AFTER years of vague sightings and fake photographs a Hull historian is leading the hunt for the Loch Ness Monster, and believes it could be in the River Humber.
Long before Nessie had been ‘discovered’ in Scotland, Hull held a legend of a man-eating serpent in the 1920s.
A swimmer was killed and a large black shape was seen paddling up the estuary towards Hull – the myth was born.
Rumours spread, and before long the beast could swim at 100mph, it had a head the size of an elephant, six humps and flashing eyes.
The folklore began when fisherman from Grimsby and Cleethorpes found bits of their catches hanging on empty hooks.
The story goes that a fisherman who has been in the bows of the boat gave a shout.
His fellow seamen then saw a black shape moving away from the boat in a swirl of water.
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Now, a local historian, Mike Covell, is leading a hunt for the Humber Monster.
Watch patrols will line the shores in a newly invigorated search effort.
Mr Covell told the Hull Daily Mail: “As you might expect in a city of the sea, Hull has a long history of weird and wonderful tales of sea serpents and other strange creatures,” he said.
“In the 1920s and 1930s, headlines came thick and fast in the Hull Daily Mail.
It seemed Hull folk and holidaymakers alike were on the lookout for something sinister swimming in the Humber or off the beaches of East Riding resorts.
“Throughout these years, trawlermen had been reporting strange sightings of a creature, or creatures, in the Humber and the North Sea, but the scare reached its height in 1933 and into 1934, when there was sighting upon sighting.”
Sightings include Thomas Atkinson and his wife, from Hull, who had gone to Kilnsea for the day with their family in 1934. They said they saw something black in the water.
As they watched, intrigued, the creature turned towards them and stared back at them with eyes the size of portholes. The Atkinson family fled in terror.
Perhaps the Humber Monster will be found again…
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