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Cryptids

Lake and river monsters

Deep glacial lakes have their monsters: Nessie in Scotland, Ogopogo and Champ in North America, Storsjöodjuret in Sweden, Nahuelito in Argentina. Witnesses describe humps rising from the water, a long neck and waves with no visible cause. Explanations include logs, standing waves, otters, sturgeons and eels – and some famous photos turned out to be hoaxes.

cases
14
years
565–2018

Unexplained: 3 Disputed: 9 Explained: 1 Hoax: 1

  1. 6th century

    1. c. 565 Lake and river monsters · Disputed The Water Beast in the Life of St. Columba River Ness near Inverness, Scotland, United Kingdom According to the Life written by Adomnán, the Irish monk Columba drove off with the sign of the cross a “water beast” that had attacked a swimmer in the River Ness.

  2. 19th century

    1. 1846–1847 Lake and river monsters · Explained The Murrumbidgee Bunyip Skull Murrumbidgee River near Balranald, New South Wales, Australia A settler found a strange skull by the river that Aboriginal people called a bunyip skull – displayed at a museum in Sydney, it drew crowds.
    2. 1894 Lake and river monsters · Unexplained The Company to Catch the Storsjön Monster Lake Storsjön near Östersund, Jämtland, Sweden After a series of sightings, residents of Jämtland founded a company that, with the support of King Oscar II, tried to catch the monster of Lake Storsjön.

  3. 1920–1929

    1. 1922 Lake and river monsters · Disputed The Patagonian Plesiosaur Expedition Lake Epuyén, Chubut Province, Patagonia, Argentina An American gold prospector's letter about a huge animal in a Patagonian lake prompted the director of the Buenos Aires zoo to send an expedition armed with dynamite.

  4. 1930–1939

    1. 1933 Lake and river monsters · Disputed Aldie Mackay's Loch Ness Sighting North shore of Loch Ness near Abriachan, Scotland, United Kingdom A Drumnadrochit resident saw a huge, “whale-like” body in the loch – an article about it in the Inverness Courier launched the modern Nessie legend.
    2. 1934 Lake and river monsters · Hoax The Surgeon's Photograph Loch Ness near Invermoriston, Scotland, United Kingdom The most famous Nessie photograph – a head and neck rising from the water – turned out to be a toy submarine fitted with a neck made of plastic wood.

  5. 1950–1959

    1. 1953 Lake and river monsters · Unexplained Geologist Tverdokhlebov's Yakutia Account Lake Labynkyr, Sordonnokh Plateau, Yakutia, Russia A Soviet geologist described a large animal in the lakes of Yakutia's “Pole of Cold” – and so the legend of the “Labynkyr Devil” was born.

  6. 1960–1969

    1. 1960 Lake and river monsters · Disputed Tim Dinsdale's Loch Ness Film Loch Ness near Foyers, Scotland, United Kingdom An aeronautical engineer filmed a dark hump moving across the loch and leaving a wake – RAF reconnaissance analysts judged the object “probably animate.”
    2. 1968 Lake and river monsters · Disputed Art Folden's Ogopogo Film Okanagan Lake near Peachland, British Columbia, Canada A driver pulled over by the highway and filmed a large wake moving across the lake – the footage is among the most frequently shown “proofs” of Ogopogo's existence.
    3. 1969 Lake and river monsters · Unexplained Morag Collides with a Boat on Loch Morar Loch Morar, Highlands, Scotland, United Kingdom Two men in a motorboat on Loch Morar claimed they had struck a large animal – one pushed it away with an oar, the other fired a rifle.

  7. 1970–1979

    1. 1977 Lake and river monsters · Disputed The Mansi Photograph of Champ Lake Champlain near St. Albans, Vermont, United States A tourist photographed something on Lake Champlain resembling the head and neck of a large animal – the picture, published in 1981, became the icon of Champ.
    2. 1978 Lake and river monsters · Disputed Issie of Lake Ikeda Lake Ikeda, Kagoshima Prefecture, Kyushu, Japan About twenty people saw a black, two-humped shape in the caldera lake Ikeda – Japan gained its own “Nessie,” named Issie.

  8. 2010–2019

    1. 2012 Lake and river monsters · Disputed The Lagarfljót Worm Video Lagarfljót River near Hrafnkelsstaðir, eastern Iceland, Iceland A farmer filmed a long, undulating shape in an icy river – Icelandic TV aired the footage, and a municipal commission did not dispute its authenticity.
    2. 2018 Lake and river monsters · Disputed Loch Ness Environmental DNA Survey Loch Ness, Scotland, United Kingdom Scientists collected water samples from across the loch and analyzed the DNA in them – they found no trace of reptiles, but a surprising amount of eel DNA.