The Abernacky

ENTRY #601: THE ABERNACKY

 

Kingdom: Monstrum

Order: Carnivora

Status: Unknown

 

From the Celtic aber, meaning "river mouth,” and the German knack, meaning “sharp sounding blow,” the Abernacky is a subaquatic species of monster about which little is known.

 

Believed to reside in deep sea rivers, the Abernacky’s precise anatomy remains contentious among scholars. Ancient Phoenician texts suggest that the Abernacky most closely resembles the giant eel, blind and spineless, with pale, ghostly flesh.

 

The most reliable scholarly research on the Abernacky was recorded at the turn of the 19th century by a team of scientists in Svalbard. The scientists, who were sent to track a pack of peaceful yeti native to the archipelago, were camping along the coast when they were awoken by a “trembling of earth and sea.”

 

According to their logs, the scientists observed a “translucent tower emerge from the horizon, writhing towards the heavens.” The creature extended out of the ocean for what felt like “several breathless minutes," casting a dark shadow over the waves, until its momentum finally slowed, and it dove, arching parabolically, back into the sea.

 

Of particular interest to the startled men was the fact that the creature was never exposed in itsentirely. Its tail remained submerged in water as it stretched skyward, an awe-inspiring, infinite, Escherian horror.

 

The scientists returned the next night, eschewing their assigned task for the new mission of photographing what they’d then determined to be an Abernacky. They secured the help of a local fisherwoman and sailed out at dusk, hoping to encounter the Abernacky at close range.

 

We don’t know much about what happened next. But we do know that they were successful.

 

The local fisherwoman, the sole survivor of the Svalbard Incident, was found washed up on shore the following morning. “Skulle ønske jeg aldri hadde sett den,” was all she would tell the rescue team, a phrase which most closely translates to, “I wish I’d never seen it.”

 

In 2021, Dr. R.K. Vangor, the famed monstrologist, was awarded a grant to explore Earth’s five oceans by submarine in order to update our records of its monsters, the Abernacky among them.

 

“On my voyage, I successfully documented sirens and krakens, megalodons and sea dragons,” Vangor wrote in his papers on the subject. “Not once did I lay eyes on the Abernacky. If such an abominable creature ever existed, it exists no more.”

 

While Vangor’s account has been broadly accepted by the scientific community, an alternative theory has since emerged in an internet chat room for “Abernackthusiasts.”

 

In January 2025, User829, who claimed to have worked as an apprentice on Vangor’s submarine, posted that the ship had, in fact, come into close proximity with an Abernacky when the rAIdar picked up on a signal off the submarine’s bow. Vangor steered the ship forward until a thunderous boom, like the crack of an underwater whip, rattled its hull, its bolts creaking ominously as the crew cowered inside. According to User829, Vangor then turned back, away from the signal, and refused to answer questions about the mysterious sound.

 

Such claims, of course, remain unverified, and User829’s post has since been deleted, their profile wiped clean.