Some of you will recall how sometime in early August of last year a mysterious corpse washed up on the shore near Plum Island, MA, USA. After much debate, most scientifically-minded people came to the consensus that it wast most likely a raccoon corpse.

Well, Kitty, who was the first to bring us the original Montauk Monster, has stayed on the beat, and she brings us the next mystery corpse.

Like I said in my first post, I make it a point not to post photos of most vertebrate corpses. But this one is of scientific (and sensational) interest. This new monster was found in Southold, NY, USA, very close to the original monster.

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Nicky Papers, the owner and operator of the Montauk Monster website, is looking for buyers of his original photographs, since, as the default expert on this particular monster, he was called to the site on the eve of the monster's discovery and took the photos himself. He even has access to the carcass, and would like to sell it to an independent lab to confirm is monstrous origins. He would like you to purchase his monster-related merchandise. He's looking for legitimate media coverage, and he's looking for theories. He seems particularly to like ideas that lean toward conspiracy, government cover-ups, genetic mishaps from Plum Island, or perhaps something that will tap into the recent swine flu craze.

Anyone care to take a stab at this? Is it another raccoon? Dog, pig, bear, alien, demon, secret government experiment?

I tend to apply Occam's Razor to mysteries like this. Most likely it is a simple animal corpse. But I love good conspiracy theories.

UPDATE: Tetrapod Zoology has confirmed that this is yet another raccoon. Thanks for the heads-up, anon3.

Thanks, Kitty.