Lake Monster Mysteries: Investigating the World's Most Elusive Creatures

Conclusion

CONCLUSION As our investigations have made clear, the existence of lake monsters is doubtful, for a variety of reasons. We often speak of Nessie, Ogopogo , Champ, and other lake monsters as single creatures, but for some hitherto unknown species to reproduce, there must be a sizable breeding herd. This means that each lake should hold not one but perhaps a dozen or more creatures-presumably making a verifiable encounter more than ten times more likely than if there were just one individual. Loch Ness, for example, is a little more than twenty miles long; how can a dozen giant creatures share the same lake and somehow escape decades of extensive sonar searches? A floating or beached carcass should eventually be encountered; none has. Clear and convincing photos or video should exist; none do. Sightings, legends, and ambiguous photos only serve to whet the investigator's appetite for the main meal, the real proof-which never comes. Hundreds or even thousands of lakes have been reported to hold monsters at one time or another. Even if only a small number actually do, that is still hundreds of mysterious creatures somehow managing to avoid leaving a shred of hard scientific evidence of their existence. It also seems unlikely that there would be some multimillion-year-old creature-such as the plesiosaur-in lakes that, like America's Lake Champlain, are only about ten thousand years old. Often, the "lake monster" label is simply a catchall term for "something strange" in the water. Although many sane and sincere people report seeing lake leviathans, in all likelihood they are encountering something that they misperceive as such. We have given many exam149 LAKE MONSTER MYSTERIES pIes in this book, including otters, eels, logs, and beavers. These eyewitnesses are not foolish; they are subject to the same psychological and perceptual errors that plague all of us from time to time. And ofcourse, there will always be a few cranks, wags, and hoaxers who muddy the truth about lake monsters. The lure of the unexplained is powerful, especially in a shrinking world where so many life-forms have gone extinct. Like Bigfoot, lake monsters-if they exist-could provide a tangible link with the remote past, just as extraterrestrials may provide a connection with the future. For some people, apparently, imaginary creatures are better than none at all. This wishful thinking helps explain certain cultural aspects of the lake monster phenomenon that we observed. For instance, Ben calls attention to the many similarities between two relatively nearby lakes, Lake Champlain and Lake Memphremagog, that we investigated. The two mysteries developed "almost in parallel," he points out, with both dating back a century or more. Moreover, at each lake the respective monster's description evolved with the changing public concept of what such creatures should look like: the "sea serpent" model morphing into the more "scientific" one of a prehistoric aquatic creature (as I discussed in chapter 2). In part because of Lake Champlain's larger size and greater accessibility , "Memphre is a poorer cousin to the more famous Champ," Ben says-a "Champ Lite," so to speak. He notes that after Sandra Mansi published her famous photo of Champ, there was an upsurge in sightings on Lake Champlain, with some interest spilling over to Lake Memphremagog. Just two years later, Barbara Malloy-like Mansi, a middle-aged Vermont woman-would make her first sighting ofMemphre . Lake monster sightings almost invariably correspond with the public's interest in the creatures, suggesting a social and cultural engine (not necessarily a group of unknown beasts) behind the reports. The idea of lake monsters has become so prevalent that they are even "seen" where they are most unlikely to exist, as is the case with at least two lakes from my native Kentucky. Cryptozoologist Roy P. Mackal's Searching for Hidden Animals (I980, 220) mentions Her150 CONCLUSION rington Lake and Kentucky Lake as the subjects of monster reports that may be worthy of investigation. And George Eberhart's Mysterious Creatures: A Guide to Cryptozoology (2002, 682) specifically cites a fifteen -foot "prehistoric creature" that was reportedly seen several times in Herrington Lake in 1972. The problem with these reports is that both lakes are man made! According to The Kentucky Encyclopedia (Kleber 1992, 532), Herrington Lake was formed in 1925 and Kentucky Lake in 1944. How-monster promoters should be asked-can lakes of such recent vintage and construction...