The Return of the Jessie!!

Hey Pond Monster fans!!

A few months ago there was some cleanup of the pond by a robot, which turned up some really interesting and smelly stuff, apparently.

The night before the cleanup, members of JPMONS went out in a small boat and played some pond monster warning noises through our underwater speaker.  Early that morning, around 2:30 a.m., we tracked a large, furry object headed out of the pond and towards Brookline. We think he went over to Sargent Pond, although the owners of the property didn't want us setting up any monitoring equipment (side note, please respect their privacy).  We didn't say anything at the time, because we didn't want people wandering around private property, although you may have wondered why the clean-up robot didn't see Jessie.

Anyway, from what we can tell J hung out in Sargent Pond for most of the summer, with some brief visits to the Charles River Reservation in Newton and perhaps farther afield.

But home is where the heart is! We knew J'd be back sooner rather than later, and late last night, Cam 4 picked up some activity on the Brookline-facing side of the pond. Two late-night dog walkers also saw something plopping back into the pond at around the same time.

So, the JPMONS Science Committee had a brief Skype meeting this morning, and we decided to make the official declaration that Jessie is back!

Keep your eyes open! 

Okay, you got us...

....and Jessie is in fact not an escaped mutant robotic pool cleaner.

On a more serious note, people have been wondering what happened to us because of our month-long absence. Unfortunately, I don't have any good answers. With all of the attention we received in February and early March, the Society got a little overwhelmed. We are new to social media, and I don't think many of us knew how to respond.

There was also an explosion of people looking for Jessie, which resulted in fewer recorded sightings than any year in the last 30. We were a little worried that all of that attention was having a negative effect on Jessie, so we thought a little break would do him or her good as well.

Please stay tuned to further updates, and please don't approach Jessie if you see him in the "wild!"

Jessie Revealed as Hoax!

Sorry for the long long absence! But we have some news. Jessie has been revealed, and he is:

What happens to Jessie if the pond freezes over?

Many people have asked recently, upon noticing a thin layer of ice covering Jamaica Pond, how Jessie is able to survive in the pond in the winter. This is a great question -- thanks for asking!

The main thing to keep in mind is that Jessie probably doesn't actually live full-time in the pond. Surely she spends a good deal of her time there, eating aquatic plants, sneaking up and surprising ducks and geese, searching for a mate, and so on.  As we will soon reveal our own theory as to what Jessie is, I don't want to give too much away, but we're pretty sure that Jessie has a layer, den, or lodge somewhere not in the pond -- probably in the woods in the Emerald Necklace or over the town line in Brookline nearby. So if the pond is completely frozen over, Jessie probably is just bored, not in danger.

In addition, if the ice is not too thick, he can easily break through, coming in and and coming out. There are also plenty of spots around the pond where there isn't an ice cover. However, it's probably no coincidence that many of our Jessie sightings in the winter are not actually in or directly around the pond. Due to the warm winter, this year is a bit of an exception, but in general the in-pond reports are positively correlated with temperature.

Hope that helps!

Traducción a Español

Muy importante: Si prefiere, puede presentar sus historias de Jessie,  el Monstruo de Jamaica Pond, en Español. Tambien,  si necesitas un traducción de una historia en El Blog del Jessie, escribirme o dejar un mensaje aqui. Tendra que tolerar mi pinche acente Angelino/ Alta-californiano... disculpas de adelantado. 

Updates from yesterday's dramatic rescue

Hi folks! Two updates from yesterday's events were passed along to us:

1) The Wildlife Defense Fund points out that the turkeys were here first. Our response? Possibly. We're pretty sure Jessie was here first. But the turkeys are wild animals and also deserve respect. Just keep your distance and a hand on your blunderbuss. It's never too early to start grocery shopping for Thanksgiving.

2) Sarah Chang wrote to us to say that yesterday evening she left out a plate of fried Mars bars that she got from the Haven in JP and hot chocolate from City Feed... and in the morning they were gone! Unfortunately they weren't left in view of  Jessie Cam, so we don't have a video for you.

Jessie rescues woman from flock of aggressive turkeys

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Well folks, this is actually a first! It looks like Jessie is back from hiding...


Jamaica Plain woman rescued by mysterious Pond Monster
Sandy Bernstrom
Feb 7, 2012
Boston Daily Crier


When walking around in an urban park you expect to run across some perils -- criminals, aggressive stroller pushers, joggers with rabies .... but not a gang of wild turkeys. The turkey gang, who have been harassing pedestrians and motorists in Brookline for years, have made their way into the Emerald Necklace.

This morning, Sarah Chang, 33, of Jamaica Plain was out for a jog at around 7:00 near Jamaica Pond. She turned a corner in the path and ran head on with the wild turkey gang. "I was frozen, and they surrounded me, I didn't know what to do. I mean .... turkeys?"

The turkeys closed in on Sarah and began aggressively bobbing their heads towards her. "They had a mean look in their eyes, I could tell they wanted blood," Ms. Chang said. "I thought I was a gonner. I wish I had never switched to turkey bacon."

But she had a hidden hero. "All of a sudden, I heard movement in the bushes ... a lot of movement. Then there was this loud grunt. Something came running really fast out of the bushes and right towards the leader of the turkey gang. The turkeys started running in all directions and I took off as fast as I could down the path."

Who or what was Ms. Chang's cryptic savior? Though it may be hard for some to believe, the creature may have been the famed Jamaica Pond Monster, Jessie for short, that is believed to inhabit the pond. The president of the Jamaica Pond Monster Observation Naturalist Society (JPMONS), Jonah Elwin, thinks it was. "It looks like her observations match up with almost every other description we have about Jessie." What is new, however, is Jessie's apparent willingness to come to the aid of a human in trouble. "It's not that Jessie has ignored people in distress in the past, it's more likely that this is the first time he or she was around when it happened." But Mr. Elwin advises people to not count on Jessie for a rescue in the future. "Mrs. Chang really got lucky," he said.

Ms. Chang got one last look. "After I had gotten away, I looked back and saw a big brown, furry animal slipping into the water. I just wish there was a way to thank it." Mr. Elwin said Jessie appreciates hot chocolate, saag paneer, and fried Mars bars.

Boston Park Rangers said they are looking into the turkey gang, and advise people to keep on the lookout and not approach them.