Lake monster

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Lake monster or loch monster is the name given to large unknown animals which have purportedly been sighted in, and/or are believed to dwell in freshwaters, although their existence has never been confirmed scientifically. Most of them have no evidence besides alleged sightings and controversial photographs and a large portion are generally believed not to exist by conventional zoology and allied sciences, and are principally the subject of investigations by followers of cryptozoology. Sightings are often similar to some sea monsters.

Of these, Nessie of Loch Ness is the most famous, and is promoted heavily in the area's tourist industry.

Loch Ness Monster (Oilpainting)
Loch Ness Monster (Oilpainting)

Contents

[edit] Lakes

There are many other lakes around the world which are reported to contain lake monsters (see list below). Many of these lakes are quite deep.

[edit] Evidence for the monsters

Evidence for such animals is almost exclusively in the form of tens of thousands of frequent but unconfirmed eyewitness reports. Reports of such animals being seen on land are rare. Unidentified cryptid 80-ft giant sharks, 25-ft sirenians, 14-ft tall giant beavers, living dinosaurs, and 15-ft salamanders have also been reported in lakes around the world. Other species, such as the 6½-ft Hoan Kiem Turtle, have been positively identified and are accepted by conventional zoology.

[edit] Explanations

There are many speculations as to what the reported lake monsters could be. Many consider them to be purely exaggerations or misinterpretations of known and natural phenomena, or else fabrications and hoaxes. Misidentified sightings of seals, otters, deer, diving water birds, large fish such as giant sturgeons, logs, mirages, seiches, light distortion, crossing boat wakes, or unusual wave patterns have all been proposed to explain specific reports. Skeptics point out that descriptions of these creatures vary over time with the values and mood of the local cultures, following the pattern of folk beliefs and not what would be expected if the reports were of actual encounters with real animals.

According to the Swedish naturalist and author Bengt Sjögren (1980), the present day belief in lake-monsters in for example Loch Ness, is associated with the legends of kelpies. Sjögren claims that the accounts of lake-monsters have changed during history. Older reports often talk about horse-like appearances, but more modern reports often have more reptile and dinosaur-like-appearances, and Bengt Sjögren concludes that the legends of kelpies evolved into the present day legends of lake-monsters where the monsters changed the appearance since the discovery of dinosaurs and giant aquatic reptiles from the horse-like water-kelpie to a dinosaur-like reptile, often a plesiosaur.

Other widely varied theories have been presented by believers, including unknown species of giant freshwater eels or surviving aquatic, prehistoric reptiles, such as plesiosaurs. One theory holds that the monsters that are sighted are the occasional full-grown form of an amphibian species that generally stays juvenile all its life like the axolotl. A few have suggested the animals actually represent some sort of psychic phenomena. Some have also suggested a Tanystropheus, although there are very few supporters for this theory. More reasonably, the first true cryptozoologist Bernard Heuvelmans held throughout his life that plesiosaur-type sighting were actually an unknown species of long-necked seal.

In many of these areas, especially around Loch Ness, Lake Champlain and the Okanagan Valley, these lake monsters have become important tourist draws.

[edit] In popular culture

The X-Files episode Quagmire centers on an alleged lake monster named Big Blue, which is depicted in a painting as being similar in appearance to the Loch Ness Monster. The creature is only seen once, briefly, in the shadows at the end of the episode.

The Joe Citro novel, Dark Twilight, focuses upon New Yorks's lake monster Champ and supposes an extra-dimensional/demonic origin.

In Diana Gabaldon's series of novels about a time traveler from the 20th century to Scotland in the 1700s (popularly called the Outlander series), her main character Claire Randall briefly views a hump and a fin in the water of Loch Ness, and theorizes that the reason the creature appears so rarely is that there is a "time gate", similar to the one Claire herself traveled through, at the bottom of the loch. This gate would link modern Scotland with the Cretaceous Period.

In the Pokémon Franchise, many of the creatures (Lapras, for example) are greatly based on the popular image of lake monsters. Also, in the new video games, Pokémon Diamond and Pearl, in the three lakes of the new Sinnoh reigon, live one legendary Pokémon each. Uxie is Lake Acuity, Mesprit in Lake Verity, and Azelf, in Lake Valor.

It also appeared in a Horror movie Beyond Loch Ness, which appeared on Sci-Fi channel.

[edit] Lake monster locations and names

[edit] North and Central America

[edit] Canada

[edit] Alberta

[edit] British Columbia
Reconstruction Ogopogo according to the Jim Reiger sighting.
Reconstruction Ogopogo according to the Jim Reiger sighting.

[edit] Manitoba

[edit] New Brunswick
  • Grand Lake - Nessie
  • Killarney Lake - Coleman Frog
  • Loch Lomond
  • Oromocto Lake
  • Skiff Lake
  • Utopia Lake - Old Ned

[edit] Newfoundland

[edit] Nova Scotia
  • Lake Ainslie - Beathach mor Loch Ainaslaigh
  • Cranberry Lake

[edit] Nunavut

[edit] Ontario

[edit] Quebec
  • Lake Memphrémagog (partly in USA) - Memphré
  • Lake Alymer
  • Baskatong Lake - Horse's Head
  • Lac Bitobi - Horse's Head
  • Black Lake
  • Lac Blue Sea - Horse's Head
  • Lac Bowker
  • Lac Breeches
  • Lac Brochu
  • Lac Brompton
  • Lac-des-Cèdres - Horse's Head
  • Lac Creux - Horse's Head
  • Lac Decaire - Lizzie
  • Lac Désert - Horse's Head
  • Deschênes Lake
  • Moffat Lake
  • Lac Pocknock - Horse's Head
  • Lac Pohénégamook - Ponik
  • Lac St.-Jean - Ashuaps
  • Lac Simon - White shark
  • Lac Sinclair
  • Lac Trente-et-un-Milles - Horse's Head
  • Lake Williams

[edit] Saskatchewan

[edit] Yukon
  • Teslin Lake

[edit] United States

[edit] Alaska

[edit] Arkansas

[edit] California

[edit] Colorado

[edit] Connecticut

[edit] Florida

[edit] Georgia
  • No Man's Friend Pond
  • Smith Lake

[edit] Idaho

[edit] Illinois

[edit] Indiana

[edit] Iowa

[edit] Kansas
  • Kingman County Lake (Bryon Walker Wildlife Refuge)

[edit] Kentucky

[edit] Maine
  • Boyden Lake - Wiwila'mecq
  • Chain of Lakes
  • Machias Lake
  • Moosehead Lake
  • Sysladobsis Lake

[edit] Maryland

[edit] Massachusetts

[edit] Michigan

[edit] Minnesota

[edit] Missouri

[edit] Montana

[edit] Nebraska
  • Walgreen [Alkali] Lake

[edit] Nevada

[edit] New Hampshire

[edit] New Jersey

[edit] New Mexico
  • Green Acres Lake (in Clovis)

[edit] New York

[edit] North Carolina

[edit] North Dakota

[edit] Ohio

[edit] Oklahoma

[edit] Oregon

[edit] Pennsylvania

[edit] South Carolina

[edit] South Dakota
  • Lake Campbell

[edit] Utah

[edit] Vermont

[edit] Washington

[edit] Wisconsin

[edit] Wyoming
  • Alcova Reservoir
  • Bull Lake
  • Lake DeSmet
  • Hutton Lake
  • Lake Katherine
  • Pathfinder Lake

[edit] Greenland

  • Lake Natsilik
  • Lake Umanak

[edit] Guatemala

[edit] Mexico

[edit] Nicaragua

[edit] Cuba

[edit] South America

[edit] Argentina

[edit] Chubut province

[edit] Corrientes province
  • Laguna Iberá

[edit] Neuquén province

[edit] Río Negro province

[edit] Santa Cruz province

[edit] Tierra del Fuego

[edit] Bolivia

[edit] Chile

  • Lago Las Rocas

[edit] Paraguay

[edit] Peru

  • Los Angeles Lake - Silver Lake Monster

[edit] Africa

[edit] Angola

[edit] Burundi

[edit] Cameroon

  • Lake Barombi Mbo - Congo Water Dragon
  • Mamfe Pool - Mokele-mbembe

[edit] Chad

  • Lake Chad - Auli
  • Dagana marshes - Auli
  • Ounianga lakes (Lake Yoan) - Auli

[edit] Democratic Republic of the Congo

[edit] Ethiopia

[edit] Kenya

[edit] Malawi

[edit] Republic of the Congo

[edit] Sudan

[edit] Tanzania

[edit] Zambia

[edit] Zimbabwe

A wooden carving of Nyaminyami
A wooden carving of Nyaminyami

[edit] Europe

[edit] Austria

[edit] Croatia

[edit] Denmark

[edit] Estonia

[edit] Finland

[edit] France

[edit] Germany

[edit] Iceland

[edit] Ireland

[edit] Italy

[edit] Norway

[edit] Poland

[edit] Russia

[edit] Serbia

[edit] Spain

[edit] Sweden

An artist's conception of Storsjöodjuret.
An artist's conception of Storsjöodjuret.

[edit] Switzerland

[edit] United Kingdom

[edit] England

[edit] Scotland
Main article: List of Scottish loch-monsters

[edit] Wales

[edit] Asia

[edit] Bhutan

[edit] China

[edit] India

[edit] Indonesia

[edit] Israel

[edit] Japan

[edit] Kazakhstan

  • Ozero Koskol'

[edit] Kyrgyzstan

[edit] Malaysia

[edit] Mongolia

[edit] Nepal

[edit] Turkey


[edit] Australasia

[edit] Australia

An artist's conception of a Bunyip, 1890.
An artist's conception of a Bunyip, 1890.

[edit] New South Wales

[edit] Queensland

[edit] South Australia

[edit] Tasmania

[edit] Victoria

[edit] New Guinea

[edit] New Zealand

[edit] New Britain

[edit] References and External links

Languages