Throwback Thursday: A sea serpent at the beach?

serpent
Serpent at the beach by Shilshole Bay (1910)/ Photo by Museum of History & Industry

This seafaring group of men show off their evidence that the waters of Golden Gardens beach are home to the infamous “Ballard Sea Serpent.”

Tales of a sea serpent sighting are often paired with this singular photograph (above), which has became representative of the elaborate Ballard hoax of the early 1900s.

Watch out ladies…

1900
(1900)/ Photo courtesy of Ballard Historical Society

The above photo shows eleven women wading at Golden Gardens in bathing costumes and hats, the beach and forest in background. Bathing costumes are all sailor-collared white tops and long dark skirts; hats mostly broad-brimmed but vary in style.

We doubt the ladies would have had anything to fear considering the “serpent” sure looks a lot like a crafted tree trunk.

Photo by Library of Congress Prints and Photo Archives
(1910)/ Photo by Library of Congress Prints and Photo Archives

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