russia beach
A mysterious giant "hairy" sea creature washed up on the eastern coast of Russia recently. In this image, a life vest and a lifesaver are seen at a beach in Sochi, Russia, June 23, 2018. REUTERS/Pilar Olivares

A mysterious giant "hairy" sea creature washed up on the eastern coast of Russia recently, baffling locals as they tried to figure out its identity. Videos and photos of the monstrous "smelly" carcass surfaced online.

The creature, which looked like an ugly chalk-colored beast, was found on the Pacific coastline of the Kamchatka peninsula close to the remote village of Pakhachi on the shore of the Bering Sea. It was reportedly larger in size than three men. The creature appeared to have a tail or long tentacle, and tube-like hair or fur but did not have "definite head or eyes," according to the Siberian Times.

Locals speculated the creature to be a bizarre primeval relic from the deep waters or an extinct woolly mammoth released from an undersea permafrost grave by the warm summer.

"The most interesting thing to me is that the creature is covered with tubular fur," witness Svetlana Dyadenko posted online. "Could it be some ancient creature? I wish scientists could inspect this enigma that ocean threw at us."

Dyadenko inspected the "stinking" creature and likened it to a vast "hairy octopus," adding that: "It does look like fur, but it's tubular, as if a lot of tiny pipes hang down the carcass. [It's] a really strange-looking creature... We googled it and couldn't find anything resembling it."

The eye-witness also said locals were unable to pull the creature off the area where it was spotted as it was stuck.

"You would need an excavator because part of it got completely covered with sand," she added.

Some people claimed that the monstrous creature could be "globster" — a term coined in 1962 to describe a mysterious carcass washed up in Tasmania. These carcasses at first resemble a giant octopus but some may have bones or tentacles or flippers. However, they are not usually hairy unlike the one recently spotted.

Russian marine scientist Sergei Kornev, from the Research Institute of Fisheries and Oceanography, told the Daily Mail that he believes the "creature" is part of a whale.

"Under the influence of the sea, time and various animals, from the smallest to the largest, a whale often takes on bizarre forms," he said. "This is only a part of a whale, not a whole one."

A similar looking creature had washed up on a beach in Oriental Mindoro, a province in the Philippines' Mimaropa region, in May. The huge foul-smelling creature was also believed to be some sort of whale.

"For now we can say its a whale, but the exact species is still unknown. The tissue samples are now sent to our lab for DNA analysis," Fishery Law Enforcement Officer Vox Krusada told the Sun. "The local government of Gloria will now bury the carcass. And damn it smells awful. it smells like something from another planet... I really experienced the full power of its smell because I'm the one who took the tissue samples. I almost puked. I felt better after taking a bath but the stench still lingers in my nose."

Numerous other mysterious creatures have drawn curious onlookers in the past as people try to determine their origin. Late last month, a mysterious sea creature with hundreds of moving tentacles washed up on the shores of a beach in Vietnam. Videos of the marine species, resembling a huge piece of seaweed, were posted online.