Woman finds massive, mysterious tooth on South Carolina beach

A woman found a massive tooth the size of her palm sticking out from the sand on a South Carolina beach, believed to be from a prehistoric megalodon shark.

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Missy Tracewell has pulled hundreds of shark teeth from the South Carolina shores, but never one the size of her hand like she did a couple weeks ago on Hunting Island, the State reported.

“I pick it up, and I stand up, and I’m so shocked that I have it in my hand ... that I dropped it on the sand,” she said. “I’m screaming, and I’m just like a 5-year-old, jumping up and down and I was crying, ‘I cannot believe this. Oh my God, I just found a megalodon tooth.’”

She has not had the find confirmed by an expert, but is certain it’s from the prehistoric predator. Megalodon’s are believed to have grown up to 60 feet in length and died out about 3.6 million years ago.

Tracewell scooped the tooth from a water-filled hole on the beach as she and her husband were getting ready to leave. The top of the tooth was sticking out of the sand near her husband’s foot. He somehow did not see it, but she did.

“It’s beautiful,” Tracewell said.

This is not the first megalodon tooth to be plucked from South Carolina shores. In October, researchers believe they uncovered a 30-million-year-old megalodon shark nursery in what is now Summerville, the State reported. In June, a woman found a megalodon tooth weighing a pound near a riverbank in Charleston, the State reported. The largest tooth found in the state is 6.5 inches long.

Cox Media Group