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It's not on any New Jersey tourism maps but there's a lagoon in little Egg Harbor Township that is gaining the attention of folks down the shore. Residents here say the "Blob" you're looking at has been growing over the past couple weeks. It extends about 8-feet wide & some 8-feet deep.

Jay Masterson/LITTLE EGG HARBOR, N.J.:
"If you touch it you release gas and it's very, very foul smelling."


"What's it smell like?"


Betty Bellio/LITTLE EGG HARBOR, N.J.:

"Like rotten eggs."


Frank Dominguez/LITTLE EGG HARBOR, N.J.:
"We never go swimming there."


Ed Dempsey/LITTLE EGG HARBOR, N.J.:
"It's sure going to make the crab taste different."
Department of Environmental Protection officials say preliminary reports show the biological mass is nothing more than an algae or fungi created during the natural occurrence at the end of a life cycle as a system decomposes. Officials are not sure why it's grown as large as it has, but the process appears quite natural. Still it hasn't stopped some folks from wondering. If it's not really the famous sci-fi movie Blob's vacation spot at the Jersey Shore. Back to reality, Jay Masterson has been living here for the last 17 years and has never seen anything like it.

Jay Masterson/LITTLE EGG HARBOR, N.J.:
"It's very colorful...if it weren't disgusting you'd think it's attractive in a way."
Department officials are asking folks not to poke at the mass, even though the U.S. Coast Guard will not be posting warnings buoys around the lagoon.
"Suppose that thing spreads...our lagoon is useless. You can't run your boat through that."
For now, folks here in Little Egg Harbor are going to keep "the Blob" undisturbed, hoping it shrinks on it's own. They have taken to calling it The Blob.

What in the world could it be? That's what folks are asking tonight in in the town of Little Egg Harbor. Here's New Jersey correspondent Anthony Johnson.


When you mention "Blob," what comes to mind is the 1958 movie about a jelly-like substance with a voracious apetite that ravaged the countryside.


But this blob we're talking about was just a baby, bubbling and oozing in the serene water of a lagoon in Little Egg Harbor.


Resident: "Whatever it was was decomposing. And it would form bubbles, and mass, and you could watch them pop."


Resident: "(It looked like) air bubbles, intestines. It smelled like rotten eggs to me. Sulfur."


John Zingis, Clean Up Specialist: "It broke up a little bit, and then when we accessed the bay where there's more tidal influence, we picked up a little bit of speed and the rest of it broke up."


It appears the Blob may have been a mass of dead algae or fungus that had grown in size.


And no one can rule out its return.


Resident: "It was there before, it was there today. There's no reason to believe it won't be there tomorrow. But to what extent, who knows?"



Son of The Blob: Chunk of algae growth lingers in lagoon By MIKE JACCARINO Staff Writer, (609) 978-2010 LITTLE EGG HARBOR TOWNSHIP - In a Steve-McQueen-like bid to vanquish the town's resident horror-movie monster, officials briefly captured The Blob on Monday. The indomitable Blob, however, shortly escaped and returned - in part, at least - to its original abode. The Blob still lurked there, Tuesday, according to Township Administrator Ray Urezzio. "It's smaller now," he said. "Before it was car-size. Now, it's only two feet across." Meanwhile, John Zingis, a private Air-Sea Land Environmental Services scientist toured township waterways Tuesday for signs of other Blobs. He met with Urezzio late in the day. The pair announced nothing. Officials attempted the capture Monday afternoon. Zingis and Urezzio, motorboated to The Blob's location. The Blob dwells in a lagoon in Robert Masterman's backyard. Last week, New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection scientists announced The Blob was algae. But concern lingered. Zingis shotputted a net on the monster, the boat motored and The Blob seemed doomed. But before the First Street Bridge, Urezzio said, The Blob vanished beneath the waves. Later, Urezzio learned The Blob was again lurking in Masterman's backyard. Urezzio trekked there at twilight. After two hours, he found the diminished Blob. "It didn't return," Urezzio declared. "That was just a piece that broke off when we tried to pull The Blob out." The mania persists, regardless. The Daily News, the New York Times and The New York Post all called for comment. Urezzio, harried, appeared on Philadelphia television Monday night. The British Broadcasting Company interviewed Mayor Brian Rumpf on Saturday. The saga isn't over. When local resident Peggy Luken first saw The Blob, it measured only a few feet across. Later, the Blob grew to a Honda Civic-like size. Now hiding beneath the muck, it might grow again. To e-mail Mike Jaccarino at The Press: MJaccarino@pressofac.com

Mysterious blob causes a stir By Joseph A. Gambardello Inquirer Staff Writer The state says it's most likely a mass of dead algae - a bit unusual, to be sure - but the folks on Daddy Tucker Drive in Little Egg Harbor Township say the thing in the lagoon is one scary-looking blob. And, boy, does it smell. "It's a blob, a mass quite large, about 100 yards off our dock," said Eileen Masterson, 66. "It is colored, gelatinous, decomposing." "It is not moving and it is in one piece," said Masterson, whose husband, Robert, has marked off the mystery mass with plastic detergent bottles. Jack Kaskey, a spokesman for the state Department of Environmental Protection, said yesterday that tests have determined the blob is "an organic material, probably algae." "It is not hazardous," he said. "It is a natural phenomenon." He said state experts believe the blob once was an algal mass that lived on the bottom of the lagoon and died. As it decomposed, gases lifted the mass to the surface, Kaskey said, adding that the gelatinous material surrounding it "is part of the decomposition." The mass is about the size of a rowboat when viewed from the top, but its depth is not known. Robert Ingenito, Ocean County's environmental health coordinator, said he had never seen anything like it in 30 years in his field but noted that a colleague reported seeing a similar blob a few years ago. Little Egg Harbor Township is planning to pull the mass from the water and cart it off to a landfill, Ingenito said. Masterson said her son Edward, who lives in Virginia, was visiting the last weekend in July when he rowed out to investigate an odor that had appeared. Although the lagoon sometimes smells at low tide, this was something entirely different, she said. "He took a sample," Masterson said. "It was nauseating. He couldn't take the smell. It was so horrific, he threw it back." Last Sunday, with the stench still in the air, the Mastersons called the state police, who sent a trooper in a patrol boat. "He had no idea what it was," Masterson said. "He called the proper authorities, and one by one they came." And after them, the media. Robert Masterson, who rows in the lagoon daily, has taken on new duties with the blob's materialization. "He's running a shuttle out there," Eileen Masterson said, going through a list of electronic and print news organizations that have set off after the blob from her dock. "And last night, we had a helicopter." Masterson, who has lived on the lagoon for 17 years, said it is a beautiful spot with houses on one side and wetlands on the other. Fresh water from Holly Lake on the other side of Great Bay Boulevard runs into the lagoon. Residents swim in the lagoon and eat crabs and fish pulled from it. But not since the blob floated to the surface. "Right now, we're not doing any of that," said Masterson. "Everything is on hold." Contact staff writer Joseph Gambardello at 856-779-3868 or jgambardello@phillynews.com.


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