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Information about Globsters

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Carcass that washed ashore near St. Augustine, Florida in 1896.


A globster, or blob, is an unidentified organic mass that washes up on the shoreline of an ocean or other body of water. It is distinguished from a normal beached carcass by being hard to identify, at least by initial untrained observers, and by creating controversy as to its identity. Globsters may present such a puzzling appearance that their nature remains controversial even after being officially identified by scientists. Some globsters lack bones or other recognisable structures, while others may have bones, tentacles, flippers, eyes or other features that can help narrow down the possible species. In the past these were often described as sea monsters, and myths and legends about such monsters may often have started with the appearance of a globster. Globsters are most frequently studied in the field of cryptozoology.

The term globster was coined by Ivan T. Sanderson in 1962 to describe the Tasmanian carcass of 1960, which was said to have "no visible eyes, no defined head, and no apparent bone structure."

Many globsters have initially been described as gigantic octopuses, although they later turned out to be the decayed carcasses of whales or large sharks. As with the "Chilean Blob" of 2003, many are masses of whale blubber which have been released from decaying whale corpses. Others initially thought to be dead Plesiosaurs later turned out to be the decayed carcases of basking sharks. Others remain unexplained. Giant and colossal squid may also explain some globsters, particularly those which are tentatively identified as monster octopuses.

Some globsters have only been examined after they had decomposed too much to be used as evidence for a new species, or have been destroyed, as happened with the famous "Cadborosaurus willsi" carcass, found in 1937. However, Canadian scientists did in fact perform a DNA analysis of the Newfoundland Blob which indicated that the tissue was from a sperm whale. In their resulting paper, the authors point out a number of superficial similarities between the Newfoundland Blob and other famous globsters, concluding a similar origin for those globsters is likely.

Famous globsters

Listed in chronological order of discovery.

Sources

  • Bousfield, Edward L. & Leblond Paul H. (2000). Cadborosaurus: Survivor from the Deep. Heritage House Publishing.
  • Clark, Jerome and Coleman, Loren. (1999). Cryptozoology A-Z. Simon & Schuster.
  • Ellis, R. 1994. Monsters of the Sea. Robert Hale, London.
  • McCalmont, Jonathan. Book Review on StrangeHorizons.comhttp://www.strangehorizons.com/reviews/2006/09/the_swarm_by_fr.shtml

See also

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shore or shoreline is the fringe of land at the edge of a large body of water, such as an ocean, sea, or lake.

Shores are influenced by the topography of the surrounding landscape, as well as by water induced erosion, such as waves.
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Bones are rigid organs that form part of the endoskeleton of vertebrates. They function to move, support, and protect the various organs of the body, produce red and white blood cells and store minerals.
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Tentacles can refer to the elongated flexible organs that are present in some animals, especially invertebrates, and sometimes to the hairs of the leaves of some insectivorous plants. Usually, they are used for feeding, feeling and grasping.
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Flipper may refer to:
  • Flipper (anatomy), a limb on some animals
  • A speculator who buys an asset in order to sell it quickly with a profit (see Flipping)
  • A scuba diver's fin

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Sea Monsters was a BBC television program which used computer-generated imagery to show past life in Earth's seas. It was made by Impossible Pictures, the creators of Walking with Dinosaurs and Walking With Beasts.
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This article or section needs sources or references that appear in reliable, third-party publications. Alone, primary sources and sources affiliated with the subject of this article are not sufficient for an accurate encyclopedia article.
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Ivan Terrance Sanderson (January 30, 1911 – February 19, 1973) was a naturalist and writer born in Edinburgh, Scotland, who later became a naturalized citizen of the United States. Sanderson is remembered for his nature writing and his interest in paranormal events.
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Tasmanian Globster was a large unidentified carcass that washed ashore in western Tasmania, in August 1960. It measured 20 by 18 feet (6 m by 5.5 m) and was estimated to weigh between 5 and 10 tons. The mass lacked eyes and in place of a mouth, had "soft, tusk-like protuberances".
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gigantic octopus has been hypothesised as a source of reports of sea monsters such as the lusca and the kraken as well as the ultimate source of some of the carcasses of unidentified origin known as globsters like the St. Augustine carcass. The species that the St.
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whale can refer to all cetaceans, to just the larger ones, or only to members of particular families within the order Cetacea. The last definition is the one followed here. Whales are those cetaceans which are neither dolphins (i.e.
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SHARK

General
Vincent Rijmen, Joan Daemen, Bart Preneel, Antoon Bosselaers, Erik De Win
1996

KHAZAD, Rijndael

Cipher detail
Key size(s):| 128 bits

Block size(s):| 64 bits
Substitution-permutation network
6

In cryptography,
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The Chilean Blob was a 13-tonne mass of tissue discovered on a beach in Los Muermos, Chile in July 2003. It made headlines around the world because biologists were unable to identify it, and were speculating that it was the remains of some species of giant octopus
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Plesiosauroidea
Gray, 1825

Families

Cimoliasauridae
Cryptoclididae
Elasmosauridae
Plesiosauridae
Polycotylidae

Plesiosaurs (IPA /ˈplisɪəˌsɔɹ/
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Cetorhinidae
Gill, 1862

Genus: Cetorhinus
Blainville, 1816

Species: C.
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Architeuthidae
Pfeffer, 1900

Genus: Architeuthis
Steenstrup in Harting, 1860

Species
  • Architeuthis dux Steenstrup, 1857
  • ?Architeuthis hartingii Verrill, 1875
  • ?

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gigantic octopus has been hypothesised as a source of reports of sea monsters such as the lusca and the kraken as well as the ultimate source of some of the carcasses of unidentified origin known as globsters like the St. Augustine carcass. The species that the St.
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Off the British Colombian coast of Cadboro Bay lives a monster, affectionately named Caddy or Cadborosaurus Willsi. It is described as a long, serpent like beast with flippers, hair on the neck, and a camel like head. It could be anywhere from 40 to 70 feet long in length.
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The Newfoundland Blob was an unidentified mass (globster) that washed ashore near St. Bernard’s, Fortune Bay, Newfoundland on 2 August, 2001. The specimen was 5.6 m long. Analysis of samples in 2002 showed that the Newfoundland Blob was the carcass of a sperm whale.
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Physeter

Species: P. macrocephalus

Binomial name
Physeter macrocephalus
Linnaeus, 1758


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St. Augustine Monster is the name given to a large unidentified carcass, originally postulated to be the remains of a gigantic octopus, that washed ashore on the United States coast near St. Augustine, Florida, in 1896.
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Tasmanian Globster was a large unidentified carcass that washed ashore in western Tasmania, in August 1960. It measured 20 by 18 feet (6 m by 5.5 m) and was estimated to weigh between 5 and 10 tons. The mass lacked eyes and in place of a mouth, had "soft, tusk-like protuberances".
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New Zealand Globster was a large unidentified carcass that washed ashore at Muriwai, on the east coast of North Island, New Zealand, in 1968. It was 30 feet (9.1 m) long and 8 feet (2.4 m) high. J. E.
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Tasmanian Globster 2 was a large unidentified carcass found washed ashore by Ben Fenton in Tasmania, in 1970. It was buried in the sand, but the visible part was 8 feet (2.4 m) long. Pictures taken of this carcass have since gone missing.
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The Bermuda Blob was an unidentified mass (globster) that was found by Teddy Tucker, a fisherman and treasure hunter, in Mangrove Bay, Bermuda, in May 1988. Tucker described the blob as "2½ to 3 feet thick . . . very white and fibrous . . .
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Hebrides Blob was an unidentified, 12 foot (3.7 m) long carcass that washed ashore on Benbecula beach in the Hebrides, Scotland, in 1990. Louise Whitts, who discovered the carcass, described it as follows: "It had what appeared to be a head at one end, a curved back and seemed to
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Bermuda Blob 2 was an unidentified mass (globster) found in Bermuda, in 1995. Analysis of samples in 2004 suggests that Bermuda Blob 2 was a large mass of adipose tissue from a whale.

References

  • Pierce, S., S. Massey, N. Curtis, G. Smith, C. Olavarría & T.

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The Nantucket Blob was an unidentified mass (globster) that washed ashore on Nantucket Island, Massachusetts, sometime during November 1996. Analysis of samples in 2004 suggests that the Nantucket Blob was a large mass of adipose tissue from a whale.
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Bermuda Blob 3 was an unidentified mass (globster) found in Bermuda, in January 1997. Analysis of samples in 2004 suggests that Bermuda Blob 3 was a large mass of adipose tissue from a whale.

References

  • Pierce, S., S. Massey, N. Curtis, G. Smith, C.

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The Four Mile Globster was an unidentified mass that washed ashore in Four Mile Beach, Tasmania, in 1997. The carcass was 15 feet (4.6 m) long, 6 feet (1.8 m) wide, and was estimated to weigh 4 tons.
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