Canvey Island Monster

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In November, 1954, several residents on Canvey Island in the UK found the most unusual corpse they had ever seen washed up on the shore. They dragged the body up onto the shore and ran to tell the authorities who brought in two zoologists to study the body. The corpse was described as follows: in bad condition, had hind legs which appeared to be adapted to walking bipedaly, the creature was about 76cm (30in) tall, had five toes which were arranged in a curious horse shoe shape, the foot also had a concave arch, the eyes were bulging, its head was soft and mushy (most likely due to decay or lack of skull), and it was also mentioned to have thick brownish red skin. After examination the zoologists cremated the body and assured the public that there was nothing out of the ordinary. The authorities made no more mention of it.

That was until August 1955, when Reverend Joseph Overs found another dead creature floating in a tide pool. This body was described to be in much better condition, this specimen was much larger being about 1.2m (4ft), weighed about 11.3kg (25lb). The better condition of the body allowed for details of the face to be studied such as the eyes, nostrils and teeth, and it also possessed very prominent gills. However, there is no mention anywhere of what happened to this body, and no more specimens have been officially examined.

The Canvey Island carcasses were first reported by Frank Edwards in his 'Stranger than Science' in 1959, and have since been extensively reported. In an article in the Fortean Times in February 1999, issue 119, Nick Warren investigated the matter. He contacted the Natural History Museum, the Marine Biology Association Laboratory at Plymouth and the National Rivers Authority, but drew a blank. He finally got in touch with the local newspaper that originally covered the story, and almost immediately received a reply from a local man who said that the creatures had been identified as anglerfish, which, as a rare species, had caused some excitement at the time. Later he received a letter from Alwyne Wheeler, formerly an ichthyologist at the Department of Zoology at the Natural History Museum, informing him that in his opinion the specimens were anglerfish, and that their fleshy pectoral fins are often mistaken by lay observers for short legs with feet. Indeed, a 68lb specimen was caught on the shore of Canvey Island in 1967 and a stranding occurred near by in 1972 at Dagenham.