Turn-of-the-century newspaper reports share an eye-opening tale of a 'sea serpent' said to be lurking in the waters of the St Joseph River near Union City in south-central Michigan.

Shared by the Union City Society of Historic Preservation and again by the Union City, MI Facebook pages, the St Joseph Serpent sightings of 1904 were based upon,

A creature [...] sighted at least 25 length in feet was seen in the St. Joseph river at various times. This frightened villagers so much that they would not go out at night. They scouted and patrolled the river banks for days.

The newspaper article, which is uncredited, says that on December 5 of that year residents of High Street, which runs one block north of the river in downtown Union City, spotted the creature and it was the second appearance of the creature which was seen years before.

It was also seen downstream near Sherwood. At points in the river where the water was shallow, the creature was said to have half of its body out of the water and plainly seen above the stream.

Appreciate the prose of this reporter:

A whale is said to be rusticating in the placid waters of the Se Jopseh River near Union City and Sherwood, and he has scared the life half out of a dozen fishermen who caught glimpses of the monster.

A commenter on Facebook has a plausible explanation,

Most likely what they saw was a sturgeon. A 240 lb sturgeon was recorded in 2021 that was estimated to be over 100 years old

That fish was caught in and promptly released back to the Detroit River (which is a strait, by the way, not a river). Smithsonian Magazine reported it was the largest of the species ever recorded.

You're not likely to keep a giant sturgeon or mysterious sea creature as a pet. You can't keep these animals either.

LOOK: Here are the pets banned in each state

Because the regulation of exotic animals is left to states, some organizations, including The Humane Society of the United States, advocate for federal, standardized legislation that would ban owning large cats, bears, primates, and large poisonous snakes as pets.

Read on to see which pets are banned in your home state, as well as across the nation.

Gallery Credit: Elena Kadvany

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