This creature was named after Montauk, New York, where it washed ashore in 2008.
Many have speculated it might be the mutant product of experimentation at the controversial Plum Island Animal Disease Center.
Other suggestions have included raccoon, turtle or water rat but the truth may never be known because, as in so many of these cases, the carcass vanished before samples were taken.
According to the local rag, Montauk resident Jenna Hewitt, 26, and three of her friends found the beast at Ditch Plains beach, a popular surfing spot, on July 12, 2008.
“We were looking for a place to sit when we saw some people looking at something … We didn’t know what it was … We joked that maybe it was something from Plum Island,” Ms Hewitt told the Montauk Independent.
The newspaper ran her colour photograph (above) under the headline “The Hound of Bonacville” (a dual reference to “Bonackers” the nickname given to East Hampton natives and Arthur Conan Doyle’s classic The Hound of the Baskervilles.
East Hampton Natural Resources Director Larry Penny later said it was his belief the Montauk Monster was a raccoon with its upper jaw missing.
