Champ (Lake Monster)

From The Black Vault Encyclopedia Project

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Champ

Champ or Champy is the name given to a reputed lake monster living in Lake Champlain. The creature's existence has never been scientifically verified. Some people believe that Champ is legend, while others believe that perhaps some unknown species of creature does live deep in the lake. The state government of Vermont has put Champ on its Endangered Species List, so that, if an unknown water animal is present, it will be protected by law.

http://crisdragon.com is an eye witness to meeting Champ the Lake Champlain Monster and, as as seen in this shot of video by well respected fisherman Dick Affolter, the monster comes really close to his boat allowing for one of the best shots of proof that something supposedly extinct like a Plesiosaur or Zeuglodon does indeed inhabit the lake waters.

Champ has a famous photo (like the Surgeon's photo) of a plesiosaur-like neck and body sticking out of Lake Champlain.

In or around 2003, the Sci Fi Channel featured an alleged video of the creature on its official website. As the video begins the cameraman jerks the camera around trying to balance, and brings into frame an object showing from the surface of the Lake. Suddenly the object takes off at a great speed, traveling swiftly across the Lake and leaving a wake behind it.

Champ is also the mascot of the Vermont Lake Monsters.

When people say the phrases âSea monsterâ or âLake Monsterâ what usually pops into their heads? Well the answer is usually some kind of mythical squid like, giant creature or some kind of merfolk out in the middle of the ocean, and some even think about âOld Nessieâ from Loch Ness in Scotland. What many people do not realize is that America has a âLake Monster.â The lake is Lake Champlain â it borders New York, Vermont and Quebec â and the monster is âChampâ as the locals call them. In fact, he is so revered that the locals in the town of Port Henry have built a giant replica in the middle of town. That replica is the main feature in the annual Champ Day, held on the first Saturday of August (Hall 2).

1 History
2 See also
3 External links
4 Copyright

History

âChampâ is an old creature that dates back to the early 1600s. European settlers noticed âChampâ as early as 1609. The French explorer Samuel de Champlainâfor whom the lake is named after and who founded Quebecâfirst spotted the creature as he was fighting the Iroquois on the bank of the lake (Chorvinsky 1). Long before that, however, two Native American tribes knew of the creature and celebrated its existence. The tribes were the Iroquois and the Abenaki. The Abenaki even gave the creature the name of Tatoskok.

Sightings varied over the years, but the next creditable sighting came in 1883 when Sheriff Nathan H. Mooney claimed that he had seen a ââ¦gigantic water serpent about 50 yards awayâ (Chorvinsky 1) or approximately 150 feet away from shore. He claimed that he was so close that he could see âround white spots inside its mouthâ (Chorvinsky 1) and that âthe creature appeared to be about 25 to 30 feet in lengthâ (Chorvinsky 1). Mooneyâs sighting led to many eyewitnesses coming froward with their own accounts of what they to had seen. Mooneyâs story predated the public Loch Ness controversy by 50 years. Since that time âChampâ has been seen over 240 times.

The reason many scientists believe that âChampâ is a Plesiosaur like âOld Nessieâ is because both of the lakes have a great deal in common. Loch Ness, for example is over 300 feet deep, such as Lake Champlain. Also both lakes were formed during the Ice Age about 10,000 years ago and both lakes support enough populations of fish to adequately feed a supposed Sea or Lake monster (Krystek 1).

âChampâ became so popular that the late P. T. Barnum, in the early 19th century, put a reward of $50,000 up for a carcass of âChampâ. Barnum wanted the carcass of âChampâ so that he could include the carcass in his epic Worldâs Fair Show (Krystek 3). Sightings continued but no carcass was ever recovered.

Even though sightings continued throughout the 19th and 20th centuries, the most creditable photo came in 1977, by amateur photographer Sandra Mansi, as seen below:

Mansi turned toward the area of the lake monster in response to her children screaming. Her children saw the creature while they where playing in the shallow waters just off shore. Mansi took the photo as her fiancÃ©, Anthony, grabbed the children. Mansi had several photo experts test picture and they concluded that the picture has not been tampered with in any way, shape, or form. The experts have also stated that they believe it to be a living creature (Champ 2). Mansi later showed the photo to Joseph W. Zarzynski.

Zarzynskiâfounder of the Lake Champlain Phenomena Investigation and a Wilton, New York Social Studies teacherâtook the photo to Gorge Zug of the Smithsonian Instituteâs Department of Vertebrate Zoology. Zug states that the creature in the photo does not resemble any creature or animal living in Lake Champlain, that he knows of (Hall 1).

The creature has become so famous and so much a way of life in Vermont that the state actually passed a law to protect the creature. The creature was put on the endangered species list only as a precaution. This will protect the creature if, whenever it may happen, âChampâ is ever caught, alive or dead, or is proven to exist. New York or Quebec has yet to put âChampâ on the endangered species list (Chorvinsky 1).