The Montauk Monster refers to a strange, hairless carcass that washed ashore on a beach near Montauk, New York, in July 2008. The creature's bizarre appearance, featuring what looked like a beak and clawed paws, immediately sparked wild conspiracy theories involving government experiments at the nearby Plum Island Animal Disease Center. While paleontologists and zoologists eventually identified the specimen as a decomposing raccoon that had lost its hair and soft tissue in the water, the image became one of the first truly viral digital mysteries of the late 2000s. In modern meme culture, the Montauk Monster is frequently used as a visual shorthand for looking disheveled, feeling 'built different,' or as a reaction to bizarre and unsettling situations.