Unseasonal storms had all but blown away by the time that the former Lord Mayor of
Norwich, a London MP and their friend went for a stroll on Eccles beach in Norfolk just three
years before the outbreak of World War Two.
It was a peaceful evening as they walked along the sands – until, that is, a sea serpent
appeared travelling at incredible speed.
In a letter to the local newspaper on August 6 1936, Herbert Witard – who had been Mayor
in 1927 – noted that he, Labour MP Charles Ammon and Archibald Gossling, a British trade
unionist and Labour politician, had been standing on Eccles-on-Sea Beach at 7.25pm the
night before when they noticed an “unusual form travelling swiftly about one mile from the
shore”.
He added: “Looking at it from a distance, it appeared to be a form of a huge serpent about
30 or 40 feet in length and skimming the surface of the water in a wormlike movement but
travelling at a terrific speed, certainly not less than one mile a minute.”
An intrepid reporter probed for more.
“I am positive,” said Mr Witard, “that what we saw was a sea serpent. We were all on the
beach together on Wednesday evening when we saw the creature and it was a perfectly
clear evening…this creature looked like a huge snake. Its action in swimming was wormlike
and not the roll of a porpoise.
“Its speed was terrific. I said not less than a mile a minute in my letter, but 90 to 100 miles
an hour is not an exaggerated estimate. I have by me a copy of the Strand magazine for
1895 containing an article on sea serpents. One of the serpents described is exactly like the
one I saw. It disappeared very quickly on the skyline in the direction of Happisburgh.”
Mr Witard’s sighting was given further credence by Wroxham man Colin King: “Undoubtedly
this accounts for what we saw on Wednesday afternoon. I was sitting with my wife and
daughter on the sandhills at Eccles when I pointed out to them a black snake or wormlike
object travelling at a terrific speed on the surface of the water, about half a mile or so out,
going in the direction of Happisburgh.
“The time we saw it was between 2 and 3pm, and as Mr Witard saw it at 7.15pm, I have
been wondering if there were more than one or if this creature is still in the vicinity.”
HE Witard wrote again on August 11 to answer his critics: “Sir – I am more than interested
to learn that several of your correspondents are certain the sea serpent seen by my friends
and myself was not really a sea serpent at all, but just a flight of birds, a shoal of porpoises,
or it may have been just a flight of our own imaginations.
“There seems to be ample evidence of the existences of such a monster…two and half years
on the sea gave me many opportunities of watching the habits of porpoises, wild ducks and
other birds of flight. It has since been reported to me by friends of mine that they saw a
similar monster off the Eccles Coast a day or two previous to it being seen by me. Perhaps
we are like the man who saw the giraffe for the first time and said ‘there bean’t no such
animal’.”
Another sighting of a five-humped creature in the sea at Mundesley added fuel to the
flames and even more perplexing was this anonymous letter sent to the paper: “…It is also
very interesting that this should have been seen off Eccles, as it was only last year that I had
occasion to be at Eccles on business when my attention was called to a body that had been
washed up by the sea. I made a close inspection of this, and although part of the tail was
missing, it was of considerable length and had a fish-like body, yet with the bones of an
animal and small feathers on the neck, and also a long, thick tail similar to that of a
crocodile. I think I am right in saying that this body was buried somewhere on the beach at
Eccles.”
Entrepreneurial souls at Edward Bush in Norwich were quick to capitalise on the mysterious
sighting, taking out an advertisement in the paper: “Sea Serpent at Eccles? Pay a visit to
Eccles on Sea. You cannot be sure you will see The Sea Serpent, but you can be sure of
seeing THE BUSH ESTATE – carefully panned seaside estate with attractive, well-built
bungalows…even the monster was interested in the Bush Estate…”
But after less than a fortnight of lively exchanges in the letters section, the paper’s editor
decided to put an end to the monstrous debate: “This correspondence is now closed,” said a
curt note to the last letter published.
Is the creature still at large above the mostly-sunken village of Eccles? And just what were
three prominent and politically-active men talking about on a deserted beach that night
between the wars?
You can listen to our podcast about the Eccles Sea Serpent below.
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