If 2001 was the summer of the sharks, then surely 2008 will go down in history as the summer of the monster.

This summer has certainly been a cryptologist's dream, with unidentified monster corpses washing up on the beach in New York, Bigfoot remains found in remote northern Georgia, and live Chupacabras caught on film in Texas.   And while scientists remain skeptical and the doubting Scullies of the world cry hoax, we present to you a breakdown of monster whose and happenings. 

• On July 12, three women found the body of a decomposing animal washed up on the beach near Montauk, New York.  The women photographed the animal and took it home.  The photos ran on July 23 in a local newspaper, The Independent.  They quickly grabbed national attention as people began to speculate what the creature could be.  Theories ranged from a turtle with its shell missing or a creature escaped from the nearby Plum Island Animal Disease Center, to a raccoon with its upper jaw missing. 
  
  As is usually the case with stories like this, things get a little vague.
    The creature that was photographed is now decomposing in the backyard of a friend, or possibly was moved by a friend.  Or was stolen out of the backyard of a friend.  At any rate, the women who photographed it say that they don't have it on them.  Which is probably a good thing.  Because even rotting monsters stink.
  
• On August 8, 2008, a county deputy filmed what some speculate is a chupacabra with the dashboard camera of his police cruiser in Cuero, Texas.  The creature resembles a carcass found in 2007 by Cuero resident Phylis Canion.   Speculation on what the creature may be ranges from a Mexican Hairless Dog to a breed of coyote. 
  
• In early August, a pair of Georgian residents claimed to have found the body of an adult male Bigfoot while walking in the woods in the northern part of their home state.  The duo released pictures of what appeared to be a bigfoot stuffed into a large freezer and said that they, along with Tom Biscardi, would show proof of their find at a press conference on Friday, August 15.  
  
  The press conference was covered live on CNN, during which the men revealed that three different DNA tests had three different results.  The first was inconclusive.  The second was human and the third was opossum.