A Lake Monster

Three Reputable Citizens of St. Albans Discover What Appears to be a Huge Serpent, in Lake Champlain.

The celebrated Lake Champlain sea-serpent has again made its appearance. The St. Albans [Vermont] Messenger says that on Friday afternoon [May 9] Charles H. Harvey, L. M. Downing and W. M. Downing, while fishing on a row boat west of St. Albans shore, heard a great agitation of the water at a distance, and on looking towards Butler’s Island, some two miles away, they discovered that the water was lashed into a foam.

A dead calm was prevailing, there being not so much as a ripple on the water anywhere else. At first they thought this might have been caused by a school of fish coming to the surface, but this rational supposition was soon dispelled. The agitation increased and in a moment the water was thrown to an estimated height of thirty or forty feet.

In the midst of it they discovered a dark object of considerable bulk, which would rise to the height of ten or fifteen feet for a minute or two and then go down and come up again. They pulled for the spot as fast as they could, but before they got near enough to get any distinct outline of the object, it dove out of sight and the water soon became placid. The appearance, however, had continued for some ten minutes, and it impressed each beholder alike. What it was they do not pretend to say, but that it was something one or two feet in diameter and at least ten or twelve feet long, and alive and active and powerful, they positively know.Plattsburgh [New York] Sentinel, May 16, 1879

Across The Lake

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The Vermont papers state that the famous Lake Champlain sea serpent has been seen again, this time by a farmer residing near the city of Maquam. The animal’s head is shaped like that of a snake, only much larger[;] he travels with fifteen feet of his body above the water, and at intervals makes a noise like the firing of a cannon, followed by a loud roar. The atmosphere of Maquam must have high refracting powers and the water they drink has very peculiar effects.Plattsburgh [New York] Sentinel, May 23, 1879

Camping at Ladd’s Point

[excerpt]

Among the incidents of the campaign was the appearance of the lake monster, called the sea serpent, while two of the young men were out rowing. They were considerably alarmed, and pushed for the shore with all possible speed. Their description of the creature compares with the one seen in St. Albans Bay, and there is not a particle of doubt that there is some sort of animal of large proportions, perhaps a number of them, inhabiting the lake.Plattsburgh [New York] Sentinel, July 18, 1879

The Lake Serpent Again

We learn from the Burlington [Vermont] Free Press that the Lake Champlain serpent has again appeared.

On Monday [September 15], Major W. W. Scranton, of Scranton, Penn., while out on a boating trip to Wood’s Island with two ladies, saw, about 1,000 feet from the island, the dreadful monster in rapid motion. The gentle in question hastily collected a lot of stones and rowed out in the direction of the moving object. Although he succeeded in
perceptibly lessening the distance between them, and kept the serpent in sight for some ten minutes, he could not overtake it, and soon after[,] it disappeared from view. The Major describes it as being of dark color, with a head about the thickness of a man’s, and at least three or four feet of body was visible at times, while it was certain that the entire length was at no time to be seen.Plattsburgh [New York] Sentinel, September 19, 1879

For more on the credible history of sightings and the Mansi photograph of the Lake Champlain Monsters, see the chapter on “Champ” in Mysterious America. Please buy the 2007 edition of Mysterious America on April 24th and beyond!

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Thanks to

Jerome Clark for passing these 1879 archival news items along.