Were You At Champ’s Woodstock?

Posted by: Loren Coleman on May 31st, 2012

Were you there?

It was the Woodstock of Champ. The August 1981 conference in Vermont, the first scientific seminar devoted to a study of the cryptids that have been reported lurking in the waters of Lake Champlain for the past 300 years, was a great event.

I was there.

Loren at 1981 Champ Conference

I wrote about the conference in Mysterious America. Here’s a sample what I saw and heard:

In the morning session, Joseph Zarzynski ran down the historical background of the Champ sightings and introduced the audience of 200 people to the Sandra Mansi photograph. Projected on a wall-size screen in an old barn on the shore of Lake Champlain, the vivid blues and browns of the photograph presented an image few conference members will soon forget. The showing was coupled with Zarzynski’s impassioned plea for state governments and environmental groups to help protect the monster.

Next, Sandra Mansi, despite being visibly nervous about speaking before a large group, told the story of her experience. Conference goers knew the details, but it was the first time Mansi, who now lives in her native Vermont, had spoken publicly. She stirred the audience when she forcefully answered the question raised by the title of the conference: “You don’t want to ask me if I think Champ exists. I’ve seen him, almost on a first name basis. I’ve photographed Champ.”

The afternoon’s session presented analyses by cryptozoologists Roy Mackal and Richard Greenwell, as well as their theories about what the creature might be. Two major camps have developed to explain Champ. The leader of one, Greenwell, is convinced that Champ is a plesiosaur, an extinct marine reptile, not unlike the Loch Ness monster. He feels that both creatures, and others in Northern Hemisphere lakes, were trapped in the inland lakes formed at the end of the last ice age. In frank disagreement with Greenwell’s theory is Mackal, who is certain that these temperate-zone lake monsters are relics of an early era, related to zeuglodons, primitive whales thought to have died out 20 million years ago; he also believes they have access to the oceans via waterways.

Did you attend?

In 2007, I received the top photograph of myself at that conference from Gary Mangiacopra via Chad Arment. Gary was undertaking a massive project. He was editing old tapes of the sessions at that conference, compiling them for the first proceedings of the event, and also gathering all the photographs that can be found from the conference.

Their efforts resulted in one of the most underdiscovered recent cryptozoology books of recent years.

Does Champ Exist?

The 256-page book was published in 2007, and still is an incredibly important contribution to cryptozoological history.

It was published by Coachwhip Publications, Does Champ Exist? Notes on the Historic Lake Monster Conference held in Shelburne, Vermont, 29 August 1981 by Gary S. Mangiacopra and Dwight G. Smith.

Does Champ Exist? was written, according to Chad Arment, to preserve the transcript of the (so far) only cryptozoological conference held to discuss the possible existence of an unknown species of animal in the waters of Lake Champlain.

Speakers at the conference included Dr. William H. Eddy, Jr., J. Richard Greenwell, Dr. Roy P. Mackal, Dr. Philip Reines, Joseph Zarzynski, and Dr. George Zug. Several witnesses to Champ phenomena also spoke briefly, including Sandra Mansi, Mary Carty, Elsie Porter, Joan Petro, and Eugene Viens, Jr.

The transcript was created (with cooperation from the speakers) from a series of audio cassettes that Gary Mangiacopra (a conference attendee) used to tape the activities. Audio quality in some spots made clear transcription impossible, but this preserves the bulk of the proceedings.

As the Coachwhip summary concludes, the book also includes limnological notes on Lake Champlain, a chronological listing of Champ sightings, and reprints of several historical Champ-related newspaper accounts.

Some photos taken at the conference are also included.

I attended this conference, as I mentioned already. What a fantastic event. It was great to meet all the attendees and researchers there, to hear Sandra Mansi tell her story, to personally interview her for articles, and then my 1983 book.  It was great to compare notes with friends like Zarr. After it was over, I got in my Datsun pickup, turned on the radio (yes, “Puff the Magic Dragon” was playing), drove back to Boston, and was inspired to immediately pen an article on the conference for Boston Magazine.

Many of us have waited over a quarter of a century for this complete conference book to be written. My continued deepest congratulations to Gary, Dwight, and Chad for getting this done!

Loren Coleman About Loren Coleman
Loren Coleman is one of the world’s leading cryptozoologists, some say “the” leading living cryptozoologist. Certainly, he is acknowledged as the current living American researcher and writer who has most popularized cryptozoology in the late 20th and early 21st centuries. Starting his fieldwork and investigations in 1960, after traveling and trekking extensively in pursuit of cryptozoological mysteries, Coleman began writing to share his experiences in 1969. An honorary member of Ivan T. Sanderson’s Society for the Investigation of the Unexplained in the 1970s, Coleman has been bestowed with similar honorary memberships of the North Idaho College Cryptozoology Club in 1983, and in subsequent years, that of the British Columbia Scientific Cryptozoology Club, CryptoSafari International, and other international organizations. He was also a Life Member and Benefactor of the International Society of Cryptozoology (now-defunct). Loren Coleman’s daily blog, as a member of the Cryptomundo Team, served as an ongoing avenue of communication for the ever-growing body of cryptozoo news from 2005 through 2013. He returned as an infrequent contributor beginning Halloween week of 2015. Coleman is the founder in 2003, and current director of the International Cryptozoology Museum in Portland, Maine.


4 Responses to “Were You At Champ’s Woodstock?”

  1. shownuff responds:

    I was there also Loren. jk. Honestly Champ is the only Lake Monster that I believed could be real. I saw an episode a while back about Champ and was captivated about the story with the girl who was water skiing and she fell into the water and said she saw a dog faced fish or monster. Her father came back around a picked her up. And the local news did the interview. And some videos of what they think they saw. Pretty cool stuff. Love Champ Loren. Peace.

  2. corrick responds:

    shownuff may be a little confused. As I remember the water skiing incident he referred to allegedly took place at Lake Okanagon involving Ogopogo.

  3. Troodon56 responds:

    Well, I wasn’t at Champ’s Woodstock, because I wasn’t even born yet…

  4. shownuff responds:

    I stand corrected. Champ and Ogo Pogo. Thanks. I was like 5. lol

Sorry. Comments have been closed.

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