Turtle Patrol Finds Mysterious Creatures on North Carolina Beach

For the good people out at Cape Lookout National Seashore in North Carolina, it's not unusual to see creatures on the beach. It is, however very unusual that they can't identify them.

The park service at Cape Lookout posted a Facebook post about the mystery creatures, and asked for some help from the public in identifying them. Our friend Melanie Day at our sister station Kiss 95.1 FM in Charlotte first reported this story.

"Weird things found on the beach -- okay everybody, we need some help identifying these objects. Our turtle patrol found them on the ocean side beach recently adjacent to a log covered in goose-neck barnacles (no idea if they are connected to the log or if its just a coincidence)," the post from the National Seashore said. So far, we're stumped as to what they might be. They were about 6 inches long and no longer alive. One guess was they might be a form of sea cucumber (or sea slug?), but they couldn't be matched to any images that were posted online."

Lots of theories were offered up for what the creatures might be, including "Harbinger of The Old Ones," snails, plankton or any other number of freaky suggestions.

One commenter named Paul Wolf said he was a former "polychaete taxonomist" and narrowed it down to likely being "bristle worms."

"These are most definitely polychaetes, commonly called bristle worms," Wolf said. "They are probably members of the family Amphinomidae, which would include what folks are calling fire worms. Be aware, though, there are dozens and dozens of species of amphinomids, many of which look alike to the naked eye, and by the way, color is not an identifying characteristic."

Whatever the mystery creatures on the North Carolina beach actually are, I'm fascinated, and welcome our alien overlords! But if you happen to see something like this at the beach, don't touch it. It could be dangerous. Contact the nearest wildlife or park services team.

Nothing is more important for us than getting some shut-eye, and here in North Carolina, we apparently get some of the worst sleep!

It's no secret that the quality of our sleep is important for our health in multiple ways. Good sleep is essential to our physical and mental function, our ability to fight sickness, and to recharge our natural body processes.

The National Sleep Foundation recommends we get about 7-9 hours of sleep each night. However, it appears some states are getting better sleep than others.

A survey by Aeris looked at over 3,000 Americans across 47 states to analyze different aspects of their sleep. Everything from sleeping positions, to air quality, to how long it takes to fall asleep in the first place.

First, they asked respondents to rate the quality of their sleep on a scale of 1-5, with 1 being poor and 5 being excellent.

So which state came out on top with the best quality sleep? That would be the state of Virginia, with an average sleep score of 3.61.

The survey also evaluated different sleep habits across America. For instance, 66% of us sleep on our side. And 54% of us wake up at least 2 times a night! And if you live in the state of Utah, congratulations, you are getting the most sleep per night on average!

Where does North Carolina fall when it comes to good sleep? Here are the best and WORST states for sleeping

3.04 sleep score

3.08 sleep score

3.10 sleep score

3.11 sleep score

3.12 sleep score

3.13 sleep score

3.14 sleep score

3.15 sleep score

3.16 sleep score

3.20 sleep score

3.61 sleep score

3.52 sleep score

3.51 sleep score

3.50 sleep score

3.46 sleep score

3.45 sleep score

3.44 sleep score

3.40 sleep score

3.39 sleep score

3.38 sleep score

So many factors can lead to the superiority or detriment of our sleep. Do you have a good quality pillow? Are you powering down electronic devices an hour before you snooze? Is the air quality and temperature in your home optimal? Regardless, remember there are steps you can take to improve the quality of your sleep, which in turn improves your quality of life! Sweet dreams!