![]() ![]() Placyk then sequenced the skin’s mitochondrial genome and found that it belonged to an anaconda-a shocking find that officials announced on August 30. “A lot of people have taken it as a lighthearted thing-kind of like our Loch Ness monster.”Īs media buzz grew, Westbrook officials sent a sample of the snakeskin off to John Palcyk, a biologist at the University of Texas at Tyler, for genetic analysis. “It’s kind of picked up steam with each sighting, and the social media thing has been big,” says Westbrook Police Captain Sean Lally. One local brewery even made a special-edition beer in honor of the snake. Clothing stores began selling Wessie-themed shirts. With each sighting, the mystery deepened- and the local community’s fascination with its strange new mascot grew. ![]() And on August 20, a man walking along the Presumpscot River stumbled across the molted skin of a 12-foot-long snake, near the other two sightings. ![]() Soon thereafter, a late-shift police officer patrolling near the first sighting saw a large snake eating a mammal, possibly a beaver. Sightings of the snake began in June, when a woman filed a report with the Westbrook police department claiming to have seen a snake as large as a truck, with a head the size of a basketball. Unauthorized use is prohibited.Ī snakeskin found on a picturesque riverbank in the northeast United States belongs to an anaconda-the latest twist in the baffling story of “Wessie,” a supposedly enormous snake that has become a local legend in the town of Westbrook, Maine.
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