The Great Sea Serpent in the Illustrated Press

Record summary

During the nineteenth century, illustrated newspapers, natural-history books and public lectures transformed scattered sea-serpent reports into a recognizable international folklore figure. Images, taxonomic speculation and recurring witness templates helped stabilize the “great sea serpent” as both a scientific possibility and a sensational entertainment subject. This lead matters for comparing how legends acquire visual conventions and apparent evidential weight. It should be investigated through named publications and specific cases, since the craze was not one event or a unified belief system.