The many mysteries that have washed up on NJ beaches

A 30-ton whale washed up dead on the beach in Atlantic City. It was a 33-foot humpback discovered around 8 a.m. Saturday. The Marine Mammal Stranding Center which showed up to measure and take samples says they don’t know what killed it. Testing will be done.

It’s the fourth deceased whale in just over a month to wash up on New Jersey beaches and that’s the real mystery. No one is sure why it’s happening. Rick Rickman has a full report. 

Some opponents of offshore wind turbines say it’s the advanced work being done. But that doesn’t account for the fact that this is happening all up and down the east coast not just here in New Jersey.

It’s far from the first mystery to be found on a New Jersey beach. Do you remember the strange skull that was discovered on Memorial Day 2021? To the amateur eye it looked like some extinct dinosaur that was discovered at Island Beach State Park. It turned out to be the lower jaw and skull of a minke whale.

In July of that year hundreds of medical syringes washed up at Monmouth Beach. Beach patrollers plucked dozens of needles out of the sand and warned visitors of the danger. No one was certain where they’d come from but around that time syringes had been washing up from Long Branch to Sandy Hook following several stormy days.

One theory is sewers overburdened by the storms were releasing needles diabetics sometimes flush down toilets, something neither your doctor or plumber would approve of.

How about the mysterious die-off at Harvey Cedars Beach when a massive amount of disgusting dead fish came ashore in September of ‘21.

In 2012 a rocket warhead washed up on the beach in Atlantic City.

In Longport they once found a Prohibition era bottle in the sand. No message inside though. Sorry Police fans.

In 2018 a panic cleared the beach at Seaside Park when a hand grenade was found at the high-tide water line. The beach was evacuated as emergency responders swarmed the scene. It was eventually determined the grenade was a toy, but a very realistic one.

You have a bit over four months until Memorial Day. Start practicing walking and looking down now.

Opinions expressed in the post above are those of New Jersey 101.5 talk show host Jeff Deminski only.

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