Charleston Daily Mail
Charleston, West Virginia

July 16, 1929

SEA SERPENT SEEN, FISHERMEN ASSERT

Willsboro, N. Y., July 16 (UP) – Three young fishermen, still excited over their experience, insisted they had seen the famous Lake Champlain sea serpent, whose existence has been affirmed and denied by a confusing combination of fact and fancy during the more than 300 years since the lake’s discovery.

Thomas Bridge of Willsboro village and two companions, Davis Riley and Wesley Quimby, were fishing at the mouth of the Boquet river Sunday [July 14] when what appeared to them to be a huge serpent or fish thrust its head high above the surface of the lake. The monster began shaking its tail violently, lashing the water for acres around in a sea of foam, they said.

Terrified by the spectacle, Bridge did not stop running until he had reached the village, two miles away. Riley and Quimby also retired precipitously.

Bridge previously had ridiculed tales of a Lake Champlain sea serpent. The serpent has been something of a legendary figure in this section, and the last time he was reported seen was 20 years ago, when he appeared between Port Henry and Crown Point.

Thanks to Jerome Clark.