Алтамаха-ха

## Мифология

В фольклоре штата Джорджии Алтамаха-ха является легендарным существом, предположительно обитающее во множестве небольших ручьев и заброшенных рисовых полей вблизи устья реки Алтамаха на юго-востоке Джорджии. О наблюдениях особенно сообщается в окрестностях Дариена и в других местах округа Макинтош. Согласно The Brunswick News, легенда уходит корнями в фольклор народов Маскоги.

Это странное существо описывается как имеющее тело, похожее на осетра, с костным гребнем на вершине. С передними ластами и без задних конечностей, оно плавает как дельфин и имеет морду крокодила, с большими выпуклыми глазами и большими острыми зубами. Его окраска бывает серой или зеленой с беловато-желтым низом живота. Отчеты показывают, что его длина составляет 6-9 метров, хотя некоторые утверждали, что видели более мелких или более крупных существ, что позволяет предположить, что Альтамаха-ха не одинок.

Хотя никаких физических доказательств существования Альтамаха-ха найдено не было, легенды датируются столетиями, когда индейцы описывали гигантское змееподобное существо, которое шипело и ревело.

### Наблюдения

One of the first non-native reports of the creature was on April 18, 1830, when a correspondent of the Savannah Georgian newspaper reported multiple sightings of a sea monster on the Georgia coast. The primary eyewitness was a Captain Delano of the schooner Eagle, who reported seeing a large creature off of St. Simons Island below the mouth of the Altamaha River. His description stated that it was about 70 feet long, its circumference about the size of a barrel, and its head resembled that of an alligator. Five other men on the schooner also reported having seen the monster, as well as several planters on St. Simons Island.

In the 1920s timbermen riding the river reported sighting a large snakelike water monster and in 1935, a group of hunters spotted what they called a “giant snake” swim through the river. In the 1940s, boy scouts reported seeing the creature, as well as two officials from the Reidsville State Prison from the 1950s.

In 1969 when two brothers were fishing on the Altamaha River at Clark’s Bluff they reported seeing an animal that they first thought was a sturgeon, but quickly changed their mind when they got a better look. Stating that it measured about 10-12 feet long, with a snout like an alligator, and a horizontal tail. They also described the creature as having a triangular ridge along the top of its body, sharp pointed teeth and being gun-metal gray in color.

In the summer of 1980 two men reportedly saw Altamaha-ha stranded on a mud bank near Cathead Creek. They reported that the animal was lying half way in the water, thrashing and trying to free itself from the bank. They described it as being dark-colored with rough skin and about 20 feet long. While watching, the creature freed itself, submerged and disappeared.

Later that year, in December 1980, another man reported having seen what he thought was Altamaha-ha in Smith Lake. His description said the animal was 15-20 feet long, snake-like with two brown humps that protruded from the water, and left behind a wake like that of a speedboat.

Another report in the 1980s described by a crab fisherman stated the creature looked like “the world’s biggest eel”.

A more recent report in 2002 was by a man pulling a boat up the river near Brunswick who reported seeing something over 20 feet in length and six feet wide break the water. In 2010, an amateur photographer captured video of something strange swimming in the channel off Fort King George Historic Site in Darien.