9-year-old Maryland girl finds 15-million-year-old Megalodon shark tooth

CALVERT COUNTY, Md. (WJLA) — A 9-year-old Maryland girl, Molly Sampson, is taking pride in her once-in-a-lifetime discovery.

Molly found a Megalodon shark tooth on Calvert County Cliffs that experts said is 15 million years old.

I couldn’t believe it. It was just so exciting," Molly said. “I usually just find little ones and I never really thought I would find a big one like that."

She said she asked for waders for Christmas so she can continue her treasure hunt for fossils and shark teeth.

We got waders for Christmas and me and my sister, we went out shark tooth hunting around 9:30 because it was a really low tide," Molly said.

A low tide and perfect conditions led to the rare discovery.

We were looking around and I just looked over in the water. And I looked down and I saw something big," Molly said. "I went closer to it and I tried scooping it up but I couldn’t because it was so big and then I just reached in really quick and grabbed it and I was screeching."

Experts at the Calvert Marine Museum in Solomon’s Island confirmed she found a Megalodon shark tooth dating back millions of years.

Based on where she found it along Calvert Cliff, we estimate that it’s about 15 million years old,” said Stephen Godfrey, who is the curator of paleontology at the Calvert Marine Museum.

Her father, who passed down the hobby to Molly, said he has never found one as big as her find.

My biggest one is about three inches and I actually found that one walking on the beach with my mom," Molly's father said.

Molly said she wants to be a paleontologist when she grows up.

AMegalodon, which means "big tooth," was an enormous fossil shark found in many seas during the Miocene and Pliocene epochs.