Lake Monsters; a Worldwide Phenomenon

The Surgeon's Photo

Lake monsters, what are they? Are they real or just a figment of our collective imagination? There have been sightings for hundreds of years, all over the world, by people from all walks of life. These creatures have been sighted in Scotland, Iceland, Argentina, South Africa, Canada and the United states as well as Italy and Turkey.

Cryptozoologist are the people who work to prove the existence of unknown species including new insects, deep water fish and lake monsters. The oxford dictionary’s definition says, “An animal whose existence or survival to present day is disputed or unsubstantiated, any animal of interest to a cytpozoologist.” Is a cryptoid.

The “Father of Cryptozoology” is Barnard Heuvelmans (1916-2001). In his 1955 book on the track of unknown animals, he explains the need for cryptozoology. He states that unknown creatures are still being found. The Komodo Dragon was discovered in 1910 and the Pigmy Chimpanzee in 1933. www.britanna.com.

What dwells in the deep dark lakes of the world? If these creatures do exist what could they be? Well let’s take a look at a few of these monsters. We will begin our search in Iceland. The home of The Lagarfljótsormur or Iceland worm. This creature lives in the freshwater of lake Lagarfljót. This 40-foot monster worm has been seen since 1345. In 1963 this lake monster was spotted by the head of the Icelandic national forest service, then in 1998 a teacher and her students spotted this creature on a field trip. There is not  a lot of information about this lake monster, but in 2012 there was a video shot of it swimming at the surface of the lake. Check it out on www.youtube.com.

Let’s board our plain for the 7000-mile flight to South Africa. Make sure your trays and seats are in their upright position.

Living at the base of Howick Falls is the Inkanyamba. It is a large serpent like creature that has terrified the Xhosa and Zulu tribes for hundreds of years. Inkanyamba is described as “a colossal eel-like anomalies with fined manes, huge fore flippers a horse like head and a decidedly nasty disposition.” www.crypoia.us 

This creature dates back to the time of cave drawings and to this day the local tribes believe that when Inkanyamba is angry it conjures up the seasonal storms. This eel-like monster even made the big time on the T.V. show Animalx.
www.wikipedia.org 

Now that our tour of Howick Falls is complete, let’s settle into our seats for the almost 9000 mile flight to Okanagan lake in British Columbia, Canada, home to the legend of the lake Ogopogo. The native Indian’s name for this monster is Naitaka or Lake Demon. www.wikipedia.org  The Indians say that Nakitaka is “A blood thirsty killer… that would demand a live sacrifice for safe passage” of the lake. www.livescience.com

Bleisaours

Ogopogo has been seen by the first Canadian tribes up to modern times. In 2005 Ogopogo was filmed and the video was investigated by The National Geographic Channel’s show, Is It Real?. The researchers. Benjamin Redford, Joe Nickell and John Kirk concluded that Art Folden was a living creature, but the size of the animal was in question. www.livescience.com In 2011 Richard Hauls filmed Nakitaka swimming in the lake and can be viewed on www.youtube.com  

Is Ogopogo an extinct Besilosaurse? He is said to be forty-five feet long and is seen in various colors with brown, black, green and gray most commonly seen. Only time and science will tell

While we are in North America let’s catch a train down to the New York Vermont border and Lake Champlain. The 489 square mile lake is home to Champ.

Champ has several different looks. He measures from ten (offspring?) to one hundred and eighty feet, his head is either flat or rounded and his body is either rounded with one to four humps or snake like. His eyes glow and has a range of skin colors and textures. www.paranormal-encyclopedia.com

Champ has been seen over 300 times. He is the legend of both area Indian tribes, the Iroquios and the Abenaki, who call him Tatoskok. The first person to see Champ was Samuel de Champlain the lakes namesake in 1609. Then in 1883 Sheriff Nathen H. Mooney describes seeing Champ about “20 yards” from shore. “the creature appeared be about 25-30 feet in length.” With the Sheriff’s testimony, more people came forward with information about their own sightings. In 2005 “Two retired FBI forensic image analysts…” reviewed a video shot by Dick Affolter and Pete Bodette, “said that tape appeared to be authentic and unmanipulated.” www.wikipedia.org

There are also sound recordings from the lake. In 2003 The Fauna Communications Research Institute working with The Discovery Channel recorded what sounded like dolphin or beluga whales, which do not live in the lake. The findings were published in scientific journals. More recently in 2014 Cryptozoologist Katy Elizabeth and Dennis Hall recorded a sound on July 31 at 7:45pm that they believe is none other than Champ. www.dailymail.co.uk

So, what lurks in the depths of Lake Champlain? Is it a relative of the inhabitant of the next stop on our world tour, the monster in Loch Ness? Let’s find out. We have some down time on our 3200 mile flight to Inverness Airport in Scotland, relax and enjoy the in-flight movie.

The Loch Ness Monster is the most famous lake monster in the world. Sightings of Nessie date back over 1,450 years. The first sighting is told on www.catholicism.org After hearing how the monster of the loch attacked and killed a man, Saint Columbia told one of “His companions to swim…” in the loch. “Lugne Mocumin hearing the command…obeyed without the least delay. But the monster, which, so far from being satiated (satisfied) laying on the bottom…suddenly rushed out, and giving an awful roar, darted after him with its mouth wide open.” Seeing this Saint Columbia “raised his Holy hand…invoking the name of God formed the sign of the cross…saying ‘Thou shalt go no further, nor touch the man; go back with all speed.’…at the voice of the Saint, the monster was terrified…” and quickly returned to the bottom of the loch.

Urquhart Castle

Sightings continue through out the centuries, by the clergy, doctors and others. In fact there have been over 3000 sightings of Nessie. However the “scientific community regards the Loch Ness Monster as a phenomenon without biological basis.” www.wikipedia.org Science VS The Catholic Church, go figure.

The name The Loch Ness Monster was coined in an August 4^th 1933 article published in the Inverness Courier recounting an encounter of George Spencer and his wife while driving near the loch shore they saw “The nearest apparition of a Dragon or pre-historic animal that I have ever seen in my life.” www.wikipedia.org  On April 19^th, 1934 there was finally photographic evidence of Nessie, “The Surgeon’s Photo.” While driving on a north shore road, the highly respected British surgeon Colonel Robert Wilson spotted something moving in the loch, stopped his car and took the famous picture.

Since the “Surgeon’s photo” there have been several pictures and movies of the world’s most famous lake monster. In 1960 a hump leaving a wake in the loch was filmed by aeronautical engineer Tim Dinsdale and in 2007 Gordon Holmes video taped “This jet black thing. Moving fairly fast through the water.”  A noted Loch Ness marine biologist said of the video “The best footage (he had) ever seen.” In August 2011 Captain Marcus Atkinson has a sonar image of a creature almost five feet wide that follow his boat for almost two minutes. Technology is also helping the cause of Nessie, in April 2014 Apple Maps has a satellite image of a large creature just under the surface of Loch Ness.then on March 26, 2018, Dakota Frandsen of Idaho reported “seeing a large dark shape, roughly forty -feet long” near the “Urquhart Castle jetty.” He went on to say it was gray in color and swam to the other side of the loch when a speed boat approached. Www.lochnesssightings.com 

In 1994 the “surgeons photo” was said to be a hoax. Co-conspirator Chritian Spurling, said before he died that the photo was of a three-foot submarine that they used to take the photo. www.hoaxes.org

Lake monsters are a world wide phenomena and I presented only a handful of reported lake monsters. There is also The Lake Koshkonog Monster in Wisconsin, Morag in Loch Morar in Scotland and many others.

Whether you believe in lake monsters or not one thing is definitely real about these creatures that’s the boom to the local economies. Nessie is Scotland’s most famous attraction, there are also Ogopogo and Champ toys, books, tee shirts and entire stores dedicated to these monsters.

Thus, ends our almost 20,000 mile journey around the world to find the truth about lake monsters. I hope you enjoyed our excursion into the world of cryptozoology and remember; whether lake monsters are pre-historic Plesiosaurus, seals playing in the surf or a monster eel, something is out there. But what?