Bold man retrieves the "monster" from the river. The "water monster" swims in the river and draws a crowd of onlookers.
At around 9:00 AM on August 14, 2009, a mysterious black object over a meter long appeared in the Shijiazhuang irrigation channel near the intersection of Hebei Province's National Highway 307 and Changsheng North Street in Gaocheng, drawing hundreds of spectators. As the river flowed eastward, this mysterious object floated up and down, moving slowly upstream. This strange phenomenon sparked much speculation among the onlookers.
>> On-site Report
>> Guesses about Water Pollution
At 1 PM on August 14, despite it being lunch break, over a hundred people were still gathered on the bridge over Changsheng North Street in Gaocheng City. About 20 meters west of the bridge, a black object over a meter long was floating on the dark green water surface. It would dive headfirst into the water, creating ripples that spread out as it moved.
The reason for attracting so many people was that this mysterious object was moving extremely slowly upstream. According to onlooker Xiao Yang, at around 9:00 AM, the "monster" was active right below the bridge near the northern bank of the river, where even more people had gathered, filling the entire bridge. However, no one knew who had spotted it first.
When reporters arrived, the "monster" had already moved from directly under the bridge to the west side, having traveled only 20 meters in four hours. Unlike the noisy crowd on the shore, the "monster" remained quiet, slowly rising and falling about 5 meters away from the riverbank.
>> Speculation
Could it be a Mutated Species due to Water Pollution?
Xiao Yang mentioned that around 11:00 AM, some brave citizens attempted to retrieve the "monster" from the water but could only get within a meter of the riverbank before the water reached their necks. After that, the onlookers dared not enter the water, with some even shouting warnings that the "monster" might bite and that the unseen part underwater was frightening.
As more and more people gathered, mothers with children, young men heading to work, and even taxi drivers stopped to see what was happening. Everyone speculated about what the "monster" could be. Some said the severe water pollution, evident from the dark green water, might have caused a common species to mutate, similar to the creature in the movie "The Host." Others suggested it might be a mutated snake.
>> Truth
Retrieved from the River
Just a Broken Belt
At around 1:30 PM, a young man borrowed a long rope from a nearby store, tied an iron hook onto it, and attempted to retrieve the "monster." However, he accidentally dropped the hook into the river due to his nervousness, causing laughter among the crowd.
At 1:47 PM, a man in his forties suddenly descended the riverbank and used a rope that had previously fallen into the river to retrieve the iron hook and start fishing for the "monster" again. After five attempts, the "monster" was finally hooked and brought ashore.
Even though this man was bold, he only lightly touched the "monster" before quickly pulling his hand back to ensure it wouldn't bite him. Once confirmed safe, he loudly exclaimed to those on the bridge and shore, "What is this? Just a broken belt..."
Once the "monster" was brought ashore, it turned out to indeed be just a belt, black, over two meters long, lying limp and wet on the ground. Despite its harmless state, none of the onlookers dared to step on it.
>> Expert Opinion
Possibly a Joke Played by Fluid Dynamics
"Is it really just a belt?" Mr. Zhang, who had been observing for over half an hour, couldn't believe it. "I clearly saw it wriggling and swimming upstream."
Many of the onlookers shared Mr. Zhang's view. How could they be wrong with what they saw? Such a light belt should have drifted downstream with the current.
A teacher from the Physics Department of Hebei Normal University believed this might be related to fluid dynamics. Although the water flows eastward, different sections of the river may form vortices or turbulence due to terrain factors, combined with wind direction, which could result in the belt slowly moving upstream. However, without seeing the actual situation, this was merely a hypothesis. (Reported by Hebei Youth Daily)