Kingstie
Kingstie was a cryptozoological hoax invented in 1934 as an echo of the 1904 Lake George Monster hoax. It was reported as "a strange creature with the head of a dragon and eyes of fire" in Lake Ontario near Kingston, Ontario, Canada.
It is explained in the book Mysteries of Toronto as follows: "As a prank, they had fabricated a semblance of the creature using a barrel filled with empty bottles for buoyancy and fitting it with a dragon-like head, rope and anchor to keep it in one place, and twine attached to the rope that ran underwater to the shore of Cartwright Bay to permit them to bob its barrel body and head up and down". (As quoted by Joe Nickel, writing for the Skeptical Inquirer.) On May 16th, 2004 two individuals from the Kingston area witnessed a large unexplained animal underneath the water while fishing for carp in Little Cataraqui Creek. This was later named Kingstie, for it was spotted in kingston Creek, Ontario.
Popular culture
A kingstie was depicted in The Secret Saturdays videogame, The Secret Saturdays: Beasts of the 5th Sun. Here it is shown as massive Axolotl-like cryptid with curving bull horns, a snake head, and one blue eye. The player must defeat it right before the end of the level.
References
- Joe Nickell, "The Lake George Monster hoax", Skeptical Inquirer, Volume 14.4, December 2004.
- Colombo, John Robert. 1999. Mysteries of Ontario. Toronto, Ontario: Hounslow Press.
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