Tracing Monsters, Cryptozoology 1987

From CRYPTOZOOLOGY Magazine from the Editor. Submitted by Scott Mardis.

The Photos of (Not) the Lake Superior Monster

While doing my usual cruising on Facebook this morning I came upon the Lake Monsters page. On that page I saw something which I thought was pretty remarkable, a set of Lake Monster photos which struck me as being possibly genuine. These were the photos, probably the same photo reprinted several times:

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Lake-Monsters/537100722991730

And I found that these were supposedly photos of the Lake Superior monster and a reference link given to a source about the Lake Superior monster. The source did not mention this photo and I mentioned that part too. "This is one of many photographs taken in the 90s by the Us navy.They estimated the creature's length about 15 m [approx. 45-50 feet long] long,with a long tail," was the first part of the reply, "These photographs appeared in either SIGHTINGS or UNSOLVED MYSTERIES.I don't remember which, but they showed an amateur footage of the same creature on the surface." was the second half of the reply which came later.

As it turned out, both the mentioned photographs actually came from a different lake, Lake Pepin.
http://www.lakecitymn.org/about/pepie.html
With the contrast turned up a great deal higher

courier_wedge_dec__3_1987

Anonymous photo, pepie_swimming_below_maiden_rock 2008-06-20

Something swimming on the Lake between Central Point and Maiden Rock. Submitted by local fishermen  Al Knudson, DVM and Steve Raymond

The legend of Pepie

Lake Pepin is the largest lake on the Mississippi River, over two miles wide and 22 miles long. It forms the natural border between Minnesota and Wisconsin and is located about 60 miles south of the Twin Cities. Surrounded by scenic bluffs and quaint villages, Lake Pepin is widely described as one of the most scenic spots in North America!

The native Dakota people that lived in the area refused to travel on Lake Pepin in bark canoes because of the large "creatures" that would rise from the depths of the Lake and puncture the thin bark skin of those canoes. They would only travel on Lake Pepin in more stout dugout canoes that were made by hollowing out a large log.

On April 28, 1871 "a lake monster is seen swimming in Lake Pepin" (Minnesota Almanac, published by the MN Historical Society). Since then, many people have reported sightings of an unidentified creature surfacing from the depths of Lake Pepin. The locals have given this shy and elusive creature a name; Pepie.

Over the years the question persist, what is Pepie? Because Lake Pepin is almost identical in size and geography to Scotland's Loch Ness (which is 23 miles long and 1.5 miles wide), many people feel that Pepie is a relative of the famous Loch Ness creature dubbed Nessie.

Still others feel that the sightings might be surfacing schools of the huge game fish that are so abundant in the Lake

http://www.pepie.net/PepiesHome_Page.php

The legend of PepieLake Pepin is the largest lake on the Mississippi River, over two miles wide and 22 miles long. It forms the natural border between Minnesota and Wisconsin and is located about 60 miles south of the Twin Cities.   Surrounded by scenic bluffs and quaint villages, Lake Pepin is widely described as one of the most scenic spots in North America!

The native Dakota people that lived in the area refused to travel on Lake Pepin in bark canoes because of the large "creatures" that would rise from the depths of the Lake and puncture the thin bark skin of those canoes.  They would only travel on Lake Pepin in more stout dugout canoes that were made by hollowing out a large log.

On April 28, 1871   "a lake monster is seen swimming in Lake Pepin"  (Minnesota Almanac, published by the MN  Historical Society).  Since then,  many people have reported sightings of an unidentified creature surfacing from the depths of Lake Pepin. The locals have given this shy and elusive creature a name; Pepie.  Over the years the question persist, what is Pepie?  Because Lake Pepin is almost identical in size and geography to Scotland's Loch Ness (which is 23 miles long and 1.5 miles wide), many people feel that Pepie is a relative of the famous  Loch Ness creature dubbed Nessie.

Still others feel that the sightings might be surfacing schools of the huge game fish that are so abundant in the Lake.  

In an effort to solve the puzzle, we have posted a $50,000 reward for indisputable proof of Pepies existence.  Click on "News" for the details. 

An editor on the site added this message: Note; There are only three known [bona fide Plesiosaurian] Lake Monsters in existence today, Champ in Lake Champlain, Nessie in Loch Ness, and Pepie in  Lake Pepin.  -- M.F.A.

Lake Pepin is actually the widest part of the Mississippi River and very plausibly the creature in it could be the last refuge of "The Great Serpent of the Mississippi River (Said to be shaped like a Plesiosaur in some of the older accounts) that once roamed the whole length of the river and which was once important in Native American lore.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lake_Pepin

The 50000 dollar reward was mentioned once before on this blog. This is the original source for that story:
http://www.wisconsinosity.com/Pepin/articles/Pepie/wcco/lake_pepin_sea_monster__capture_.htm

http://cryptidchronicles.tumblr.com/post/26501197906/pressie-the-lake-superior-sea-serpent

http://voices.yahoo.com/pressie-lake-superiors-own-monster-6762668.html?cat=58

[One of the Lake Superior reports also specified a Puckwudgie creature on two legs and five feet tall]

"Missi", the Mississippi River Monster, at the level of Tennessee, from Flickr (During WWII reports referred to "Submarines" with "Periscopes". "Missi" is the proper regular name for the creature anywhere along the lenth of the River, and several reports at New Orleans state it is the same creature seen there as at the River's source)
[NB, I have no confidence in this photo as representing the Mississippi River Serpent, unfortunately]

http://www.nydailynews.com/life-style/world-largest-roadside-attractions-gallery-1.39761
The Serpent of Serpent Lake (Not only meant to represent this lake, this represents all of such creatures in the area generally. Serpent Lake runs into the Mississippi) There is a photo said to represent the monster of Serpent lake in circulation but it might be only a copy of the Lake Pepin monster photograph shown above. The statue represents a monster thirty feet in length.

 

The creatures are said to run generally 30-50 feet long (A minority of reports, mostly older ones, say 60-75 feet) with a horse-sized snakelike head, a 15-foot neck a foot thick and a spiny crest down the middle of its neck and back. It can be either green or brown, but running to black in either case. Fore-flippers are sometimes noted at the base of the neck, as in this case. Although scales are shown on this statue, they are not generally known as a feature of the reports.

Several early reports from Wisconsin (eg, Rocky of Rock lake) also come from tributaries of the Mississippi river. And several large lakes at the source of the Mississippi (eg, Leech Lake, etc) have historical records of such reports: Serpent Lake is in the area of the sources for the Mississippi.

George Eberhart, Mysterious Creatures (2002), Water Monsters Appendix

Minnesota
Big Sandy Lake. Chris Engstein fired at a horned monster in August 1886. Charles Fort, The Books of Charles Fort (New York: Henry Holt, 1941), p. 615.
Leech Lake. John Aldrich and Skip Christman were using a fish-finder in September 1976 when they detected two 60-foot targets at a depth of around 100 feet. Minneapolis Star, October 1, 1976; Betty Sanders Garner, Monster! Monster! (Blaine, Wash.: Hancock House, 1995), pp. 88–89
[Both these lakes are near the source of the Mississippi. Eberhart seems not to know of Pepie-DD]

Wisconsin
Devil’s Lake.
Two huge serpents with finlike paddles were allegedly seen fighting in August 1889. “Western Lake Resorts Have Each a Water Monster,” Chicago Tribune, July 24, 1892.

"[W]hen the first Christian missionaries arrived on the shores of Devil’s Lake they were greeted by the Nakota tribe who told them about yet another creature that was revealed in the year of the great drought.
The Natkota’s remained near the swiftly drying lake, not only because it was the only water source for miles, but also because the animals upon which they fed were forced to expose themselves in order to drink, providing the tribe with an ample — and relatively simple to hunt — food source. As the summer progressed the lake grew smaller and smaller, until it eventually became two lakes, separated only by a shallow strip of mud, which ran through the center.
One morning the Nakota’s awoke to find what they described as a huge, fish-like creature, which they referred to as “Hokuwa,” trapped on the narrow, muddy strip of exposed lake bed.
The tribe watched as the apparently amphibious animal — which they described as having a large body, long neck and small head much like other prototypical LAKE MONSTERS such as CHAMP or the LOCH NESS MONSTER — thrashed and writhed in an effort to free itself from its drying perch for days.
The sight filled the Nakota with both awe and terror and not even the bravest warrior dared to approach the creature, which they believed it to be an Unktizina — the vile progeny of the evil spirit Unk and the lizard beast known as UNKCEGI — for fear that the spirit’s wrath would bring on even greater hardships than just the drought. Eventually the animal was able to free itself and (presumably) make its way back into the deeper portion of the lake."
American Monsters
http://www.americanmonsters.com/site/2010/10/devils-lake-monsters-wisconsin-usa/

Elkhart Lake. An animal with large jaws was seen in the 1890s. Charles E. Brown, Sea Serpents Wisconsin Occurrences of These Weird Water Monsters (Madison: Wisconsin Folklore Society, 1942).
Lake Mendota. See BOZHO.
Freshwater Monster of Wisconsin.
Etymology: Potawatomi (Algonquin)... May be a shortened form of the name of the Algonquian trickster figure Manabozho.[ie, "Supernatural"?] Physical description: Serpentine. Long head and neck. Large eyes. Long tongue. Distribution: Lake Mendota, Wisconsin. Significant sightings: On June 27, 1883, Billy Dunn and his wife encountered a huge, green snake with light spots that had to be beaten back from their rowboat with an oar and a hatchet. In the autumn of 1917, a fisherman saw a head and neck 100 feet off Picnic Point. Sources: “A True Snake Story,” Madison Wisconsin State Journal, June 28, 1883; “Western Lake Resorts Have Each a Water Monster ,” Chicago Tribune, July 24, 1892; Char les E. Br own, Sea Serpents: Wisconsin Occurrences of These Weird Water Monsters (Madison: Wisconsin Folklore Society, 1942).
Mississippi River. The Menomini Indians warned Jacques Marquette in 1673 that the river was filled with monsters, some like enormous trees, others with tigerlike heads. Jacques Marquette, Récit des voyages et des decouvertes du R. père Jacques Marquette de la Compagnie de Jesus (Albany, N.Y.: Weed, Parsons, 1855).
Lake Monona. Eugene Heath took several shots at a 20-foot-long animal on the evening of June 11, 1897. “What-Is-It in Lake,” Madison Wisconsin State Journal, June 12, 1897; Charles E. Brown, Sea Serpents: Wisconsin Occurrences of These Weird Water Monsters (Madison: Wisconsin Folklore Society, 1942).
Pewaukee Lake. There were several sightings of a monster in the 1890s. Charles E. Brown, Sea Serpents: Wisconsin Occurrences of These Weird Water Monsters (Madison: Wisconsin Folklore Society, 1942). Red Cedar Lake. A 50-foot animal was seen by a fisherman in 1891. Charles E. Brown, Sea Serpents: Wisconsin Occurrences of These Weird Water Monsters (Madison: Wisconsin Folklore Society, 1942). Lake Ripley. Serpentine animal. Betty Sanders Garner, Monster! Monster! (Blaine, Wash.: Hancock House, 1995), p. 181.
Rock Lake. See ROCKY.
Freshwater Monster of Wisconsin. Etymology: After the lake. Physical description: Spotted dark brown, like a pickerel. Horselike head. Eyes like a snake’s. Long neck. Distribution: Rock Lake, Wisconsin. Significant sightings: The earliest sighting was in 1867. On August 28, 1882 (or 1887), Ed McKenzie and D. W. Seybert were in a rowboat race on the lake when they spotted a floating log that turned out to be the head and neck of an animal. The creature was as long as their boat and the color of a pickerel(Pike, spotted green and brown, and Costello says the head reared up out of the water in front of the witnesses). Sources: Charles E. Brown, Sea Serpents: Wisconsin Occurrences of These Weird Water Monsters (Madison: Wisconsin Folklore Society, 1942); Mary M. Wilson, A History of Lake Mills: Creating a Society (Milwaukee, Wis.: Mary M. Wilson, 1983), pp. 521–522; Frank Joseph, The Lost Pyramids of Rock Lake (St. Paul, Minn.: Galde, 1992), pp. 89–95.

Lake Waubesa. A dark-green animal, 60–70 feet long, was seen around 1900. Charles E. Brown, Sea Serpents: Wisconsin Occurrences of These Weird Water Monsters (Madison: Wisconsin Folklore Society, 1942).
see also http://www.atthecreation.com/wis.monsters/deep.html

Hoax Postcard of unknown date, said to come from New Orleans area

"Minnie", a travelling mockup of the "Loch Ness Monster" type, was making the news a while back:
http://www.bringmethenews.com/2013/06/07/minnesotas-answer-to-loch-ness-monster-resurfaces-at-lake-nokomis/
And currently the mockup is on permanent display on Lake Nokomis.

Minne-the-Lake-Monster-photo-Facebook-com-LakeMonster

Recently a similar-appearing cement mockup was erected upriver of New Orleans but authorities wanted it removed since it was in violation of local ordinances.

If nothing else all of this shows a continuing public awareness of the Mississippi River Plesiosaur-shaped water monster, which according to John Keel was known as far back as colonial times and even to the "Mound builders" before them, who represented it in artworks always as being of the Plesiosaurian type.(This was mentioned in his regular column "Mysteries of Tiome And Space" along with a mention of Harold T. Wilkins' sighting of two green Plesiosaurs in a creek in Cornwall, in a book also by that title.)

More Mississippi Monsters:

http://kurtisscaletta.wordpress.com/2011/12/01/the-mississippi-river-monster-of-1877/
December 1, 2011 by Kurtis

The Mississippi River Monster of 1877

A great many able monsters have been seen by sea captains in different states of gin, but the fresh-water monster which is at present infesting the waters of the Mississippi surpasses the ablest of them. (The New York Times, September 7, 1877)

A handful of stories in the fall of 1877 concern a sea monster in the Mississippi River. The monster is described as being 65 feet long, with the body of a snake, the head of a dog, and a ten-foot tusk-like bill. It has six legs and the mane of a horse. You can find the stories here, and they’re all quite enjoyable for their descriptions, style, and quality of evidence. I particularly like the one where the reporter avers the certainty of the monster’s existence because it was witnessed by a Methodist minister.

What the monster needs is a name. What would you call this pelican-billed dogsnakehorsefish?

 

[The illustration which goes with this article is entirely fanciful]

 

Since the head of this creature was compared to a dog or a seal although many times larger, because it had a "horn" on its snout and because it had large webbed feet 14 inches across, I suspect this series of reports was once again inspired by an errant Elephant Seal, the whole scenario sounding very much like Roy Mackal's version of the White Lake Monster. The tail is not reported as such and is imaginary, likely the extra pair of limbs also.

 

http://www.unmuseum.org/whiteriv.htm White River Monster Elephant Seal

Posted on the Cryptomundo site by way of Jerome Clark is this account of what may actually have been a Mishipizhw or Water-Panther (American Master-Otter) since there is a mention of a long tail and "sawteeth", although the reference is obscure. It was ten feet long and 500 pounds, quite reasonable enough dimensions:

A Terrible Fish Story

A strange monster was captured recently [during May] in the [Missouri] river opposite Canton, by some fishermen, in their seine, while dragging for fish. We know not what to call it, or what it looks like, or how to describe it, for it is unlike any creature of earth, air or water, that we have ever seen. It is not a fish, nor is it an alligator, or crocodile, or a turtle, but resembles the pictures we have often seen in books of the mythical dragon. It is a hideous looking and apparently savage monster – the last remnant of a past age. It has a huge, slimy, scaly body, short, strong legs, immense claws, long, serpent-like tail and sharp teeth, set in, like those of a saw. It chaws up ravenously everything with which it comes in contact, but seems loth [sic] to leave the water even in quest of food, and can only be seen where drawn out by the chain with which it is made fast. We should judge it to be ten feet in length, and it weighs probably 500 pounds. When provoked, it makes a roaring noise similar to a sea lion. The parties having it in charge are having a large tub or tank for it, and they intend to take it to Quincy [Illinois] and St. Louis for exhibition. They have refused a thousand dollars for it.

 – Lagrange (Mo.) American.South Side Signal, Babylon, New York, May 14, 1870

“There is, of course, not the remotest possibility that this story is true, but it’s a great yarn anyway.” – Jerome Clark

 

 

Oh and along the way during this search there was a reconstruction of the "Big Blue" catfish under the title "The Legend  of Old Blue"

 

 

http://www.combat-fishing.com/taleofthebigcatfish.html

Suspected 'monster' appears in Tianchi Lake

Suspected 'monster' appears in Tianchi Lake

By Lin Liyao July 30, 2013
http://www.china.org.cn/china/2013-07/30/content_29571464.htm

A picture of the "monster"provided by Wu Chengzhi. [news.sina.cn]

A volcano monitoring station worker in Jilin was measuring water temperatures when he saw some kind of "monster" swimming around Tianchi Lake, according to a local media report.

Around 5 a.m. on July 27, the worker named Wu Chengzhi arrived at the northern slope of the Changbai Mountains and together with his colleague began conducting their routine measurements of Tianchi Lake's water temperatures.

While they were collecting their samples, Wu spotted a V-shaped ripple appear on the lake's quiet and calm surface. At the forefront of the ripple, a "black point" came peeking out of the water and swam forward at relatively high speed.

Wu immediately got out his camera and shot some pictures of the unidentified object.

As seen from one picture provided by Wu, the thing sticking out of the water looks very much like a "monster's head," with an outline similar to that of a fawn's head and neck.

Tianchi Lake, or Heaven Lake, is located in the southeast of Jilin Province and in fact is a crater-lake perched atop the Changbai Mountains. Believed by many locals to be a holy lake, various legends state there are monsters living in the deep of the lake, just like the Scottish legend of Loch Ness.

 

[Lake Tianchi is a lake where earlier sightings were also suspected to have been swimming deer or moose-DD]

Kong's Brontosaurus

The following matter takes an unexpected detour from our regular way of looking at things:

 

http://connection.ebscohost.com/c/articles/31987875/skull-island-Canada

 

TITLE: Skull Island, Canada

PUB. DATE

March 2008

SOURCE

Skeptic;2008, Vol. 14 Issue 1, p12

SOURCE TYPE

Periodical

DOC. TYPE

Article

ABSTRACT

The author reflects on the legend about sea monster called Cadborosaurus in Victoria and the prehistoric dinosaurs appeared in the film "King Kong." He talks about the story of the two civil servants named Langley and Kemp who were told the newspapers in Victoria in 1933 that they have seen huge sea monsters. He shows that the dinosaurs appeared in the fictitious Skull Island in the film could have influenced or inspired the legend.

 

Google Books Source

 

 

 

 above main image: a still from the film King Kong. above inset image: A sketch made from Kemp’s description many months after his sighting. © 1933 RKO Pictures Inc., © 2005 Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc.

 

http://www.skeptic.com/reading_room/skull-island-canada/

Skull Island, Canada

• by Daniel Loxton

 

The 1933 and 2005 versions of King Kong share many rich details, and a moral. There are those who suggest that moral must be something about the power of love, but I suggest the moral is this:
“Never, ever go to Skull Island.”
Skull Island, the setting for the second act of King Kong, is an utterly nightmarish place. A steaming jungle packed with prehistoric beasts and crawling with unlikely monsters, it is a place where even the insects can drag you away for dinner.
It’s not surprising that this exotic, terrifying place awed Depression-era movie audiences. When Kong opened in 1933, no one had ever seen anything like it. The revolutionary special effects, the scope of imagination, the depth of immersion in another world — all these created a blockbuster experience that still echoes in the popular imagination today.
My story begins on another, sleepier island: Vancouver Island, off the western coast of British Columbia, Canada.
At the southern tip lies the provincial capital city of Victoria, a bustling tourist destination with a busy cruise ship port. Today it bills itself as “the City of Gardens,” but in 1933 it enjoyed worldwide fame for something altogether more mysterious — nothing less than an 80-foot sea monster, called Cadborosaurus.
According to legend, an awesome, primeval monster — a huge serpent with flippers, a mane, and a head something like that of a camel or horse — slides undetected through the frigid waters off British Columbia and Washington State. Could a living dinosaur, a monster out of time, lurk here beneath the waves?
That question hinges on a moment in history.
Imagine yourself in 1933 for a moment. The Great Depression was causing tremendous hardship at home, while daily newspaper headlines carried ever more bad news about Adolf Hitler. As tensions continued to mount between the new Nazi government of Germany and the rest of Europe, war seemed increasingly likely.
The news featured one bummer story after another, and people needed a pick-me-up. In Victoria, that came in the form of headlines proclaiming, “Yachtsmen Tell Of Huge Serpent Seen Off Victoria.”
Two civil servants, named Langley and Kemp, told the Victoria Daily Times that they’d each independently seen huge sea monsters. According to Langley, he and his wife were out sailing when they heard “a grunt and a snort accompanied by a huge hiss,” and then “saw a huge object about 90 to 100 feet off,” of which “[t]he only part of it that we saw was a huge dome of what was apparently a portion of its back.” It was, he said, only visible for a few seconds before diving.
What strikes me about Langley’s monster — and contemporary critics were quick to point this out — is that it swam like a whale, it sounded like a whale, and it looked a whale. Now, whales definitely live in the area: Humpbacks, grey whales, sperm whales, and others. Even today, boatloads of whale-watching tourists leave Victoria’s downtown Inner Harbour every few minutes. Given that we have no data here except a momentary, unsubstantiated, undeniably whale-like anecdote, the Langley sighting seems to me to be a completely trivial case.
But the Kemp case was more interesting. It was his sustained daylight sighting that fueled a Cadborosaurus media frenzy in Victoria and across the continent, inspiring a rash of copycat sightings — and launching an enduring legend.
According to Kemp’s 1933 story, he and his family were picnicking one afternoon in the previous year, on a group of tiny islands just off Victoria, when they saw something extraordinary. A huge creature swam up the channel between Chatham and Strongtide Islands leaving an impressive wake. Kemp recalled, “The channel at this point is about 500 yards wide. Swimming to the steep rocks of the island opposite, the creature shot its head out of the water on to the rock, and moving its head from side to side, appeared to be taking its bearings. Then fold after fold of its body came to the surface. Towards the tail it appeared serrated, like the cutting edge of a saw, with something moving flail-like at the extreme end. The movements were like those of a crocodile. Around the head appeared a sort of mane, which drifted round the body like kelp.”
Kemp estimated the animal was over 60 feet long. Although it was indistinct with distance — it was at least 1200 feet away, maybe 1500 — this was no fleeting sighting. According to Kemp, they watched the monster for several minutes before it slid off the rocks and swam away.
What was it? It sounds to me like a group of sea lions among the distant kelp, viewed at too great a distance and remembered with too great a dollop of imagination. But the interesting question is, “Whose imagination?”
Kemp’s description gives a clue. Despite copycat sightings describing literal “sea serpents,” and despite the serpentine image of Cadborosaurus now popular among cryptozoologists, it’s striking that neither of the original eyewitness reports described serpents at all!
Langley described something like a whale; Kemp described something like a dinosaur. His monster, he said, “gave the impression that it was much more like a reptile than a serpent….”
Responding to the Kemp sighting, one letter to the editor offered an opinion that Caddy might be a sauropod dinosaur called diplodocus. This writer noted Caddy’s long neck and long tail, and called it “probable that it has legs with webbed feet with which it propels itself.”
Kemp seized on this dinosaur idea with enthusiasm, and produced an eyewitness sketch consistent with a sauropod. He agreed, “Diplodocus describes better what we saw than anything else. My first feelings on viewing the creature were of being transferred to a prehistoric period when all sorts of hideous creatures abounded.” He said the creature’s movements “were not fishlike, but rather more like the movement of a huge lizard.”
This combination of elements — a swimming sauropod dinosaur, and the notion of being transported to a prehistoric world full of terrible monsters — sounded very familiar to me. I was reminded of another sauropod, filmed swimming in a primal environment teeming with hideous creatures: Skull Island, as depicted in the blockbuster film King Kong! Comparing Kemp’s description and sketch with stills from the film, the parallels are striking.

The most famous Loch Ness monster hoax photo (top) compared with a still from the film King Kong (bottom). Both images feature small models. © 1933 RKO Pictures Inc., © 2005 Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc.

Could the film have inspired Kemp’s story? The timeline certainly works: Kong, it happens, opened in Victoria just six months before Kemp and Langley created the legend of Cadborosaurus. It blew movie-goers away, scared the socks off of people, and stuck in the memories of all who saw it. (Not coincidentally, the legend of the Loch Ness Monster was likewise created immediately after the release of King Kong, and the several key Nessie sightings seem almost lifted from the film. It’s especially notable that the infamous fake “Surgeon’s Photo” looks virtually identical to a shot from the movie.) [it is not, and it definitely has not been proven to be a small model-DD]
Is this similarity between Cadborosaurus and Kong suspicious? You bet.
Kemp’s original sighting was extremely uncertain, as he admitted, because of the tremendous distance involved (well over a thousand feet). He couldn’t make out the key details. For example, the creature’s head was just a blob. It’s likely he saw a distant group of marine mammals swimming and climbing the rocks (as is entirely typical in the area), but was unable to make out what they were at that distance. Perhaps he puzzled about it for a few months before King Kong planted a seed….
When he finally met Langley, heard his sea monster story, and compared notes, Kemp’s memories were a year old, and very probably contaminated by Hollywood.
That’s a recipe for a legend — but as scientific data, it’s a disaster.
Where does this leave Cadborosaurus? As so often in the paranormal world, it seems that the entire legendary edifice, all the sightings that followed, the books and TV programs and place in pop culture, all rests on a foundation of smoke.
Smoke, and the flickering screen of a cinema.

[According to the standard sources, the rumours of Cadborosaurus started to accumulate before the movie King Kong came out, around 1930. Loxton has overstated his case because the movie King Kong could not have been the initial motivation to report "Cadborosauruses" if the reports were already in circulation . However there is a complication as far as Loch Ness is concerned. 
Almost a full year earlier than this article, I posted an observation on the message board of the Cryptomundo site which was as follows:

"The Spicers were both groggy after a long drive and returning
home after seeing the new movie feature King Kong. They said they
saw the Brontosaurus out of that movie originally, and gave several
conflicting size estimates after the sighting. This is an
unconventional explanation, but I think they both projected the image
of the King Kong brontosaurus onto a real area–call it a
hallucination if you will."
http://www.cryptomundo.com/cryptozoo-news/otternonsense2/

Spicer Report, King Kong Brontosaurus

Rupert Gould incidentally drew the sketch, source

 for all such subsequent sketches, after the

witness' descriptions: this is NOT a witness' sketch.

 

 

 And a little while later I got this message in reply:
Good job with that identification. I think the photo comparison really
proves you right. The Spicer sighting was so strange that it seems
very unlikely that they saw a real creature. It seemed more like they
were describing something out of a monster movie than a real animal.

Thanks,
Dave F.

Posted By: Anon Sat Jun 16, 2007 9:37 am  |

Now whereas there were sea and lake monsters reported all around the world well before 1933, I will be the first to admit that something significant happened in 1933. Temporarily at least, the image of the Brontosaurus as the model for water monsters seized hold of the public imagination and it actually displaced the images of the traditional [string-of-buoys]sea serpent and the Plesiosaurian shaped Sea-serpent, the latter including Oudemans' model as well. I am afraid Oudemans may have paved the way for this because as Heuvelmans states, his model for the Sea-serpent does tend to resemble a Sauropod dinosaur because of the very long and whiplike tail.  But you do see the idea of the "Brontosaurus" as the shape the Lake Monster was in in Lake Okanogan and Lake Champlain at the same time, and as is noted in several sources, this is also a decade after the Patagonian Plesiosaur was in the news. This was undoubtedly part of the rise in popularity for Lake Monsters in general, but because of the temporary focus on the "Brontosaurus" as the model for water-monsters, the popular image was getting off on the wrong foot.-DD]

Lake Champlain Sightings Profiles

 

Some different views of "Champ" from different sources. The video still above ios the same as the  first one on the diagram below, the head seems to change shape. It seems to be a swimming quadruped with only a modest length of neck and it is assumed to be a deer with antlers that present a different aspect from different angles. Its resolution is too poor to make it out any better.

 

There are a couple of different phenomena at Lake Champlain that have fed into the Legend of Champ. Of far more interest to us are the sightings which allege it has a Plesiosaurian shape, with or without humps on the back. Below is an assortment of creatures depicted in different sightings in profile, as variations on the Plesiosaurian category.

 

Drawing of a recent sighting of "Champ" from a Kayak

As produced by Facebook Friend Thomas Finley as part of a package promoting a field trip to Lake Champlain (Via Scott Mardis, who also hopes to go). it is a good match for the second-from-the-last profile on the chart above, but that one is a different sighting taken from a different source.

                   Video purporting to show "Champ": could be a swimming beaver.
                   More distinctive Plesiosaur type sighting below:

Purported "Champ" looking very much like Peter O'Conner's 1960 photo of "Nessie"

(By way of Scott Mardis)

 

Here is my earlier attempt to characterise the Champ sightings as done for a CFZ article. The impression I had was that several of the witnesses used the old Sinclair Oil Dinosaur as a point of reference and so I simply cut a section off of the Sinclair Dinosaur and added the dimensions (The shape of the head was wrong on this reconstruction but nobody knew about that part until more recently) The comparison of Lake Monsters to the Sinclair Dinosaur has also been stated in Lake Superior and in the state of Michigan, but I am rather more dubious of those claims.

 

http://forteanzoology.blogspot.com/2010/01/dale-drinnon-champ-sightings-mock-up.html

http://www.njan.org/draw.php

Champ Sightings List

Please give the files time to open some of the pdfs have many pages
and it may take a few seconds for them to appear. [Joe Zarzynski 1988] [Gary Mangiacopra 2007Pt.1] [Gary Mangiacopra 2007 Pt.2]

[Unfortunately the links have expired but I believe they are still at the Not Only Nessie site,]

The Definitive Water Horse

While I was looking through the artwork of R. W. Benjamin at the Unknown Creatures website (Love it or hate it, it is one of the more prominent references on Cryptids that will turn up on your internet searches), and I happened to find the illustration of the Turtle Lake monster, Alberta, Canada. It happens that a description had just been posted for the Kootenay Lake monster in the yahoo group Frontiers of Zoology and the description coincided with the artwork in measurement and proportions: and that I had also previously done composites for the Lake Monsters in the Lake Winnepeg-Winnepegosis-Lake-Manitoba group, and in several lakes in Quebec, all of which tended to correspond to this Water Horse reconstruction. The illustration for the Turtle Lake Monster follows and I consider it to be an acurate depiction for what is reported:

Now please consider that actually what is ever seen is just the head, neck and upper back, or in other words the top part of the first half of the reconstruction drawing. The limbs are inferred because of their movement  in the water, and the tail is most often only assumed without any good evidence. The part of the limbs represented on the Water-Monster drawing are a fair representation of the upper parts of the limbs down to the "Knees" (which are actually the heels on the back legs)

I think we don't need to look any further than this for the identification of most "Water Horse" cases of Eurasia and North America: the Russian and even Chinese reports are much like this. The actual "PLESIOSAURIAN" shaped animals have a much smaller head, a longer neck and a much bigger body: they are seen much less often and usually closer to the sea. Out of the long list of "Lake Monster"lakes, only a few outstanding examples qualify, but they are worldwide (and uncommon)

http://www.unknown-creatures.com/gallery.html


From the Frontiers of Zoology Group submitted by Terry Colvin:
[forteana] Kootenay Lake Monster
Date: Dec 4, 2012 2:35 PM

[Vehicle engine interference is a commonly reported attribute of UFOs, but
the case below is the first instance I've come across of a boat's motor
being similarly affected in the presence of a lake monster. As I recall,
there's an account or two in the Bords' *Bigfoot Casebook* of cars that
failed to start when Bigfoot was lurking in the vicinity -- and that's the
little I know about cryptids shutting down engines and motors. Ghosts have
been known to stop cars, and witches traditionally have the power to stop
wagons, and sometimes a countercharm -- such as the one used by one of the
boat passengers -- is effective in getting the horses moving again. -- bc]

John Kirk, *In the Domain of the Lake Monsters* (Toronto: Key Porter
Books, 1998), p. 188.

Only one interview has ever been obtained from a living witness of a
Kootenay Lake monster and it was due to the diligent detective work of the
late Jim Clark who managed to track down Naomi Miller, a resident of the
small lakeside community of Wasa in 1937. Miller's story is a fascinating
one and here is her own account of what took place:

_Our family always used a boat to go to Kaslo from our home at Shutty
Beach, four miles north on the shore of Kootenay Lake. Many of our
neighbours were forced, in those depression years, to walk to town to do
their errands and to walk home again. The Williams family, who lived less
than half-a-mile from us, were among those who had no boat, no horse and
no car. One day Mr. Williams came to our door, explaining that he had an
urgent errand in Kaslo. Could he please have a ride to town? My father
willingly let him use one of our boats with a small outboard motor. It was
also agreed that my brother and I (aged six and ten) would accompany him
to do a few errands.

_Errands accomplished, we enjoyed a sunny July day and a crystal clear
lake as the motor purred driving us homeward. We rounded the "Big Point"
and were barely out of sight of Kaslo when the motor coughed and stopped.
Moments later we were aware of a ripple just ahead of the boat. A black
head reared followed by at least one hump above the water some eight feet
behind us. This weird creature swam between our boat and the shore to a
position behind us. We sat hypnotized until the "Ogopogo" dived with a
gurgling sound into the calm water. Mr. Williams made the sign of the
cross [...], twice, to protect himself from evil. He then pulled the
starting cord and the outboard motor responded as if nothing had happened.
We do not know what we saw, but agree that it was longer than our 16 foot
boat, and three of us in it that July day in 1937._
[Once again assuming the tail which is not seen, and in a size range
 which is probably the smaller end of Lake Monster reports in general-DD]

Terry W. Colvin
Ladphrao (Bangkok), Thailand
Pran Buri (Hua Hin), Thailand
http://terrycolvin.freewebsites.com/
[Terry's Fortean & "Work" itty-bitty site]

Dale Drinnon <daledrinnon@gmail.com>	Dec 4 (2 days ago)
to frontiers-of-zoology. A very good description of a swimming moose! As to the boat's motor, I assume it could have gone out at any time and therefore [had the mysterious stopping and starting] gotten accidentally attached to any number of unrelated things by the witnesses just as well. Best Wishes, Dale D.

Lake Champlain Plesiosaurs

Jeff Johnson's theoretical interpretation of the Sandra Mansi photo and an actual plesiosaur fossil in a limestone matrix from the U.K.. Jeff has modified the photo to indicate the theoretical body underwater

 Scott Mardis published these photo comparisons of the Mansi Lake Champlain creature with known skeleons of Plesiosaurs as they are on display in several museums. These are the actual skeletons and aere not "Corrected" in any way to make the body or neck seem unnaturally flexible.

And another lifesized museum model of this same kind of Plesiosaur that these Lake and Sea Monsters seem to be most closely related to.   Best Wishes, Dale D.

Lake Memphremagog: The Legend Of Memphre

Lake Memphremagog: The Legend Of Memphre, A Monster Which Sits In The Quebec/Vermont Lake (PHOTOS)

Posted: 10/15/2012 8:41 am EDT Updated: 10/16/2012 9:48 am EDT
 

Andrew Burmon

andrew.burmon@huffingtonpost.com
Original Source


The border separating Quebec from Vermont runs through dairy fields, traverses a small wood and crosses an abbreviated beach before diving a little over 300 feet under the cold waters of Lake Memphremagog, a 39-square-mile amoeba of glacial water that either does or doesn't contain a 30-foot-long monster. If the lake doesn't contain a monster, its most notable feature is probably its hilly shore, which bursts into riotous color come fall and presents an inviting destination for American leaf peepers exploring the Northeast Kingdom and Montreal homme d'affaires on weekend getaways.
The lake is bookended by two charming towns, Newport, Vermont and Magog, Canada, which display very different sensibilities. Newport has the look of a mill town with a brick main drag and neighborhoods full of small homes for the tradesmen who hang out downtown in greasy spoon diners. The best view in town is from the church and everybody nods or waves to everybody else. Magog is a larger place and many of the Victorian homes just outside the lengthy town center, which contains multiple practical footwear stores and a sex shop, are bed and breakfasts. There is a town park by the water where neighbors walk together and fail to smile at strangers and where a sign reminds visitors to look for Memphre, which is the name of the monster. (*SEE PHOTOS BELOW*)

Memphre got his name from Jacques Boisvert, who called himself a "dracontologist" and lived in a clapboard house three minutes out of Magog. Boisvert, who died in 2006, was the Canadian ambassador to Memphre. Along with Barbara Malloy, the head of the Memphremagog Historical Society of Newport, he publicized the serpent and, in so doing, the region.
The region on both sides of the border -- crossing requires little more than a few minutes of small talk with a custom's officer -- is quiet and pretty. The delights of this landscape, the maple trees and postcard-ready barns, are no more ostentatious than the people who inhabit it. Syrup is sold out of mud rooms and, aggressive Quebecois driving aside, courtesy seems to be the great cultural achievement. In Magog, neighbors spend a lot of time raking each other's lawns.
In this context, Boisvert's monstrous story has a distinct appeal. It helps, of course, that the story also has compelling details: A viking petroglyph found at the top of a mountain near the lake showed a serpent and, when Europeans first arrived in the area, they'd been warned off swimming in the lake by natives with similar concerns. Of course Boisvert had also seen the beast. As had Mrs. Malloy.
"At first, when you see it is pitch dark," Malloy told Huffington Post Travel by phone. "When I first saw it, it was coming in from the Canadian border. I thought it was jetskiers because it was moving fast, but when it turned to go south more it was parallel to the road and I could see from the side view that it had a head like a horse, a long neck and a big body. As it got closer I could see that it was pretty tall and as long as a house. Then it turned again and went towards the west shore and, as it swam out it disappeared into the mist because it had been raining."
It is probably worth saying the Malloy doesn't come across as crazy or attention-seeking. To the contrary actually. She says she's trying to talk about the creature less these days because "the whole thing has brought a lot of frustration." Still, she is an evangelist for the creature's existence and the holder of the copyright to his name.

 

She believes that a serpent lives at the bottom of the lake, that he's smart and that strange things happen along the 45th parallel -- this is a common refrain among bigfoot and UFO hunters. She's collected eyewitness reports of monster sighting from nearby lakes as well, so she isn't a Memphremagog exceptionalist. She thinks there might be ancient swimming reptiles in Lake Seymour, Lake Willoughby, and Crystal Lake. And those are only the American monsters.
"These all sound a lot like Champ," Malloy says, namechecking Lake Champlain's famous beast, the mascot for -- among other things -- the Short Season Single-A Vermont Lake Monsters.
If it did live at the bottom of the lake, a beast like Memphre would probably be classified as a Sauropterygian. Sauropterygians -- think Plesiosaurs or the Loch Ness Monster -- are aquatic reptiles and though they were once extremely common, they went extinct along with the dinosaurs at the end of Cretaceous period.
This means that Lake Memphremagog -- if Malloy is correct -- should be of tremendous interest to scientists instead of being, as it is now, of some interest to open-water swimming enthusiasts and Canadian mountain bikers, who favor the trail system on nearby Mount Orford. The people who rent the paddle boats from the public docks would probably be a bit more nervous as well, though they'd still rent the boats because the lake is beautiful. It just happens to be beautiful in a very specific way: It's eerie.
Early in the morning, vapor rises off the lake and visibility can be fairly low. The hills and mountains beyond the Lake are perfectly reflected on the flat surface of the bracing water. The shallows are clear and filled with clouds of small fish and piles of pebbles. From the lookout dedicated to Jacques Boisvert in Magog, visitors can see many miles, but may find themselves without much to focus on other than the few small islands that interrupt the liquid metal of the water.
Boisvert, it turns out, was something approaching beloved in the town of Magog, a fact Malloy credits to the politeness of Canadians, who seem more willing to engage with the idea of the monster. Memphre lends his name to nicest bistro in town.
The owner of my bed and breakfast suggested that the myth was really a way to attract tourists, but added that it might not be necessary anymore given how much the community has to offer by way of performances and festivals and trails and foliage.
But Memphre is an interesting monster because he isn't a commercial monster. You can't buy a t-shirt with his name on it in America because Malloy would be able to sue the seller for $100,000. In all likelihood, you hadn't heard of him before you started reading this article.
If he turns out to be real, Malloy will likely serve a banquet of crow for all the haters in town. But if he is simply a stubborn notion, Memphre still says something about this place at the edge of two countries: The people here want hard evidence of their landscape's singularity.
Look close enough and you can see that it is there already. The dairy farms the border runs across and the woods it runs through and the lake it dives under are all pristine. There is either a monster in the lake or there isn't. It's a nice lake regardless.
CORRECTION: A previous version of this story stated that the lake is 39 acres large. It is 39 square miles large. We regret the error.



http://www.vermonter.com/northlandjournal/lake-memphremagog.asp

Lurking in the Depths of Lake Memphremagog

by Scott Wheeler Lake Memphremagog is home to a gigantic monster—at least that is what some people say. For many years, people have reported seeing what some consider a lake monster, or lake serpent, swimming in Lake Memphremagog and other Northeast Kingdom waters. My family has long been connected to Lake Memphremagog, so I’ve always been interested in the creature that we call ~Gog. I’ve often worried about the impact of this fish eating serpent has on our famed fishery. Such a creature must surely eat enough fish to diminish the supply of fish in the lake. I’ve been skeptical of claims about the existence of these aquatic monsters, any kind of monsters, whether it be Gog or ~ Willie," the mythical creature that is said to roam the waters of Lake Willoughby in Westmore. Instead, I always wrote off sightings as the result of overactive imaginations. Logs, beavers, snapping turtles, schools of fish, and swimming moose are suddenly trans¬formed into something more sinister—a salmon and walleye—eating beast. This skepticism hasn’t stopped me from looking for it, though. More than once I’ve thought I finally spotted Gog, only to be disappointed. There was the time while duck hunting, straining to see any approaching diving ducks through the morning mist, when my over-stressed eyes suddenly detected what I thought was a huge creature paddling slowly through the mist. "Surely that is Gog come to feast on my duck decoys," I thought to myself. Once the mist lifted, I couldn’t help but laugh. My decoys were still bobbing in the water, and as for that creature, it was only a monstrous limb of an old willow tree bobbing along in the waves. Yes, the water can play tricks on one’s eyes. During another hunting trip I was again convinced of Gog’s existence. Through the morning haze, it was clear to me what I was see¬ing—four black humps bobbing in the lake. Certainly they were the humps on the back of a horrible lake creature. Those humps kept undulating in and out of the water one after another like some kind of prehistoric water-dwelling creature from the Stone Age. One hump appeared at the same time that another one disappeared. "Wow!", I said to myself. "It’s Gog." My excitement was dashed when the haze lifted. No, it wasn’t a lake serpent I was seeing, but a family of loons diving for fish in the morning light. Those loons sure did look like humps rising and falling though, as they took turns diving for fish, leaving at least one loon on the surface all the time to keep an eye out for approaching danger. "Get a grip, Scottie," I laughed at myself. "You’ve been watching Jurassic Park too much." Then there was the time several years ago, while fishing in Scott’s cove, when I thought I was on the verge of having my first encounter with Gog, an aquatic monster that my ancestors, who have spent hundreds of years living and working on Lake Memphremagog, had never even seen. Catching one fish after another, I was startled by a tremendous crashing sound coming from the direc¬tion of the nearby cattails. This wasn’t any sound that I’d ever heard before. Surely it wasn’t one of those beavers or a school of spawning fish that had tricked me many times into making me think I was going to see a certified lake monster. "Darn!" I cursed as I remembered that I’d forgotten my camera. Why does that happen every time I think Gog is going to reveal himself to me? Bummed out, but being the adventurer that I am, I pressed on into the cattails in my boat, hoping to at least get a description of this monster to share with my friends, some who themselves claim to have seen unexplained creatures, both aquatic and land bound, but typically only after a bit of celebrating, when, of course, they didn’t happen to have a camera to support their claims. One friend, however, did something the rest of them couldn’t: Paul took a photograph of the beast he witnessed swimming in the lake. A computer enhanced version of the photo later revealed that the beast wasn’t Gog, but rather a moose out for a swim. So, the beast was still waiting to be discovered. Pushing through the cattails, I peered into the weeds, hoping to see a lake serpent, or family of lake serpents, frolicking. Instead, all I found were two oversized snapping turtles, the size of washtubs, enjoying a romantic afternoon in the midday sun. Another day, while fishing off the railroad bridge in New¬port, I excitedly told a fellow fisherman standing near me, "Hey, where did those waves come from? Is it Gog?" "No, stupid! Didn’t you see that boat go by a few minutes ago," the fisherman laughed at me, explaining how oftentimes people don’t see the wake of a boat until after the boat is long out of sight. Needless to say, I felt like a fool. The spring of 2003 spelled good fishing for my boys and me. We caught some really fine fish and created some great memories. But the one thing we didn’t see was a lake monster. That would have made our day. Frustrated by my inability to see a monster, any kind of monster, land dwelling or aquatic, I decided to go in search of Gog. "What does one need to go monster hunting?" I wondered. I’ve hunted many things in my life—rabbits, partridges, and deer—but never monsters. Looking at my leaky rowboat, I shook my head. It surely wasn’t made for such an adventure. I needed a nice boat, respectable enough to carry a certified monster hunter and all his gear. I called up Stan, a good friend of mine who owns such a boat. Stan and I met several years ago, and it’s safe to say that his life hasn’t been the same ever since. "Sometimes I think I met the Mad Hatter" he is fond of saying. Why would he say such a thing? Doesn’t everybody go in search of monsters? Heck, I’ve been looking for monsters every since I was a child when I insisted to my parents that the boogie man lived under my bed. Stan shook his head in disbelief as I told him of my plans to capture Gog on film. I assured him that we and his boat would be safe since I’d been told that this mythical creature wasn’t vicious, but seemed to actually like humans. Loading up the boat with monster-hunting tools, in¬cluding among other things, a pair of binoculars, and not one, but two cameras, just in case one camera should fail. I wasn’t taking any chances this time. "Okay, what is that for?" said Stan, as he watched me load a hay fork into the boat. I explained that although rumor has it that Gog is friendly; I wasn’t taking any chances with a beast the size of Gog. Besides that, I reasoned that he, or she, must be one tough monster to live thousands of years in Lake Memphremagog. Boarding the boat, I told Stan to steer toward Owl’s head, the picturesque mountain just across the border in Canada on the lake’s shores. Knowing there was a deep hole in the lake in front of the mountain, I surmised it would make for a perfect location to spot Gog. As we sped along, Stan and I scanned the lake’s surface looking for anything out of the ordinary. We’d picked a good night for our expedition. The waves were little more than ripples. "Stan, look! Over there!" I hollered over the roar of the mo¬tor, pointing toward what appeared to be humps bobbing on the horizon. The humps were headed easterly in the vicinity of the lighthouse, just off of the Lake Road. Breaking out in a cold sweat of excitement, I told Stan to ease up on the throttle as I wiped the sweat from my eyes and grabbed my binoculars. I peered hard through my field glasses. There was no explanation for what I was see¬ing. Throwing down my binoculars, I grabbed both of my cameras and began to click madly away, making sure I had plenty of pictures to show my friends. Still not certain exactly what we were seeing, we moved even closer to the beast. Suddenly, the creature made it known that he either wasn’t impressed to see us on his turf, or he viewed us humans as a hearty meal, because, that beast lunged out of the water, heading directly toward the boat. Grabbing up the pitchfork that Stan had laughed at me about, I stood on the stern, ready to fend off the attack, while Stan spun the boat so that we could escape. No, it wasn’t a monster, or even some unknown lake crea¬ture, instead, it was a monster walleye. So, my best piece of advice to you is, if you’re coming to the Northeast Kingdom to see a monster, you’ll probably go home disappointed, but if you’re coming to look for really big fish, you’ve found the right place. Come fish the Northeast Kingdom where the fish are big and legends never die. As for Gog and his other monster friends up here in the Kingdom, they, too, will always be part of the local lore—merry myths passed down from one generation to the next. http://www.tomifobia.com/memjack.html PHANTOMS AND MONSTERS: Tuesday, October 16, 2012 The Lake Memphremagog Monster http://naturalplane.blogspot.com/2012/10/the-lake-memphremagog-monster.html   Memphre, a water creature that is said to live in Lake Memphrémagog, has taunted skeptics for more than 180 years. The lake monster supposedly resembles a sea serpent. The following is a recent article about this cryptid: Lake Memphremagog: The Legend Of Memphre The border separating Quebec from Vermont runs through dairy fields, traverses a small wood and crosses an abbreviated beach before diving a little over 300 feet under the cold waters of Lake Memphremagog, a 39-square-mile amoeba of glacial water that either does or doesn't contain a 30-foot-long monster. If the lake doesn't contain a monster, its most notable feature is probably its hilly shore, which bursts into riotous color come fall and presents an inviting destination for American leaf peepers exploring the Northeast Kingdom and Montreal homme d'affaires on weekend getaways. The lake is bookended by two charming towns, Newport, Vermont and Magog, Canada, which display very different sensibilities. Newport has the look of a mill town with a brick main drag and neighborhoods full of small homes for the tradesmen who hang out downtown in greasy spoon diners. The best view in town is from the church and everybody nods or waves to everybody else. Magog is a larger place and many of the Victorian homes just outside the lengthy town center, which contains multiple practical footwear stores and a sex shop, are bed and breakfasts. There is a town park by the water where neighbors walk together and fail to smile at strangers and where a sign reminds visitors to look for Memphre, which is the name of the monster. Memphre got his name from Jacques Boisvert, who called himself a "dracontologist" and lived in a clapboard house three minutes out of Magog. Boisvert, who died in 2006, was the Canadian ambassador to Memphre. Along with Barbara Malloy, the head of the Memphremagog Historical Society of Newport, he publicized the serpent and, in so doing, the region... Continue reading at Lake Memphremagog: The Legend Of Memphre [Reprinted above] Lake Memphremagog 1842 The Birth of the Memphremagog Monster Until the beginning of the 19th century, the only inhabitants of the area around Memphrémagog were the Abenaki...because of the abundance of game and fish. When the first white settlers arrived, they were warned by the Abenaki not to swim in the lake because of the presence of the sea serpent. Among the varied descriptions, it is said to be more or less aggressive and on several occasions, is said to reside in a cave at the base of Owl's Head Mountain, on the shore of the lake. The first document describing the creature dates back to 1816 and is signed by Ralph Merry IV. He describes four experiences by the citizens of Georgeville and which he finds to be totally credible. He, however, was not a witness to any of these phenomena but only reported the facts as he knew them. He reports what individuals and groups of individuals saw in different areas and at different times. The descriptions usually coincide as to the length and appearance of the serpent like creature. In his accounts Mr. Merry does not refer to the sea serpent but rather to one of the sea serpents of Memphrémagog. Also, on several occasions since 1847, The Stanstead Journal has published several articles on this phenomenon, some relating numerous sightings which the lakeshore residents have witnessed. These sightings continued throughout the years. To date, more than 215 sightings have been reported and documented with great care. Each account is signed and recorded; hearsay accounts are simply refused. There are on the average, eight sightings annually which have been confirmed by about twenty witnesses. In 1961, two fishermen, heading for Newport observed for about forty seconds a black creature, about 20 feet long, swimming partially submerged. According to these men the creature that was about 200 feet from their boat, had a round back and an indescribable head. This scene was accompanied by a strange sound. In July 1996, four persons witnessed it's presence after observing it for more than a minute. According to them, the creature had several humps, was about 20 feet long and swam about 50 yards between their boat and the shore. This sighting which took place about 7 p.m. is similar to one that took place about 4 p.m. some 10 miles away as observed by three other persons. The description of a three humped creature coincides with that of September 1994 given by four persons in two different boats. The weather was overcast but the lake was calm not a wave, no wind, they observed for at least three minutes from each of their two boats and object 40 to 50 feet long type of wave shaped like three humps and black in color. This adventure ended for them when the creature swam under one of the boats and disappeared into the depths of the lake. Rare are those who can boast having seen the phenomenon on more than one occasion. This is however the case of two Montrealers who after a first sighting in May of 1995, saw the sea serpent again in August of the same year. Better yet, they were able to obtain a film clip which was used in a documentary on the Canada D channel the following October. - vermonter.com ----- Woman Recounts Sighting Of Memphremagog Monster Saturday May 10, 2003 Newport Daily Express Lake Memphremagog's signature mystery has returned. Barbara Malloy, a Newport City resident and local historian, said this week she saw Memphre the Lake Memphremagog monster on May 1. Like Nessie in the Loch Ness of Scotland or Champ in Lake Champlain, Memphre is the stuff of local legend and history. It's not the first sighting of the creature that many claim to have seen on this long international lake. Area newspapers like The Stanstead (Quebec) Journal have recorded sightings of something big and elusive in the lake as far back as the 1840s. On Jan. 21, 1847, an eyewitness reported this: "I am not aware whether it is generally known that a strange animal something of a sea serpent ... exists in Lake Memphremagog." But it was known long before that. According to historical accounts, American Indians told the first Europeans that there was something in the lake. Malloy first saw it in the waters off Horseneck Island and again north of the island in 1983. Memphre is believed to look somewhat like a plesiosaur, a water-living dinosaur of the Jurassic period, brown or black in color, with four fins or paddle-like feet, an elongated roundish body and a long neck. It ranges from 6 to 50 feet long[most commonly 20 to 30]. Popular drawings or artwork show his skin color as green, but that obviously depends on the eyewitness.[Emphasis added. The size, shape and colour specified in a consensus of reports is nearly identical to "Champ", the beast of Lake Champlain; see art at bottom-DD] This time, Malloy said she saw a jet black hump in the water, which bobbed up and down and then disappeared. Malloy said Thursday another Newport resident confirmed the sighting, only she saw a larger and a smaller hump, but the woman did not wish to go public. Others have come forward over the years to record their sightings with Malloy and other "dracontologists" like Magog, Quebec resident Jacques Boisvert who keep track of such mysteries in this 30-mile-long lake. Boisvert named Lake Memphremagog's own sea serpent Memphre, which is pronounced with a long "e" at the end, suitable for use in French or English. A monk at the monastery at St. Benoit-du-lac near Magog coined the term dracontologie for Boisvert. Dracontology, the English version, is a branch of cryptozoology, for all kinds of mysterious creatures of legend, like Big Foot. The name even meets the requirements of the Quebec French Language Office, responsible preserving and protecting the French language in Quebec, Boisvert said Thursday. Boisvert, a renowned diver and local historian, had never seen Memphre himself, but said he keeps an open mind. He and Malloy collaborated for a while in the 1980s on publicizing the Memphre legend and history. Both collect sightings, and have Web sites to keep the information alive. Malloy has a display of Memphre memorabilia and sighting information in the Emory Hebard state office building on Main Street in Newport City. Boisvert is heavily into promoting the use of Memphre as a tourist attraction in Magog, and speaks and writes regularly about the history of the lake. Vermont Secretary of State Deb Markowitz is into a little promotion of her own. She has a children's page off the state Web site, featuring drawings and information of both Memphre and Champ. There have been attempts to photograph Memphre, but there is no definite evidence. Malloy took pictures in 1989, but they show a dark object sticking out of the water and making a wake. Discounters say these pictures could be of other things. One recent photograph turned out to be a moose swimming across the lake. Yet the stories of Memphre capture and captivate the imagination. And it brings an air of mystery to this already lovely international lake. Lake Monster Mysteries: Investigating the World's Most Elusive CreaturesThe Vermont Monster GuideAround Lake Memphremagog (VT) (Images of America) Some more/other videocaptures: Log Cabin Chronicles So, now what do you think?

JOHN MAHONEY
on August 12 at 11:22 a.m. Patricia deBroin Fournier and her husband were boating on Lake Memphremagog, in the Quebec end of the international lake. They were still on their annual summer holidays.
Suddenly, some distance away the surface of the water became agitated. Ms. Fournier thought this strange because the rest of the lake was relatively calm and placid. She had the presence of mind to focus her video camera on the disturbed area.
In a recent e-mail she wrote:
It was not a natural-looking boat wake (multiple waves) but a single moving wave; it was also [in] a deep part of the lake. I have it all on tape and it was strange to see. I have been out on the lake since I was 10 and know all about the stories.
I have watched her very short video clip of the event a number of times and can report that, yes, something was out there that day.
Whatever it was -- and I certainly am not prepared to say it was the legendary monster of Lake Memphremagog -- appeared fairly long and narrow, disturbed a substantial amount of water, and part of whatever it was appeared briefly above the surface before disappearing.
On the video tape you can hear Ms. Fournier repeating as she continues to shoot: "This is weird, this is weird."
QUESTION: Is this video clip a hoax?
I don't think so.
QUESTION: Is Memphre for real?
I don't know. But Ms. Fournier videotaped something large that looked real on August 15.
And, on the following day:
I was surprised the next day in the bay below the monastery (St Benoit) -- the one to the left with the horses in the pasture and the lovely house -- to see waves coming at us in a V-pattern but not from anywhere! The waves were very strong and there seemed to be a force pushing the water forward.
It came quickly and just vanished within a couple of minutes. (No tape of this one) This too was a very calm day but the water in this area, although not close to shore, was not deep. I thought: Maybe some underwater seismic activity.
As soon as I can get additional still images pulled from the tape I will publish them for your inspection. Please keep in mind the video frame is quite small and the total percentage of the frame covered by the "monster" is tiny. That's why the still image is unsharp and grainy. I did a minimal amount of brightness and contrast enhancement in Adobe Photoshop, and applied a 100% unsharp mask to tighten the image. No retouching was done.
Take me to the monster pictures...
Many thanks to: Patricia de Broin Fournier for her report
Jacques Boisvert, founding president of the Societé internationale de dracontologie du lac Memphremagog for vetting the video tape before passing it on for publication.
Charlie & Linda Tetreault for acquiring the still images from the video clip.
Yvon Leclerc, directeur Institut international du paléozoïque Magazine "dialogue sientifique", for his measured presentation of the video stills.

Champ Swimming http://josephacitro.blogspot.com/2010_04_01_archive.html 

"Champ"-a pretty good translation of what witnesses are describing in Lake Champlain into graphic form.

Fossils from the oldest known Antarctic “sea monster” have been found, a new study says.

The discovery of an 85-million-year-old plesiosaur has pushed back the marine reptile’s presence in Antarctica by 15 million years.

“The fragments we found don’t belong to any group registered on the continent before, which indicates a greater diversity of the plesiosaurs in Antarctica than previously suspected,” said team leader Alexander Kellner, of the National Museum of Brazil at the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro. [Antarctica would have been pretty cold, even then-DD]

Fragments of the vertebrae, head, and flippers suggest the newfound plesiosaur was 20 to 23 feet (6 to 7 meters) long. The bones weren’t, however, enough to identify the species of the plesiosaur.

Plesiosaurs roamed the seas worldwide between about 205 million to 65 million years ago, reaching the Southern Hemisphere by the mid-Jurassic. The animals had a range of different sizes and features, but mostly shared small heads, long necks, and big bodies.

“If the Loch Ness monster ever existed, this would be its best representation,” Kellner said.

 

Zdenek Burian