“What we’re most worried about is an agent getting off this island,” Barrett says, referring to the stringent protocols to prevent the release of diseases. The creature reminded him of the infamous Montauk Monster. The new vaccine they developed—the first for foot-and-mouth in 50 years—makes it possible to tell vaccinated and unvaccinated cows apart, negating the devastating need to cull entire herds as a precaution, Barrett says. The new photographs look fairly different than the original. He won’t be happy until everyone is as pissed off as he is about how screwed up Lawn Guyland is. (Photo: kyselak/CC BY-SA 3.0) When the Montauk Monster washed up on the shore in Montauk, New York, in the summer of … I performed a double-take and saw it lying there.". An aerial view of Plum Island. Montauk Monsters and chronic Lyme disease supposedly escaped from the mysterious pork chop-shaped island Nelson DeMille and others wrote books about. Jenna Hewitt was quoted: “If the federal government did not already own Plum Island, it would be seeking to purchase it for conservation as prime habitat for rare birds and plants.”. It’s not clear whether this is a copy-cat incident, or a continuation of the viral marketing. The Montauk Monster: Mutant creature from Plum Island Animal Disease Center? He recalled the Montauk Monster from popular news reports in July of 2008, when images of a grotesque beast drew speculation that it was an escaped Plum Island … Many speculate that the creature came from the Plum Island Animal Disease Center as being one of their "experiments". ...Your support for The East Hampton Star helps us deliver the news, arts, and community information you need. Asked what she thinks it is, she said she has "no idea. Britain culled 6 million cattle exposed to the disease in 2001, costing the industry $16 billion. foreign animal diseases) including foot-and-mouth disease (FMD). Plum Island is theorized by some to be the origin of the monster in the 2008 movie Cloverfield. Since then there have been a fair share of similar sightings, but none with quite the impact as theirs. Let's say for the sake of argument that the Lyme spirochete did originate on Plum Island as … She and her friends had been surprised that it got so much attention. DHS credits the need to move nearly 400 LI jobs to a classic case of anti-virus NIMBYism, planned academic synergy at Kansas State University’s nearby Biosecurity Research Institute and the fact that Plum Island’s foreign livestock disease testing facility requires samples be airlifted from America’s agricultural heartland. Jenna Hewitt, 26, of Montauk, and three friends said that they found the creature on July 12 at the Ditch Plains beach, two miles east of the district. An unidentified man with “very long fingers” and recent brain surgery scars washed up dead here in 2010, sparking suspicions the lab’s scientists were experimenting on humans. For decades, Plum Island, off the northeast edge of Long Island, has been the subject of the kind of conspiracy theories the Internet loves: that the government concocted Lyme disease there; that the so-called Montauk Monster, an admittedly terrifying carcass that washed up on a Long Island beach in 2008, was the spawn of some Plum Island mutant-making lab. Timothy Bolger is the Editor in Chief of the Long Island Press who’s been working to uncover unreported stories since shortly after it launched in 2003. Plum Island is an island off the shores of New York. As for the need to move and upgrade—pending congressional funding for the construction—he adds: “There are diseases that are popping up around the world that we don’t study here.”, Everything Long Island Jesse Ventura investigated the case on his Conspiracy Theory show. Plum Island is the location of a deadly government conspiracy in the 2014 novel, The Montauk Monster by Hunter Shea. Now, they’re working to make it last longer so the animals don’t need booster shots every six months to save farmers money. In recent years Plum Island has gained popularity after a series of mysterious events. That’s $36 million when adjusted for inflation and double the acreage, not including the value of features like Plum Island’s circa-1869 lighthouse. . In the meantime, Plum Island scientists forge ahead with their stated mission to protect the $1.5-billion U.S. agricultural industry from the first foot-and-mouth in cattle since ’29. Gruesome Find Stirs Memories of Montauk Monster, Harsh Rebukes of Zeldin After Attack on Capitol, HVAC Tech Accused of Stealing Over $100,000 in Jewelry, Efforts to Help Family of Woman Killed in Hit-and-Run, Covid Cases Push Back the Start of Track, Swimming, and Bowling Seasons, Plan to Repave Part of Route 27 in Montauk. And some claim that a top Nazi virologist helped the U.S. Army develop biological weapons after World War II before the Department of Agriculture took over the original lab in the 1950s. On Dec. 20 President Trump signed a bill into law temporarily halting the sale of Plum Island via auction for at least one more year. The fast-spreading infection effectively makes livestock lame. The beach is a popular surfing spot at Rheinstein Estate Park owned by the town of East Hampton. Coleman revisited it in a 2009 episode of History’s Monster Quest. A 1971 New York Times article described the facility as a "Devil's Island for the deadliest animal disease germs known to man," and described the elaborate security measures. . While general interest and theories on the subject gradually subsided over the last year, it quickly regained momentum this year, after another “Montauk Monster” was found on the beach last month. The original Montauk Monster was found by Jenna Hewitt, Rachel Goldberg, and Courtney Fruin on the beach in front of the Surfside restaurant. A reader reached out to The Star on Thursday with photos of what he said might just be another Montauk Monster, the famously gruesome creature found in Montauk in 2008 that became a viral internet sensation. Experts there regularly test samples that come in what they playfully call a box of chocolates, “because you never know what you’re gonna find.”. You heard it here first. "In general, I was very surprised, shocked, taken off-guard for sure," Mr. Didyk said. Dubbed the “Montauk Monster,” the carcass was that of some sort of stocky quadruped with comparatively thin legs, clawed … Plum Island is referred to in Season 4, Episode 4, "Dawn of the Med", of the show Royal Pains. He's used to seeing dead fish or an occasional seagull carcass, he said, "but this was very different and a first for me." "I continued on walking and the smell worsened," he said in an email. Picture: Jenna Hewitt This creature was named after Montauk, New York, where it washed ashore in 2008. Although it doesn’t sicken humans, diseased meat is barred from entering the food chain. And now for something completely different . He blasts a 2004 book on it by Michael Carroll, but not by name, adding that no photos are allowed of the century-old white structure with a slaughterhouse-style cattle chute for test cows that were penned outside. Explore Plum Island jobs and career resources on Monster. “We still have work to do, we can’t just shut this lab down and wait,” says John Verrico, a DHS spokesman. Thank you for reading . The ferry horn pierces the thick morning fog between Orient Point at the North Fork’s tip and Plum Island, where jet black Great Cormorants perched atop wooden pilings crane their crooked necks to spy visitors aboard the mostly empty boat as it sails into Plum Gut Harbor. The bacteria itself may have been researched there throughout Plum Island's history, but if humans don't know how to create life, then the bacteria had to come from somewhere -- nature. Evan Didyk of Montauk was walking on the beach with his girlfriend, headed west toward where the sand starts to turn into rocks, when they noticed a "faint animal-rotten smell," he said on Friday. "A friend kept the bones. And since the plan includes selling the 843-acre Island to offset the $1.2-billion cost of building a new lab that will research into incurable airborne deadly animal-to-human diseases, beyond Plum Island’s purvue, it couldn’t hurt to dispel the many conspiracy theories that roll ashore. Plum Island, the site of the U.S. Army's Fort Terry from 1879 to 1948, fit that criteria. If you are familiar with the animal that was found on Montauk that have died to the real Montauk Monster then add to that the mystery surrounding the research that was done on Plum Island then you will see how Hunter Shea has crafted a cast pace story about the arrogance of … Conspiracy theorists may focus on this island because it's access is controlled by the Department of Homeland Security. By far one of the most talked about and weirdest incidents in recent years that has fueled such rumors was the discovery of a strange animal carcass that washed up on the beach at Ditch Plains Beach, near Montauk, New York, on July 12, 2008, just about a mere 10 miles from Plum Island. Although a price has not been formally assessed, a billionaire bought nearby Robins Island—about half the size of Plum Island—for $12 million in 1994. Since 1954, the DHS S&T Office of National Laboratories (ONL) Plum Island Animal Disease Center (PIADC) has served as the nation’s premier defense against accidental or intentional introduction of transboundary animal diseases (a.k.a. The Montauk Monster is a pit bull, a dogfighting washout who washed up a Long Island beach. All rights reserved. Art League of Long Island: L.I.’s Masters of Fine Art, Simons Taps Brown As Chair of Setauket-based Renaissance Board After Mixed 2020, Long Island Leaders Push For Better Covid-19 Vaccine Access. In 2008 an unidentified animal carcass washed up on the shores of Montauk, New York. "It became very foul and pungent. Advertisement. Advertisement. He has it in his garage.". The so-called “Montauk Monster” was a carcass supposedly found and photographed by three women on 13 July 2008 in front of the Surfside restaurant on a … GSA officials have reportedly estimated the sale price of the island as up to $80 million, a drop in the bucket of the Kansas lab cost. It makes everything we do possible. 08/25/08 02:21AM Did the secret monster army being bred on Plum Island lose another experimental "marine?" Bloggers jumped on the Plum Island idea. By Friday afternoon Ms. Goldberg had already seen a photo of this "monster." "We just took a pic because it was so odd looking," Ms. Goldberg said. As I'm looking down, I see this hideous, bloated, dead creature. “We didn’t have anything to do with any of those,” Dr. Lawrence Barrett, the lab director who maintains the Montauk Monster was just a decomposing dog, says in his Oklahoma accent, as the tour passes the old lab, called Building 257. She's even heard people talking about it in such far-flung places as Hawaii and Australia. He apparently wasn't the only one making the connection. A Super Prison for Deadly Animal Diseases. People guessed it might be a turtle without its shell, or some equally unlikely freak of nature. While it was ultimately speculated to be a decomposed raccoon, the creature disappeared before any DNA testing could be performed. At first it blended into the surrounding rocks. "I snapped a few pictures and decided to end my walk there, and went on with my day.". Construction is slated to start next year at Plum Island’s replacement, the new National Bio and Agro-Defense Facility, joining four nationwide biosecurity level (BSL) 4 facilities with airlocks, space suits and vacuum rooms designed for researching fatal exotic aerosol-transmitted infections without vaccines, like Ebola. Or maybe you heard it elsewhere first. Plum Island is a BSL 3 lab with similarly stringent protocols that require anyone leaving to shower first, where one scientist set a record of 11 showers in one day. The ferry horn pierces the thick morning fog between Orient Point at the North Fork’s tip and Plum Island, where jet black Great Cormorants perched … Investigations The lab, which last year created a new vaccine that researchers hope will help eradicate foot-and-mouth disease in livestock worldwide, is lifting the veil on their secretive setup as the feds work to move it to Kansas in the coming decade—a plan that has set off a tug-of-war between New York and Midwestern lawmakers. . "As I'm looking down, I see this hideous, bloated, dead creature," said Evan Didyk. Copyright © 1996-2020 The East Hampton Star. In 1954 the United States Department of Agriculture took over a small research facility off the coast of Long Island, New York. And the armed guards pacing the secure facility seem to confirm just about any nefarious rumor you might hear about Plum Island, a government research facility off the shore of New York that intrigues monster hunters, conspiracy theorists, and the merely curious alike. “There’s so much work that goes into getting our food safe,” says Dr. Ferdinand Torres, head of the Foreign Animal Disease Diagnostics Lab at Plum Island. However, the monsters got off Plum Island and swam for Montauk’s shore. . Simons Taps Brown As Chair of Setauket-based Renaissance Board After Mixed... 14 MS-13 Leaders Charged on Long Island With Terrorism, How Long Island’s Congressional Reps Voted in Impeachment Debate. (Side note: AC/DC’s Black Ice album has a song called War Machine, and I couldn’t help but think of these monsters eating people to the tune of Angus and Malcolm Youngs’ … Plum Island & The Montauk Monster. We value you for being part of The Star family. A team of investigators unravels the mystery of a strange alien-like creature that washed up on the shores of Montauk, Long Island, in 2008. TV naturalist Jeff Corwin weighed in. Location: Orient Point, NY. ", As for the original? Many conspiracy theorists have a negative attitude towards centralized government, I.E the government planned 9/11. The story began on July 23, 2008, with an article in the newspaper The Independent. Sign up for our COVID-19 newsletter to stay up-to-date on the latest coronavirus news throughout New York. The two had been searching for driftwood to take home, but around 3 p.m. they found something completely different: a dead, decomposing creature of unknown origin. montauk monster Plummeting into Plum Island’s Dark Past. This thing, this "creature" is a mutation from Plum island, no question about it! Modern labs nullified the remote island security strategy—requiring in severe cases that animals be rushed in by helicopter—although doubts persist about the wisdom of building such a lab in tornado alley, despite protections. He recalled the Montauk Monster from popular news reports in July of 2008, when images of a grotesque beast drew speculation that it was an escaped Plum Island Animal Disease Research Center resident, or the outcome of the Montauk Project time travel experiments, or the subject of one of many other conspiracy theories. Cottage, 2 Bedrooms -2.5 Baths, (Sleeps 4) - $271 avg/night - Newbury - Amenities include: Internet, Air Conditioning, Fireplace, TV, Satellite or cable, Washer & Dryer, Children Welcome, Parking, No Smoking, Heater Bedrooms: 2 Sleeps: 5 Bookable directly online - Book vacation rental 116140 with Vrbo. The widespread circulation of photos of the Montauk Monster, an unidentified animal that washed up on the beach at Montauk, not far from Plum Island, has increased the conspiratorial curiosity about what bizarre oddities may be contained on that island, or maybe not so well-contained.You can view the creature in the attached photo. But, just before DHS and the General Services Administration (GSA) published Aug. 29 their “record of decision,” a final step before an eventual sale, Town of Southold officials blocked any possibility of Plum Island Estates by zoning most of the island as a preservation district, except for the lab, which they hope to interest other researchers in using. August 6, 2017 August 6, 2017 Ash 3 Comments. When the carcass of an unidentified animal was found on a Long Island beach a few years ago, it became popularly known as the Montauk Monster, and local residents said it … Attempts to debunk the carcass were made by calling it a prop for the 2009 movie "Splinterheads", but this was never confirmed. But for years, Plum Island has been the subject of the kind of conspiracy theories the Internet loves: that the government concocted Lyme disease … Proposing the island’s conservation in Congress was U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) and Rep. Tim Bishop (D-Southampton). “Plum Island is one of the natural treasures of the Northeast,” Bishop said last month of seals, terns and other endangered wildlife living amid overgrown defunct Spanish-American War-era Fort Terry military installations. When he’s not editing, getting hassled by The Man or fielding cold calls to the newsroom, he covers crime, general interest and political news in addition to reporting longer, sometimes investigative features. A friend spotted it on social media and sent her a screenshot. Plum Island’s supposed purpose was to protect farmers, ranchers and our national food supply from animal pathogens. After passing through barbed-wire fences, being searched by Department of Homeland Security (DHS) agents, agreeing not to photograph secure areas and signing affidavits promising to “avoid contact with cattle, sheep, goats, deer and…swine for…5 days,” a small pack of journalists—including this reporter, who first requested a tour years ago—board a navy blue school bus for the two-minute ride to the Plum Island Animal Disease Center. His specialty in the Third Reich was virus and vaccine research. It has been nicknamed “the Montauk Monster”. The current lab, which opened two decades ago, keeps the animals inside to avoid a potential outbreak blowing in the wind. The photo they took made its way around the world, and even 12 years later the women still get calls about it, Ms. Goldberg said by text on Friday. Brain Candy Find all the information you need to land a job in Plum Island and build a career. Whether you are an online subscriber, get the paper in the mail, delivered to your door in Manhattan, or are just passing through, every reader counts. Best Of Long Island. Plum Island's Secret Past Although the origins of Plum Island are shrouded in secrecy, investigations have revealed the startling fact that, in the 1950s, the lab was run by a German scientist named Erich Traub, who was brought to America after the Second World War. Your subscription to The Star does more than get you great arts, news, sports, and outdoors stories. The Plum Island jobs and career resources on Monster. Explore Plum Island has popularity. 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