The following are some of the more reliable and well documented cases where Lake Monsters have been observed, however in support of the migration theory, not all lake monster sightings take place in lakes....
July 1734, a Norwegian missionary named Hans Egede, who was sailing to Greenland, spotted something incredible near the Danish colony of Good Hope on the Davis Straight.
" On the 6th appeared a very terrible sea animal, which raised itself so high above the water, that its head reached above our maintop. It had a long, sharp snout, and blew like a whale, had broad, large flappers, and the body was, as it were, covered with a hard skin, and it was very uneven and wrinkled on its skin; moreover on the ;ower part it was formed like a snake, and when it went under water again, it cast itself backwards, and in doing so it raised its tail above the water, a whole ship length from its body. "
Richard Carrington, Mermaids and Mastodons, pp. 23-24
A sea monster of impressive size was seen in and around Gloucester Harbor, Massachusetts by many people in August of 1817. A sworn affidavit by a ship's carpenter named Mathew Gaffney. It read in part...
" That on the 14th day of August, A.D. 1817, between the hours of 4 and 5 o'clock in the afternoon, I saw a strange marine animal, resembling a serpent in the harbor of Gloucester. I was in a boat, and was within 30 feet of it. Its head appeared full as large as a 4 gallon keg, its body as large as a barrel, and its length I should judge to be at least 40 feet. The top of the head was dark in color, and the underpart of its head was white, as was several feet of its belly I saw..... I fired at it when he was nearest to me"
American Folklore and Legend, pp. 245-246
Captain Peter M' Quhae and most of the officers and crew of the H.M.S. Daedalus sotted a sea monster while on a trip from the East Indies to Plymouth, England in 1848. On August 6th at 5 p.m., while about 300 miles off the western coast of Africa, "something very unusual was seen by the mid shipman" An enormous snakelike thing with head and shoulders kept about 4 feet above the surface undulated past them. As close as the men could estimate the creature was a good 60 feet in length, its head about 15 or 16 inches in diameter, with what was described as a mane going down its back.
Bernard Heuvelmans, In the Wake of Sea-Serpents, pp. 198-217
Lake Champlain has its own famous Nessie like creature. The 100 mile long lake connects Vermont and New York State with Canada. One of the first reported sightings of this creature was on August 30, 1878. Six people aboard a yacht saw an extraordinary living thing with, as one observer said " two large folds just in back of the head projecting above the water, and at some distance say 50 feet or more behind, two more folds at what was apparantly the tail." This creature has been reported consistantly over the years, and is described in ancient Native American legends as well.
Roy P. Mackal, Searching for Hidden Animals, pp. 217-218
Sandra Mansi snapped this picture of Champ in July 1977
Driving south from Inverness along the shore of Loch Ness on their way to the little town of Foyers were Mr. and Mrs. George Spicer, a London business man and his wife. It was the afternoon of July 22, 1933, and the Spicers were in Scotland on their vacation. Suddenly the bushes about 200 yards ahead became agitated, and out emerged an enormous, long necked animal, which crossed the small road jerkily. Mr. Spicer sped the car to the point where he saw the creature, but when he got there the thing had disappeared on the Loch side of the road. Initially they reported that the animal was about 6 feet long and stood about 4 feet high. (Later the animal grew to 25 - 30 feet in length during tellings). THey also recalled that its neck undulated " in the manner of a scenic railway". In addition, they also described it as a " terrible dark elephant grey, of s loathsome texture, reminiscent of a snail"
Thus possibly maligned as to its looks, the Loch Ness monster became a public figure. The creature had been seen and reported many times before by people visiting the Loch and the surrounding area. One of the more famous was reported by the Irish Saint Columba in 565 A.D.
Peter Costello In Search of Lake Monsters pp. 8-19
Road running is an uncharacteristic trait of Nessie, but one that was repeated on the brightly moonlit night of January 5th, 1934. At about 1 am a young medical student named Arthur Grant was whizzing along the loch road near Lochend on his motorcycle when he saw a large dark blob on the road ahead. As he approached, the object ran across the road, almost colliding with Grant. In the moonlight he saw a creature with a small eelike head with oval eyes, a bulky body with a broad tail and 4 flipperlike legs. He estimated it was about 18 to 20 feet long and had dark skin, rather like a whales.
"Knowing something of natural history, I can say I have never in my life seen an animal that looked like that. It looked like a cross between a plesiosaur and a seal!"
Peter Costello In Search of Lake Monsters, pp. 30-32
