Montauk Monster Mystery Not Solved, Web Sites Rejoice

Dan Frommer | August 7, 2008 10:15 AM

montauk-monster.jpgNo one knows what the Montauk Monster is -- a dead raccoon, a viral marketing ploy, whatever -- but it's definitely found an audience.

Hitwise says "montauk monster" and "monster of montauk" were two of the top 10 fastest-growing Web search terms last week -- no. 2 and no. 8, respectively. The only faster-moving search term was "earthquake" -- the monster beat "cuil," "big brother 10," "comcast," etc.

Meanwhile, Gawker's first post on the beast from last Tuesday has blown past 1.3 million pageviews, which, at Gawker's $5-per-1,000-views July pay rate, has scored writer Richard Lawson a cool $6,500. It also helped site owner Nick Denton rack up a new monthly record.

hitwise-chart-aug7.jpg

See Also:
Gawker's Nick Denton To LA Times: I Scoff At Your Puny Web Site
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People.com: Gawker, Bloggers Won't Kill Us Because Our News Is True-er

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23 Comments

Well, now I'm curious. What is it?
No one knows! But keep clicking!
Joseph Weisenthal (URL) said:
What explains the spike in interest for an obsolete calendar?
That's puzzling, isn't it? Because if you search for "julian calendar" the results are pretty meager. Anyone?
Adam said:
Al Gore was right! It's man-bear-pig!!
Will said:
It's a snapping dog-turtle. They're all over Montauk.
ennaprobably said:
its a raccoon, NOT a dog, dogs dont have those types of paws! and its not a turtle, turtles dont have teeth1
Ashley said:
It's a Skeksis! See the resemblance?
TCP (URL) said:
Sorry for the confusion, but you're all wrong. That's just my mother in law working on her tan.
jenkins said:
It looks like a good old american hoax to me.
LFerguson (URL) said:
Mystery solved: http://tvlampsnbulbs.com/2008/08/montauk-monster-mysterysolved/
christo said:
Looks a lot like Citron's wife.
LFerguson, that is a very, very meta comment.
justin said:
its hind end looks like a fried chicken and appears offset. its head appears to me to be sculpted and paws are like stuffed rubber. mmm... it also looks like my boss!
LFerguson (URL) said:
I have to say that this whole thing has been a great indicator on how the web and people using it move around trying to get more and more information.

I comment on a bunch of stories here and had to tip the scales to see what would happen.

I won't make it a habit, at all - just fanning the flame a little. I won't get to a million, but it's amazon to see how one topic can dominate the web with so many people that don't know what it is.

I asked people from New York if they heard about it, who grew up near the South Shore of LI and nothing - I almost didn't want to ruin the surprise for them.
Jonathan Maberry (URL) said:
I had a similar experience with an unknown animal. A few years ago my wife and I took pictures of a strange dog-like animal in New Hope, PA. A few months later a news story broke about an animal the reporter (J D Mullane) dubbed the 'Yardley Yeti'. Apparently others had seen it, too, include ABC reporter Don Polec.

I knew the police chief in that area so I emailed him the pics that we'd taken. They were posted in the papers, online (Cryptomundo has some), and were featured in a segment of Don Polec's world.

Leading theory was that it was a red fox with mange; though two vets and an exotic animals expert from a local zoo said that it wasn't a fox and that they didn't know what it was.

We still don't know, and sightings continue.

Jonathan Maberry
Multiple Bram Stoker Award winning author
Co-Creator/Consulting Producer ON THE SLAB (ABC Disney)
www.jonathanmaberry.com
www.myspace.com/jonathan_maberry
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arnold (URL) said:
Montauk Monster Mystery Not Solved, Web Sites Rejoice642-373You can't do that! Crazy. I don't like scary and violent movies. There's too much blood and gore.
vonda (URL) said:
640-802 Have a heart. Think it over.
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