Science & Nature
Witnesses Swear There’s an Alligator in North Pond, But It Might Be a Turtle Out for a Joy Ride on a Log
A view of North Pond from the casting pier. (Patty Wetli / WTTW News)
Tom Hildum knows people aren’t going to believe him.
But the Auburn resident swears he’s seen an alligator in Lincoln Park’s North Pond. Not once, but twice. And it’s even bigger than Chance the Snapper by a couple feet, Hildum said, referencing the alligator famously captured in Humboldt Park in summer 2019.
“I was skeptical, too,” said Sheba Heard, Hildum’s wife of 16 years. Then she got a look at the creature herself, “tip to tail, skimming across the top of the water.”
Both insist it’s not a giant snapping turtle, or a beaver, or a floating log. The Chicago Herpetological Society begs to differ.
Animal Care and Control obtained photos of the “alligator,” which were then shown to the society. “They are adamant that it’s a large turtle riding a log,” Armando Tejeda with Animal Care and Control told WTTW News.
“It’s a first for me, but they’re saying they’ve seen this before,” Tejeda said.
The saga started this spring, when Hildum and Heard began hanging out at North Pond where Heard, who’s new to angling, was practicing her fishing skills.
The estimate they’ve been to the pond maybe 20 times since May, and on one of those nights, around 8 or 8:30 p.m., they were casting off the pond’s pier when another couple spotted the gator.
The woman yelled, “There’s an alligator!” and Hildum raced over. “It was at the surface, I saw the whole shadow,” he said. “The ducks all swam away.”
By the time Heard joined the group, the gator had disappeared.
The second encounter, on a different evening, both Hildum and Heard got a clear view, but neither was able to nab a photo or video. It’s that lack of proof that kept the couple from contacting authorities, Hildum said.
As they returned to the pond on gator watch, Hildum said seeing all the toddlers playing at the edge of the pond, or people walking dogs near the water made him increasingly nervous. He started reaching out to the media hoping someone would be able to obtain a clear image of the creature that would prove its existence and prompt officials to launch a search and capture mission.
WTTW News met Hildum and Heard at the pond Monday night at sunset. Ducks paddled and preened, great blue herons stalked the shoreline and turtles surfaced from the murk by the dozen to catch a breath. Hildum theorized that the gator, which he’s dubbed Muddy Waters (“There’s not going to be a better name,” he said), is feasting on the pond’s buffet.
“One of their favorite things is turtles, and there’s an unlimited supply,” he said.
As darkness settled, Hildum and Heard pulled out flashlights and aimed the beams at any sign of the slightest ripple in the otherwise glassy water.
Heard cast a lure, hoping to coax the elusive creature out of hiding, though she wasn’t sure it was the wisest course of action. “My stomach’s bubbling,” she said as she reeled in her (empty) line.
Apart from the slight bit of fear and anxiety hanging over the proceedings, it was the kind of peaceful summer night that drew Heard to the pond in the first place.
“It’s like you’re not even in the city,” she said.
Hildum broke the calm, pointing to a sizable ripple off the west side of the casting pier. Flashlights swung. Something jumped from the pond and seemed to flail about. Hildum was certain it was a turtle caught in the gator’s jaw, but grainy iPhone video shot by WTTW News is of such poor quality, it’s impossible to say what was in the water.
(Patty Wetli / WTTW News)
We called it a night at 10 p.m., no “tip to tail” confirmation.
“That thing is out there,” Heard said.
On Thursday, Hildum sent WTTW News a photo that seemed to indicate something alligator-esque might indeed be lurking in the pond. We revisited the scene and repeated Monday’s routine, circling the pond’s perimeter, raising our binoculars for a closer view of anything resembling a ripple, and surveilling the water around the fishing pier for a good hour after dusk. “Muddy” was a no-show, perhaps put off by the 5K-race after-party across Cannon Drive, where a cover band was blasting alt-rock classics.
Maybe we should have requested a rendition of “Crocodile Rock”?
When WTTW News first contacted Animal Care and Control, Tejeda checked with 311 and 911, and no alligator sightings had been reported. There were no social media posts mentioning a gator, and neither Lincoln Park Zoo (across the street from the pond) nor birders who frequent the North Pond nature sanctuary had heard anything about a rogue reptile.
Tejeda’s first instinct was that “it could be something as simple as a floating branch or possibly just a prank,” but he gathered a team to check out the site and followed up with Hildum.
Even after consulting with the Chicago Herpetological Society, Tejeda said he would continue to “keep an eye out to make sure we rule out an alligator. I still want to be 100% either way.”
Gator watch 2024 continues.
Note: This article has been updated with new information.
Contact Patty Wetli: @pattywetli | (773) 509-5623 | [email protected]
