I’ve been back to the beach of the glowing orb several times since that curious incident, and I’d almost decided that whatever strangeness had infected the beach had disappeared... until my most recent visit. One morning as my parents and I walked along the beach boardwalk, we noticed what looked like a wet spot in the middle of dry sand, almost like an oasis, far enough in that the tide never came close to it. Curious, we walked over to the spot and saw there was water bubbling up, like a tiny natural fountain or a small geyser shooting up to create a tiny pond. Where was the water coming from? Perhaps there was an underground stream? But wouldn't that simply create a small inlet from the nearby lake? So what was going on under the sand? More curious than ever, I kicked sand into the bubbling hole... and all of a sudden not only did the bubbling water stop but in a matter of seconds the water was sucked back underground and the entire hole was now just a spot of slightly moist sand. I suddenly felt like I'd destroyed something in the sand without even understanding what it was. I looked at the drying sand with some concern. I looked at my parents, who seemed equally amazed. It was like it had never happened. We silently stood over the now normal-looking sand, stunned, wondering what we had just seen.
As we debated the possibilities, suddenly my mom said, "Wait -- do you hear that?" We stopped talking, and sure enough, there was a faint gurgling sound coming from under the sand... and then a belching sound... and then the water abruptly burst out again and started bubbling. It was as if whatever was under there had just been reborn....
My parents and I backed away from the eerie site. Discussing it, we came up with no good explanation for the disappearing/ reappearing water oasis in the middle of a sandy beach next to a huge lake.
The next day on our beach walk, we were sure the spot would have disappeared. Yet over the next week, we visited the hole numerous times, and it was always there, as we watched it spontaneously start to gurgle and fill up, then just as quickly empty and dry out. The sequence never stopped; the hole would always bubble for a couple minutes, then stop and empty out within seconds, then stay silent for a couple minutes... and then bubble up again. It was fascinating to watch... but also bizarre and a bit disturbing.
As we checked the beach hole each day, things got a bit more unsettling. One morning while taking a walk, I noticed that there were seagull feathers scattered around the water hole and on a nearby giant stick. Imagining the worst for the seagull whose feathers I was looking at, I plunged the stick down into the hole to see what I could feel. When the hole was not bubbling full of water, the sand felt the same as moist sand anywhere -- if you pushed a stick into it, the stick wouldn't go too far down without significant force. But as soon as the bubbling started, there seemed to be a distinct sucking force, and the stick plunged four or five inches down before hitting a bottom. Experimenting, we dropped numerous rocks in -- the biggest we could find -- and they were all sucked down, disappearing completely without leaving a trace. There was no little mound building in the sand -- no evidence at all that there were numerous rocks buried under the surface. When we tried to dig them out again during the dry minutes... we couldn't find them. And we never found any clues to the whereabouts of the seagull who had once been attached to all those feathers.
Over the course of the week, several people saw us watching the water spout hole and throwing in rocks. Almost everyone was fascinated by the strange sight, and no one offered any explanation. In fact, one young woman became more fascinated than we were, and as we walked away, we could see her taking videos on her iPhone for as long as she was still within view -- so long, in fact, that her boyfriend wandered off and left her to herself. She didn't seem to mind (or notice). She had fallen down the rabbit hole and was wrapped up in the mystery of the beach alien creature beneath the sand....
What exactly is under that gurgling pond? Is there a river? Is there a monster? Is there a pile of seagulls? Is there a passage to the center of the earth? Is there a glowing orb? Is there an alien from said glowing orb who breathes a mixture of air, sand, and water? One thing is certain: Neither we nor any of the many other beach people who were entranced by the sight of the endlessly appearing and disappearing spring in the sand ventured hands, feet, or (in the case of any more seagulls) feathers anywhere near that eerie mystery hole.
So here's some video of the gurgling, belching beach monster. Maybe next time I visit that beach I'll take my shovel to dig deeper into both the very strange beach hole and this horror/ alien/ mystery story. After all, not very distant from this Great Lakes beach, there is a small inland lake supposedly inhabited by a sea monster where decades-old stories tell of children mysteriously disappearing, never to be seen again.... Perhaps the monster relocated?
Video of the complete cycle:
The beach monster sucking up an offering of rocks:
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