in the white jackets don’t come for me. She believes me though it sounds a bit far out! LOL!
I see people in their wee kayaks paddling up and down the canal and think about how they could be a snack for the Normandy Nessie! LOL!
I am dead serious and this is not a spoof, joke or ruse. From the size of this thing it could pose a real danger to people and small animals.
Russell Sittloh
Madeira Beach
Normandy Nessie: Mysterious Creature Back For An Encore?
