Over 100 swimmers were stung by a giant, dead jellyfish at Wallis Sands State Beach in Rye, NH, resulting in the beach’s closing on Wednesday, July 21.
While hospital officials reported no serious injuries, five children were taken to Portsmouth Regional Hospital, and medical responders were afraid of severe allergic reactions from the stings.
“It was as big as a turkey platter,” said Ken Loughlin, Wallis Sands’s manager. “The thing was probably about 50 pounds.”
Despite working at the beach for 30 years, Loughlin said he had “never seen such a thing” as the giant jellyfish, which was taken out of the water with a pitchfork.
Robert Royer, an aquarist at the Seacoast Science Center, said that the creature was probably a lion’s mane jellyfish.
“That’s the largest we have around here,” he said. “I’ve never heard of them getting 50 pounds, though.”
Lion’s mane jellyfish are common in New England waters. They have tentacles up to 100 feet long; each with barbs that can sting even after the jellyfish is dead and broken up.
At 2 p.m. rescue officials were called in from towns around the Seacoast area, including Stratham, Portsmouth, Greenland, New Hampton, Newington, and Rye. These officials treated the jellyfish’s victims in the beach’s bathhouse.
Among the victims were about 50 children, who ran to the shore screaming because of stings on their legs.
Alysia Bennett, from Hampstead, said her three children ran crying from the water due to the stings, which one rescue official described as feeling like bee stings.
“They were terrified,” she said.
Officials closed the beach after the incident, and will reopen Wallis Sands State Beach today.
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