Rearing Their (Horse-Like?) Heads: A Brief Overview of 19th-Century “Sea Serpent” Sightings

There were a lot of sightings of “sea serpents” during the Victorian Era. I discuss some well-known sightings, and explain why these mysterious creatures became an important part of 19th-century culture despite the genuine fear they inspired in so many people. ***** References Coleman, Loren. Mysterious America: The Ultimate Guide to the Nation's Weirdest Wonders, Strangest Spots, and Creepiest Creatures. New York: Paraview, 2007. Cooke, Simon. “Victorian Cryptozoology: The Great Sea-Serpent and its Cultural Representations.” https://victorianweb.org/history/cultural/seaserpent/cooke.html Hall, Stephanie. “The Great American Sea Serpent.” https://blogs.loc.gov/folklife/2016/08/great-american-sea-serpent/ Lillywhite, Harvey. “There are dozens of sea snake species in the Indian and Pacific oceans, but none in the Caribbean. Why?” https://news.ufl.edu/articles/2018/03/there-are-dozens-of-sea-snake-species-in-the-indian-and-pacific-oceans-but-none-in-the-caribbean-why.html Mellor, Joe. “Sightings of sea monsters by sailors directly influenced by discovery of fossils in 19th century.” https://www.thelondoneconomic.com/must-reads/weird-news/sightings-of-sea-monsters-by-sailors-directly-influenced-by-discovery-of-fossils-in-19th-century-129925/ Verne, Jules. Twenty Thousand Leagues under the Sea. https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/164 Wikipedia. “Eastern racer.” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eastern_racer Wikipedia. “Linnaean Society of New England.” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linnaean_Society_of_New_England Wikipedia. “Sea Snake.” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sea_snake ***** Email: [email protected] Twitter: https://twitter.com/victorianvarie1 Buy Me a Coffee: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/marisadf13 Linktree: https://linktr.ee/thevictorianvarietyshow I’d greatly appreciate it if you could take a moment to rate & review this podcast on Apple Podcasts, Goodpods, Spotify, Podchaser, Audible, or wherever you listen, as that will help this podcast reach more listeners!