The Kessingland Sea Serpent
Over many years there have been reports of a "serpent-like" creature sighted off the east coast of England at Kessingland, just south of Lowestoft, in Norfolk. The earliest written report appeared in The Gentleman's Magazine in their December 1750 issue:
"The creature was about five feet long from what could be viewed of it above the water, with a head like a dog and a beard like a lion. The skin was spotted like that of a leopard. It passed in a leisurely fashion, finally disappearing beneath the waves to the great amazement of all those watching from the shore..."
In the mid-1800s there were persistent accounts of "a creature with a head such as a serpent might have with humps behind." The most dramatic and well-documented account concerns the reported sighting by the daughter of Sir Henry Rider Haggard, the celebrated author of King Solomon's Mines, who was born in Norfolk and spent much time at Kessingland where he owned Kessingland Grange.
Rider Haggard, whilst working on a novel at his home in nearby Ditchingham, received the following letter from his daughter Lilias, dated 20th July 1912:
"We had a great excitement here this evening, and we are convinced we saw a sea serpent! I happened to look up when I was sitting on the lawn, and saw what looked like a thin, dark line with a blob at one end, shooting through the water at such a terrific speed it hardly seemed likely that anything alive could go at such a pace. It was some way out over the sandbank, and travelling parallel with the shore. I tore into the morning room and got the glasses and though it had at that moment nearly vanished in the distance we could make out it had a sort of head at one end and then a series of about 30 pointed blobs which dwindled in size as they neared the tail. As it went along it seemed to get more and more submerged and then vanished. You can't imagine the pace it was going. I suppose it was about 60 feet long."
Rider Haggard rushed to Kessingland Grange - his daughter was known to be a level-headed girl - and her story was confirmed by the cook and the gardener.
Having travelled extensively, Rider Haggard had experienced the "fantastic" in many forms, and decided to write to the Eastern Daily Press to tell the story and seek further information. On Wednesday 24th July 1912 the paper duly printed the original letter from Lilias to her famous father, together with this note from Rider Haggard himself:
"Sir - In the hope that it may elicit an explanation, I enclose a portion of a letter received from my daughter who is staying at my house, Kessingland Grange, near Lowestoft. May I ask: (1) Has anybody else seen a peculiar creature in the sea off the East Coast? and (2) Could what my daughter and her two companions saw have been a school of porpoises travelling at a great rate?"
Beyond confirmation from some correspondents of the existence of the legend itself, no further information was forthcoming.
In August 1923 a survey ship, H M Kellett, was taking observations off the Norfolk coast when Captain F E B Haselfoot and the navigator Lt Commander R M Southern observed a startling occurence. Captain Haselfoot wrote:
"The time was about 9 am. It was a summer day and the weather was calm and clear. I am not sure wether the sun was actually shining. I then observed rising out of the water about 200 yards from the ship, a long, serpentine neck, projecting from six or seven feet above the water. I observed this neck rising out of the water twice, and it remained up, in each case, for four or five seconds. Viewing with the naked eye only, I could not make out precisely what the head was like."
In July 1978 a holidaymaker walking on Kessingland beach was moved to write (although he asked to remain anonymous) to the East Anglian Magazine:
"The sea was quite calm when my attention was suddenly drawn to what I can only say looked like the head of a seal on a long neck sticking up out of the water. There seemed to be some humps behind the head, but the creature only remained visible for a matter of a few seconds before diving beneath the surface. I would be inclined to think that I had imagined everything if I had not read the story of the Kessingland Sea Serpent."
