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| LakeChamplainVermont.Com |
Does Lake
Champlain harbor a monster?
Port Henry
sure thinks so. They celebrate his existence with their Annual Champ Day
celebration, the first Saturday in August.
Our resident
monster, affectionately known as "Champ" or the nickname
"Champy," has been sighted for as long as people have been in this
part of the Adirondacks. Old stories of the Native American tribes that lived
near Lake Champlain Vermont confirm that they believed a "horned
serpent" lived in the lake. A possible theory regarding these beliefs
centers around Split Rock, in Essex, New York, which features natural rock
structures that resemble petrified snakes.
Modern
sightings started in Bulwagga Bay, Port Henry in 1819. This remains an
excellent place to launch a Champ search. If you are fortunate, you can place
your name on the Big Board of Champ Sightings. Samuel de Champlain starts the
board in 1609, but experts dispute this one. The year 1873 was quite a year for
Champ hunting, with several sightings of Champ by a railroad crew, passengers
of a steamship, and a small boy fishing.
All of this
publicity predated that of the Loch Ness monster, "Nessie," whose
first modern sighting is considered to be July 22, 1933.
A more
recent picture of Champ was taken in November of 2000, and of course there is
the famous "Mansi photograph."