‘Snake-like’ sea creature washes up on lake, worries locals

Robert Loerzel spotted the “furry” remains while strolling in the Montrose Beach Dunes in Chicago, Illinois, and has since shared these eerie photos online

Eerie photos show the “furry” remains of a “snake-like” creature washed up on the shores of a lake.

Locals in Chicago, Illinois have been concerned after Robert Loerzel, 55, spotted the mad beast in the Montrose Beach Dunes near Lake Michigan this week.

Describing the sight as “terrifying or frightening,” he shared his gruesome images online to a mixed reception.

Robert, a freelance journalist specializing in the natural world, said today: ‘It was lying on the ground not far from a hiking trail through the dunes.

“I happened to look down at that moment and saw it. I was just fascinated, but I also thought there was something almost horrible or frightening about the appearance of the corpse.

“The body was about two feet long and curled into a shape like the letter U.

“At one end, the skull was about the size of a human fist. The body itself looked very narrow, almost like a snake or an eel.”

“The skin left on the skeleton looked shrunken and almost furry in places.”

Montrose Beach Dunes is an ecosystem on the shores of Lake Michigan, one of North America’s Five Great Lakes. It is about eight miles from downtown Chicago.

Robert, who regularly visits the dunes and neighboring beach, said: “This was just too strange to keep to myself.

“I’ve posted my photos on the iNaturalist app, which I find useful for identifying flora and fauna.

“The app’s artificial intelligence often correctly identifies species, but with these images it was stumped.”

The reporter also shared pictures on social media, where one person called it “a sign of the apocalypse” and another wrote, “I knew Lake Michigan had sea monsters!”

Others likened it to the grisly face-hugger monster from the Alien movie, and one Facebook user said it was “obviously a catfish.”

iNaturalist users suggested the body was that of a burbot, a freshwater fish, but the app recorded no sightings of burbot nearby in Lake Michigan, with the closest being in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, about 80 miles north .

The creature was also found 30 to 40 feet from the water, although Robert says it may have been carried there by another animal.

The burbot, whose appearance has been described as a cross between a catfish and an eel, is found in waters above the 40th parallel.

It is thought to be extinct in Britain, where it was last recorded in 1969, although historically it has been caught here as a food source.

“With all these animal identifications, it’s hard to say exactly when there’s a definitive answer,” Robert said.

“Sometimes you post a photo online and there’s really no argument that it could be anything else just based on how it looks.

“It’s a bit harder to be that definite when you’re dealing with a shriveled, almost skeletal corpse like this.”