Man says 30-foot 'monster' lurking in canals of Madeira Beachhttp://www2.tbo.com/content/2009/nov/16/man-says-30-foot-monster-lurking-canals-madeira-be/news-metro/By ROD CHALLENGER
There's something strange and big swimming in the canals of Madeira Beach along the Pinellas County coast. Those who have seen it say it's no fish and think it could be a sea serpent.
Russ Sittlow, 78, has seen it. He calls the creature "Normandy Nessie" because he lives on Normandy Road.
The retired engineer said he first saw "Nessie" in April.
"His head come up out of the water, and then he rolled up in a double roll behind him and he was long he was huge," he said of that first sighting.
Sittlow said he has seen two of the creatures in the canal, one very large, and the other a bit smaller. He estimates the largest one is at least 30 feet long.
Sittlow set up a surveillance camera to record video if the creatures came back. He said his camera recorded "Nessie" three times since September, the latest Saturday.
He showed the video to a reporter. It shows a dark form swimming along the surface of the water. It appears to be about 30 feet long. Another clip shows the creature splashing in the water.
"I don't know what it is," he said.
When a reporter asked if he thought it was really a monster, he hedged.
"No, no, well, call a monster what you will, it's something different, it's something strange, it's something I've never seen in salt water," he stated.
Sittlow's account of what he saw is backed up by neighbor Maria VanAiken, 47, who said she saw the "monster" this summer while on her back porch.
"I looked up and I saw this like huge-looking creature," she said, adding that it wasn't a manatee or dolphin.
"This huge thing just came out of the water," she said.
Her husband saw the creature later.
When pressed, Sittlow backed off his sea monster theory, but not totally.
"This is a snake I guarantee you, or a serpent like thing that looks like a snake," he explained. He thinks it could be an anaconda or a python or "a mutation there of."
State wildlife officials who have seen Sittlow's video believe the creature is a manatee.
Sittlow disagrees. Whatever is in the canal is dangerous, he said, and he doesn't recommend swimming there until it's positively identified.
