PROVIDENCE — The newscast, filmed on a slow news day in Rhode Island in August 2002, might very well have faded from memory along with so many other daily dispatches.
But thanks to YouTube, the epic tale of “an unknown, scary creature” in the waters off Portsmouth, R.I., has lived on. And now, 23 years later, it has become part of Rhode Island lore — immortalized in a T-shirt and poster sold by a Providence gift store, as well as in a play and a tattoo.
On the Rhode Island Report podcast, former 12 News reporter Sean Daly recounts “Mother, Mother Ocean,” his epic report on a couple that reported seeing a sea creature at Teddy’s Beach. And Asher Schofield, co-owner of the Frog & Toad gift store, explains why customers are snatching up posters and T-shirts emblazoned with images from this quirky, quintessentially Rhode Island story.
“Maybe you’re new here and are still learning Rhode Island lore,” reads the Frog & Toad website. “Maybe this iconic piece of RI culture broadcast back in (2002) has somehow eluded you. The question remains: Are you even a real Rhode Islander if you haven’t seen this cinematic masterpiece?”
On the podcast, Schofield said that over the years he has shown the video to guests from out of state as “four-and-a-half minutes of full indoctrination into Rhode Island culture.”
“Rhode Island, we can all acknowledge, is a quirky state with singular characters and people here and stories and narratives that you really don’t encounter elsewhere,” he said. “And it takes living here for a prolonged amount of time to understand that.”
In years past, Frog & Toad has captured the Rhode Island zeitgeist with T-shirts bearing former Governor Gina M. Raimondo’s message for residents who blew off her pandemic social distancing directives — “Knock it off” — and Christmas ornaments that are miniature versions of the Washington Bridge, complete with orange traffic cones shifting drivers away from the closed westbound lanes.
Now, Schofield said, customers are excited about the “Mother, Mother Ocean” T-shirts. “A lot of people just have felt seen or validated because they’re getting that their infatuation with Sean’s piece is understood on more of a cultural level than just their own personal viewership,” he said.
Daly recalled that the story appeared on an off day during the federal trial of former Providence Mayor Vincent A. “Buddy” Cianci Jr., who ended up being convicted of racketeering conspiracy for widespread corruption in his administration, and spent 4½ years in prison.
Daly said it was “beyond a slow day” during the “dog days of summer,” when he spotted a brief article in the Fall River Herald News regarding a sea creature. “And the rest, as they say, is on tape,” he said.
At the end of the newscast, Daly intones, “Mother, Mother Ocean.” And on the podcast, he said those words — from the opening of a Jimmy Buffett song, “A Pirate Looks at 40″ — were not scripted. “It was just off the top of my head,” he said. “It just fits so well.”
During the podcast, Daly listened to a voice message from Dawn Riddle, who wrote a play about his “Mother, Mother Ocean” report after seeing it on YouTube in 2012. She said the play was performed in Philadelphia at two art galleries and one bike shop.
“In my telling,” Riddle told Daly, “the unknown scary creature was actually just trying to communicate a message of love to Rachel and ends up getting killed by the government — and, it’s implied, also got Rachel pregnant.”
Riddle, who now lives in Portland, Oregon, said she’s ready to hop on a plane to re-stage the play in Providence, and she asked Daly if he’d be willing to play himself in that production. He said he’d be “thrilled.”
“Mother, Mother Ocean” also provided inspiration to Kate Sayles, a Warwick native who now lives in Wakefield. About four years ago, she got a tattoo on her right arm that depicts scenes of what happened before the sea monster pounced: Dennis is fishing, Rachel is floating mindlessly beyond the “Danger” sign, Joey is bleeding from a wound on his leg, and the sea creature is lurking.
Sayles has performed with the Empire Revue sketch comedy tour, playing Penny in “Benny’s: The Musical.” So she has a keen appreciation for what makes Rhode Island so unique. And she said “Mother, Mother Ocean” is “the most Rhode Island thing I’ve ever seen.”
To get the latest episode each week, follow Rhode Island Report podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and other podcasting platforms, or listen in the player above.
Edward Fitzpatrick can be reached at edward.fitzpatrick@globe.com. Follow him @FitzProv.