A Mysterious, 'Loch Ness-Type' Sea Creature Just Washed Up on a Georgia Beach

Say what you will of how lounging by the ocean is serene and calming, let's be real: the ocean is scary as hell. It's filled with all manner of mysterious and creepy-looking creatures straight out of an H.R. Giger-ian nightmare, from enormous strange beasts to truly haunting deep-sea dwellers. Now, there's evidence it's home to yet another mind-boggling specimen after a long-bodied and unidentifiable creature washed up on the shores of Georgia on Friday. There's still no official word on what exactly this thing is, but people are comparing to the Loch Ness monster.

During a boating trip with his son in Wolf Island National Wildlife Refuge Center near Golden Isles, Georgia, Jeff Warren says he spotted what he thought was a dead seal that had washed up on the sand. However, after taking a closer look, he realized it was something that looked a whole lot more prehistoric -- describing it as a "Loch Ness-type thing" unlike anything he'd spotted in the water before. 

Birds were evidently already pecking at the 5-foot-long creature's carcass, but Warren was able to snap a pic. Afterwards, he and his son stopped by a local restaurant and speculated over what it might be with some patrons, who relayed the local legend of "Alty," a Loch Ness monster-esque creature rumored to roam the waters in the area. However, despite several calls to marine life experts, none have been able to provide a definitive answer as to what it is.

Of course, there could be a perfectly normal explanation for what this thing actually is, or rather was. As some outlets have pointed out, occasionally creatures that decompose in the ocean can appear significantly elongated after a while, and may no longer even vaguely resemble whatever they once were. Specifically, something like a 30-foot basking shark can decompose in a way that it ends up looking like a Plesiosaur, according to US Fish and Wildlife Services Director Dan Ashe, per a report from Action News Jax.

In any case, just one more thing to keep in mind next time you happen to find yourself wading through the water off the south coast of Georgia. Happy swimming!

h/tAction News Jax

Sign up here for our daily Thrillist email and subscribe here for our YouTube channel to get your fix of the best in food/drink/fun.

Joe McGauley is a senior writer for Thrillist. Follow him @jwmcgauley.