While "Nessie" - the Loch Ness Monster
- is
considered their poster child, might there be other creatures that inhabit
lakes, seas and waterways all over the world? Some say the evidence points
overwhelmingly to the affirmative, while others maintain there is a startling
absence of hard evidence proving their existence. The scientific community
places a premium on believable, tangible evidence and will unfailingly dispute
any claim falling well short of that criteria. For instance, in cases of cyptids
- where are the bodies? After all, if these things live, then they must die.
Lacking any ceremonial burials by their own species, surely some trace evidence
would have turned up by now. How can tales of these watery beasts still thrive
despite all indications to the contrary?
Yet reports of these creatures DO still persist
and there are literally thousands around the globe who lay claim to witnessing
them. Some even possess what they claim is photographic evidence that
corroborates the anecdotal type. Is it possible these giant reptiles still exist
as they did millions of years ago beneath our waters and have somehow eluded all
efforts so far to find them? If no creature can live until the ripe old age of
10,000, can it be there are multiple denizens of the same species alive under
the waters of these ancient lakes?
Let's attempt to separate fact from fiction
and present both sides of the argument in hopes of drawing our own conclusions.
The sea monster in myth and legend has existed for hundreds of centuries. In
many cases it is an expression of our fear, curiosity and unawareness of what
exists in the uncharted regions of the sea. The ancient Lenox Globe (seen
pictured below), now residing at the New York Public Library depicts the known
world in 1503-1507 is known to have inscribed on it the words, "here there be
dragons" ('hic sunt dracones") on the eastern coast of Asia (Kimodos?) as a
cautionary notice that one should venture no farther beyond the reaches of man's
nautical capabilities.
It was a bold, yet convenient reasoning. Monsters could
explain ocean storms, lightning strikes, hurricanes or any weather anomalies not
yet understood by our ancestors. An attack by a sea monster was also the
explanation of choice for any ships that ran aground, were damaged, or sunk by
unseen and unknown rock formations.
While the first reference to Nessie
goes all the way back to the 6th century, the first modern sighting of what was
thought to be a living dinosaur was in the Scottish Highlands in 1933 by Mr. &
Mrs. George Spicer. They described the creature as having a large body (about
4 feet) high and 25 feet long, with a long, narrow neck, slightly thicker than
an elephant's trunk and as long as the ten- to twelve-foot width of the road.
Over the course of the summer, dozens of witnesses described a creature with a
"snake-like head", "long neck" and "humps sticking out of the water" swimming in
the waters of Loch Ness. The sightings were taken so seriously that Scottish
officials announced that they were forbidding anyone from shooting or trapping
the serpent. It was about this time that photographs of "Nessie" began to turn
up. Many were quite dubious to say the least until April of 1943.
On April 21, 1943 the London Daily Mail
published a photograph supposedly taken by Dr. Robert Kenneth Wilson, a
London gynecologist, of what appeared to be the Loch's most famous inhabitant
coming up for a quick look around. For over 60 years, most people pointed to
this as definitive proof that such a creature in fact did exist. However in 1992
a man named Christian Spurling made a startling confession. According to
Spurling, the photo was a hoax concocted by his step-father, Marmaduke Wetherell,
who was a big-game hunter contracted by the Daily Mail
to find evidence
of the monster. When he failed to do so, the paper fired him. He extracted his
revenge by creating a "serpent" out of a toy submarine, placing a model of a
head over the conning tower.
The model was then launched in the loch and the
photo was snapped. By Spurling's account, Wetherell persuaded Dr. Wilson to take
credit for the shot. Perhaps fearing ridicule, Wilson never admitted to his part
in the hoax. Despite this revelation, there are many Nessie believers, many of
them respected scientists and journalists, who argue the admission is sour
grapes and that it is no reason to discount other reports of the existence of
the creature.
Since the time Nessie became such a
phenomenon, many other reports of similar creatures, totaling in the hundreds,
have surfaced around the world. Among the more famous (or infamous) are: "Champ"
the serpent said to inhabit Lake Champlain on the Vermont and New York borders.
The Ogopogo in Lake Okonogan, British Columbia, Canada. Nahuelito in the resort
town of Bariloche, Argentina. The Lake Storsjon Monster in Sweden and Morag in
Loch Morar in the U.K.
What to make of these accounts? Has the anecdotal evidence handed down from
generation to generation been repeated enough to become the truth? Is
science, with its rigid standards regarding the burden of proof, doing enough to
quantify the existence or non-existence of these creatures? Among the witnesses
to these events are very credible people who at least believe they have
seen something in the water. If they do not have the means (or good fortune) to
provide a body, does that rule out the possibility or even probability they have
witnessed something unusual and spectacular? Some in the scientific community
have taken on the task of proving/disproving their existence.
In the 60s, many groups used sonar as the method of choice to determine whether
Nessie truly existed. This replaced the more mundane visual outposts scattered
around the lake. The results, while probably lacking the type of
post-investigation scrutiny presently associated with reported findings, spurred
public interest. Large, moving objects were located by the sonar rising and then
descending into the depths of the waters.
While compelling enough, the true
identity of the cause remains a mystery. By the late 60s, small, manned
submarines were brought in as well as sensitive recording devices that bore some
interesting, yet ultimately unproven results.
The first truly scientific expedition to locate the Loch Ness Monster took place
in the 1970s when a group of Americans from the Academy of Applied Science, led
by Robert Rines, used sonar technology and a submersible camera to take some
highly unusual photographs, the most controversial of which is the famous
"flipper shot" (below) taken in 1974.
If Nessie is a bit reticent about
appearing in public, then by comparison the Ogopogo by the many photographs
taken of it, seems to be ready for People Magazine. The resident
of Lake Okanagan in British Columbia has reportedly been sighted, photographed
and even videotaped hundreds of times by chance visitors or curious onlookers.
In some cases, multiple serpents have seen seen on the lake.
The origin of the Ogopogo traces back to Native Indian tales of a fearsome lake
serpent. The creature, in fact was first known as "Naitaka" which translates to
anything from "water demon" to "sacred creature of the water". In Indian legend,
the Naitaka would demand a toll to insure safe passage around its home near
Rattlesnake Island, located in the lake. The toll came in the form of live
animals, which would be dropped into the water as a sacrifice to the great
Naitaka. A plaque that commemorates the existence of the Ogopogo is
located on Lake Okanagan. It reads:
"Before the unimaginative,
practical white man came, the fearsome lake monster N'ha·a·itk was well known to
the primitive, superstitious Indians. His home was believed to be a cave at
Squally Point, and small animals were carried in the canoes to appease the
serpent. Ogopogo is still seen each year - but now by white men."
If the plesiosaur is a suspect in the Loch Ness mystery, then what of Ogopogo?
Two scientists who have spent over 20 years researching Ogopogo and compiling
witness descriptions, Paul LeBlond and Ed Blousefield, think it is Cadborosaurus Willsi, so-named because eyewitness accounts describe it
similar to a creature found in the belly of a whale back in 1937 (photos below)
and that has been sighted over the years in Cadboro Bay in Victoria, B.C.
LeBlond and Bousefield are also noteworthy for their disdain for those in the
scientific community that refuse to acknowledge the veracity of eyewitness
accounts or the probability that these types of aquatic animals may indeed
exist. Bousefield feels that as the creature migrated up the rivers to Lake
Okonagan, following the salmon food source, it became land-locked as dams were
erected and lake properties developed, effectively sealing the animal off from
more open waters.
Over the years, there has been one
thing that has separated claims of the existence of the Ogopogo from other
similar monsters of the deep. Videotape.
There are three that stand out from the others:
1. 1968 - The Folden Film, a video taken by sawmill worker Arthur Folden
of Chase, B.C. depicting what appears to a large creature in shallow water
breaking to the surface. It was shot from the side of a hill overlooking the
loch. Generally thought to be the classic Ogopogo video. Folden was reluctant to
show anyone the video, fearing ridicule, but was coerced into finally releasing
it to investigators about two years after it was taken. Skeptics point out that
the object on the film closely resembles what looks like a large water wake,
perhaps caused by a passing motorboat. It is known that the resulting waves of
such a disturbance may take as long as 5 minutes to reach shore.
2. 1980 - Larry Thal was vacationing with his family on the lake when a
commotion arose and he looked to find people pointing out to the water. Thal had
been filming his children and then turned the camera toward the location of the
disturbance. In slow motion, investigators believed they could see the movement
pattern and speed of the creature. The world's most renowned Ogopogo researcher,
Arlene Gaal, claims the creature on the film is 40-60 feet long which mirrors
what the Folden film recorded. Close examination of the film footage by experts
suggest that the multiple objects filmed could be nothing more than lake debris.
3. 1992 - Paul DeMara Film - Three different pieces of footage are shot on
a HI8 camera. The first features what appears to be numerous "creatures"
swimming side-by-side across the lake. As a powerboat pulling a water-skier
comes along, the objects seem to go under. It appears the boat has a near-hit
with one of the objects. The second part shows what appears to be a head and
neck, then three humps. The third shows a large object moving in the water.
Video analysis shows this could be what is called a "phantom wave". It is
also strange to many that the driver of the boat and the water-skier don't seem
to react in any panic upon seeing the "creature".
The Canadian government certainly
takes the Ogopogo seriously. Fearing the volume of gawkers and tourists looking
for the creature, they declared it an endangered species off-limits to hunting
or trapping.
His mother was an earwig
His father was a whale
A little bit of head
And hardly any tail
And Ogopogo was his name
In a body of water shared by
Vermont, New York and Canada called Lake Champlain, there is rumored to be a
creature living there affectionately known as "Champ". In fact, to date
there have been over 300 sightings of the animal and some really interesting
photographic evidence to boot. It has been speculated that this reptile, like
its cousin Nessie, is in fact a plesiosaur. In fact, sightings of Champ pre-date
those of Nessie by 50 years. There is however, based on recordings taken below
the surface of Lake Champlain, another theory that the animal in Lake Champlain
may be a new species of freshwater dolphin or whale based on a series of
distinguishable "clicks" that were heard. Or perhaps a giant lake sturgeon whose
type have been reported to grow up to 10 feet long (or better).
Like other lake monsters, Champ has become something of a cottage industry unto
itself and a source of pride for residents of the surrounding areas. Port Henry,
New York for example holds a "Champ Day" festival each August and Vermont's
baseball entry in the New York-Penn League is known as the Vermont Lake
Monsters. Like many of the others it is also on an endangered species list to
protect it from poachers, hunters or trappers. One wonders how one would go
about about trapping a 60-70 foot serpent, but we'll leave that to the experts
like the famed huckster P.T. Barnum, who offered $50,000 to anyone who could
produce Champ for his road show.
Another similarity of note is the Native American influence on the legend. It is
said that the Iroquois and the Abenaki tribes spoke of such a creature in the
lake and the Abenakis called it "Tatoskok".
The most compelling photo of Champ was taken back in 1977 by a woman named
Sandra Mansi. In the photo, what appears to be a head attached to a long neck is
sticking out of the water (below).
While the photograph has puzzled
some in the scientific community and been authenticated as a "unknown" by some
like George Zug of the Smithsonian Institute’s Department of Vertebrate Zoology,
others claim it very well may be a rolling tree or log which was forced to the
lake's surface by gases created by means of organic decay. There has also been a
theory floated that states in sum total that Champ is actually being seen
because of a window in time ("time slips") that are allowing us to see into the
lake's past.
Oh, well now there you go. Case solved.
Ruining all the fun as usual is Joe Nickell of the Skeptical Inquirer who
wrote after investigating the lake, "For example, otters, swimming in a line,
can mimic a single long, serpentine creature moving in an undulating fashion.
Other Champ suspects include wind slicks, boat wakes, driftwood, long-necked
birds, and many other possibilities. A contributing factor is 'expectant
attention,' the tendency of people who, expecting to see something, are misled
by anything resembling [what they are looking for]."
Joe says nothing about the expectations of seeing nothing and getting exactly
that.
We leave you to ponder that last statement with another piece of "expectant
attention" in the form of the latest video taken of something in the waters of
Lake Champlain in 2006 by two local fishermen, Richard Affolter and Peter
Bodette as it broke the surface of the water and then passed by their boat.
Are the sightings of these creatures continuous proof of the various species of
life out there that remain unknown or is it merely a manifestation of human
nature that wants to believe there is something out there greater than
ourselves?
Whatever may lurk beneath the surface of lakes around the world, there will
always be those who will work tirelessly to prove the existence of creatures
from another time and those who will work just as long and hard to dispel any
notions of such claims. Believers will point to creatures like the Coelacanth
and the Megamouth Shark to prove that it is possible for a species to evade
discovery for generations at a time. Conversely, skeptics and non-believers will
always cite the overwhelming lack of physical evidence to support those claims.
The burden of proof may lay squarely on the witness to back up the story, but on
the other hand, how does one prove such things not only don't, but also can't
exist in the modern world? While debate over the existence of these elusive
creatures is certain to continue for generations to come, the legends will
continue to grow and be passed down just as they did in ancient texts and from
the indigenous peoples of these lands.
And as they did before us, we will continue to be suspicious of the unknown but
still determined in our desire to pursue the truth.
