The mythology of the lake monster is ancient and, despite a lack of scientific evidence, belief in this mysterious beast endures.
Imagine you’re standing on a lake shore. The sun is setting, and the shadows of the trees around you lay heavy and quiet on the sandy beach. Suddenly, you see a form in the middle of the lake. A dark mass rises from the surface of the water, its swan-like neck arching majestically to support its...dinosaur head?
Lake Monster Hot Spots
People the world over have reported countless lake monster sightings, the most famous location being Loch Ness in Scotland. “Nessie” began making headlines in the 1930s, but similar accounts of lake monsters can be found globally, from “Champ” in Lake Champlain on the Vermont/New York border, to the Ogopogo in Okanagan Lake, British Columbia, to Argentina’s Nahuelito, Vietnam’s Tarasque, Japan’s “Issie,” and the Lake Van Monster in Van, Turkey.
The Mythology of Lake Monsters
The question arises, why is the lake monster such a reoccurring concept, especially given the cultural and geographical differences of all of these various locales? One story of Herakles, the son of Zeus, describes how Herakles rescues the daughter of King Laomedon of Troy from a sea monster by “climbing into its gaping jaws and hewing at its intestines from inside” (Littleton, pp. 201-203). In the biblical book of Daniel, Daniel describes his vision of “four great beasts” rising out of the sea (Daniel 7:3).
Some point to cultural lore as being responsible for keeping the lake monster’s legend alive. It’s conceivable that, at one time centuries ago, large, dinosaur-like animals lived in these lakes and the story was passed from generation to generation, continually being bolstered by more recent “sightings.”
The Search for Proof
Josh Gates, host of the Syfy Channel’s “Destination Truth,” has led a slew of expeditions to hunt down various lake monsters. While terribly entertaining, he rarely comes up with any hard data. The truly remarkable thing, however, is the continuity of descriptions given to Mr. Gates by local people who firmly believe that they’ve had an encounter with a lake monster. The typical lake monster is large, dark, and fleeting, an unfortunate quality if you’re attempting to capture it on film.
In 1938, scientists and eyewitnesses in Scotland compiled a list of what Nessie could be:
- an elephant seal which swam in from the North Sea via the Caledonian Canal
- a hippopotamus
- a 50-ft. prehistoric reptile with a whiskery pinhead and eight scaly humps
- a giant squid
- an abomination, with a three-arched neck
- a cold-blooded crocodile
- a cool fabrication
Unal Kozak, a Turkish teaching assistant, made international news with his amateur video of the Lake Van Monster. The film is grainy and the camera not all that steady, but the image matches what one expects to see when looking at a lake monster, a hump-like mass moving through the water.
The Dino Theory
What all lake monster sightings have in common is the “dino” characteristic. In fact, one somewhat plausible theory is that lake monsters are surviving members of the plesiosaur family, which swam the earth’s oceans between 200 and 65 million years ago. Plesiosaurs in general have a wide, oval body, four flippers, a shortish tail, a long neck, and a triangular head. Plesiosaurs were also carnivorous, lending an extra tinge of fear to the mythology of the lake monster.
We May Never Know
Science has yet to rule out the possibility of lake monsters. While the idea of such an immense creature successfully playing hide and seek with us for all these years seems unlikely, the fact remains that we haven’t looked everywhere. Strictly speaking, if an animal has a suitable environment, it will succeed there. Lake monsters would need plenty of space and a food source, which most of the lakes in question have.
The day may come when a lake monster washes up on shore or becomes hopelessly tangled in a fishing net, at which point we can poke, prod, and analyze it to our heart’s content, finally putting to rest the centuries-old mystery. On the other hand, if we never have scientific evidence of this fantastical beast, every time a strange splash echoes across the lake or an ominous shadow flits beneath the surface, we can allow ourselves to participate in the belief that such magnificent creatures can exist and, after all, what would life be like without a little mystery?
References:
Littleton, C.S. . Mythology: The Illustrated Anthology of World Myth and Storytelling. London: Duncan Baird.
The Bible. Daniel 7:3.
Animals: Nessie and Co. (1938, June). TIME Online Magazine. : time.com http://content.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,788737,00.html