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What Happened to Moby Dick?

 

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The last time I looked in 1996, Moby Dick was in the last pond on the LEFT in front of 590 Edgewater. If you climb to the roof of 590 Edgewater on a sunny day, you should be able to Moby Dick. If they won't let you climb to the roof perhaps Waste Management will let you look from their office which overlooks the pond. I am sure the local Scuba club may help you too. Dan Gerard. 4/23/01  
   

 
   

From Mort Holloway as told to Mary Kay Galvin, January 2001

Gil Arrington was a park character who also did maintenance on the whale boat, and was from Marblehead

The hut on the water was part of the whaleboat ride, and Mort and Police Officer Frank Skillings did the diving for the 3 to 4 porpoises and put in the underwater track.

The hut housed all the controls, but didn't work for too long.

Mort says the top of the whale is about 8' underwater and 2 cylinders operated that and were about 500# each and all brass. The water was hydraulically operated.

Mort adds that the whale has probably collapsed by now but was made out of a monel stainless steel frame and was on RR tracks, and rolled up and down on the tracks

 
     
 
 
     
 

Bob McLaughlin heard from a fellow here in Wakefield that one of the last rides of the Moby Dick took place when this fellow was on the lunch replacement crew that manned the shack controlling all the ride switches... they flipped a few switches too many or too few and Moby slid off the track into the water. As far as we know, he could still be there!

 
     
 
 
     
 

From Pete Chapman:

As far as Moby Dick goes, he was removed about 15 years ago. I think that is where the picture in your Memorabilia section came from. There were dolphins that rode on tracks submerged in the water. They are probably still there. (More from Pete)

 
     
   
     
 
 
     
 

From Ray DiPirro:

The Moby Dick photo in the memorabilia section looks more like he's being put in rather than taken out. Notice the lack of trees, bushes, etc..Plus if he was being taken out, he'd be in a lot worse condition after being submerged all these years.

About 20+ years ago a friend told me about a time when he was working for a company near the Pleasure Island property and employees would go & eat lunch there. One day while eating his lunch by a pond, he saw a guy in a scuba suit come out of the water like a bullet. When my friend asked what happened, the guy said that when he was underwater, he came face to face with a giant eye!! Apparently he had run into Moby Dick!! He may still be there.

 

 
     
 
 
     
 
Moby Dick Route from John Toczydlowski's Slide Collection: What Came After
 
 
 
     
 
 
     
 

From Paul Lord

Paul and a friend have been diving in Moby Dick's hole in the past ten years and know where he and the dolphins reside.

 

 
     
 
 
     
 
Moby Dick Track from John Toczydlowski's Slide Collection: What Came After
 
     
 
 
     
 

From Peter Vernaglia

Back in the mid 70's, I'd guess it was sometime between '74 and '77, during a trip to the UPS office in Lynnfield, I decided to take a ride down Pleasure Island Rd. I found the remains of a park that looked like it had been bombed. There was an old man with a pick-up truck taking bricks from the falling over buildings. I walked into the park, past what use to be game booths, I remember distinctly the small building that had the spinning painting you made with paints in ketchup type bottles. When I got to the pond, there was Moby, he was out of the water, pulled up on shore by the side of the pond. The big whale with no mouth and for that matter no underside at all except for the mechanism he was mounted on. At the time I promised myself to go back with a camera and get some photos, unfortunately I didn't. Today, every time I see the Pleasure Island Rd sign off 128 I think of that day I visited the surreal amusement park and my last glimpse of the grounded whale.

 
     
 
 
     
 
Moby Dick's Hole... July 2000 from Artifacts
 
     
 
 
     
 

From Dave Ciampa

My name is Dave from Reading,ma. I loved the the story in the herald fri. about pleasure island.I am only 39 years old so you remember a lot more than I do. But years after the park closed friends and I would go up there to look around from time to time.I remember 1 day going there and the old gates were still up among the tall grass. I remember my friend seeing moby dick in the field,he went to stand on it and his foot went right through it . I would say this was about 2-5 years after it was closed ,thats the last thing I remember about moby dick. The only thing I saw in the past 5 years or so was little tracks going into the pond we moby used to be slid in and out,you still could see them from the sidewalk. But anyway thanks for the memories and I look forward to seeing more about this. dave

 
   
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