August 10th: Lake Champlain Sea Serpent Seen

This is the Champ painting that began showing up on the sides of U-Haul vans in 1999.

The Lake Champlain sea serpent has been seen. And by an entirely credible and trustworthy witness, whose name, were we permitted to give it, would carry conviction to the most incredulous of doubting Thomases.

The monster was seen, slowly swimming southward, about midway of the channel between the Vermont shore and Split Rock. The lake at this place is only about a mile wide. Here, too, it reaches its greatest depth about five hundred feet. The monster’s distance from the observer was only about half a mile, and consequently a comparatively good view of it was obtained.

The serpent’s head appeared to be rather broad and flat — something the shape of one’s hand as laid flat on a table. The water washed over its neck, which it was therefore impossible to make out. The body, as far as visible, had the shape of a low arch. Part of the tail could not be descried, but the tip — broad and flat — protruded from the water at right angles to the body.

Suddenly it sank and the waters around seethed and bubbled as when a large and heavy body sinks beneath the waves. A moment later a large house boat appeared in sight, and the supposition is that its coming frightened the monster and it sought the depths of the lake.

The Lake Champlain sea serpent is not a myth, but a reality. — Burlington Daily News [Burlington, Vermont].

For those that saw through the use of the turn-of-the-century label "Sea Serpent," yes, this is a case from the 19th century. Thanks to Jerome Clark for finding this archival gem, which indeed is from the Brooklyn Eagle of August 10, 1899.

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.

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