Beyond the Beyond: Searching for Champ – The Mystery Beneath Lake Champlain
Long before people carried cellphones with cameras, the people on the shores of Lake Champlain spoke of something large and quiet, just below the surface of the water. Native nations like the Abenaki spoke of a horned serpent called Tatoskok that lived in the lake. The Iroquois, or Mohawk tribes, told of old legends of giant, swimming snakes inhabiting the region’s deep, dark waters.
In 1609, a French explorer named Samuel de Champlain wrote of a long-bodied fish in the lake with razor-sharp teeth. Sightings increased in the 1800s as tourism in the area increased. Newspapers wrote about a serpent living in the lake, and some even offered a reward for its capture. By the 1830s, national newspapers had picked up the story, and the legend began to flourish.
One report from that era came in 1873, when the crew of the steamship W.B. Eddy claimed an enormous creature rose up from beside their boat. They described the “beast” as a long, dark, serpentine shape roughly the length of a small railway car. Newspapers jumped on this story, circulating interviews and rough illustrations. The account spread from city to city, and each version seemed to gain new details, turning a single encounter into a growing, almost mythic tale — a game of telephone about some prehistoric creature living deep in the waters of Lake Champlain.
Sightings continued, but the most famous of them is probably the 1977 Sandra Mansi photograph. In it, a long-necked creature appears to be rising from the lake. That summer, Mansi and her family had been taking their boat and exploring undeveloped and somewhat remote stretches of Lake Champlain’s shoreline. While her children played in the water, Mansi and her husband claimed they witnessed a large creature breaking the surface of the water, and eventually rising above it to reveal what looked like a plesiosaur. It had a long neck and moved slowly before eventually submerging itself again. She grabbed her camera, snapped a picture, and in a panic shouted to her kids to swim to the shore.
The photo gained popularity in 1981 after a New York Times piece and exploded into TV shows and documentaries on strange creatures shortly after. A strike against the story is that the original negative is supposedly lost, but it’s important to note that Mansi has never made a dime or asked for anything in exchange for her story or photograph. Was it simply driftwood, as some have suggested, or one of the clearest photos we have of a supposed cryptid?
Sightings still happen today, although less often than they once did. Boaters still swear they see dark shadows under the water. Drone operators occasionally capture weird movements near the surface. Humps have been seen from the shore, appearing and disappearing before camera apps can be opened.
And Champ holds the very rare distinction of being safeguarded by state law. During the 1980s, both Vermont and New York adopted measures acknowledging Champ as a distinctive part of Lake Champlain and its environment. The resolutions stop short of declaring the creature real, but they do prohibit anyone from injuring or capturing any unidentified animal in the lake. Regardless of where your belief falls, the lore itself has been granted a quiet kind of sanctuary under the law and under the quiet waters of Lake Champlain.
Have you had a sighting? Message @beyondthebeyond1 on Instagram.
Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this article are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of Eastern Sierra Now. Readers are encouraged to conduct further research and consult with relevant experts or professionals before making any decisions or taking any actions based on the information provided in this article.
–
Catch up on more “Beyond the Beyond” here.
Discover more from Eastern Sierra Now | Local News
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
