November 22, 2009
Something calling itself “Los Angeles Public Relations” has put out the following “release.”
What can I say? This is one of the worst pieces of writing I’ve seen in a long time, regarding “lake monsters” and I cannot accept this is a true public relations firm. Nevertheless, it is being repeated, in various forms, around the web. I wanted to alert you to it.
I share this dispatch (completely unedited) and photos here as a cautionary tale. It certainly must be read with your best critical thinking cap firmly on your head!
On the Utah-Idaho border there is a folk-lore about a lake monster appearing near Bear Lake. The myth grew from articles written around the 19th century by Joseph C. Rich, a Mormon who colonized in the area, telling about second-hand accounts of sightings of the creature. Although later he recalled the stories.
Other reports had the creature looking anything from a walrus to a dinosaur and others as a large carp. The last known report of a sighting was in 2004. The Bear Bear Lake monster also found fame in the Animal Planet’s “Lost Tapes”.
The story actually started with a man known simply as “Uncle Marty.” Supposedly on the afternoon of August 12, 2007 , Uncle Marty first spotted the monster while shotgunning his third Keystone Light. “As I bit down on the bottom of the can, you know . . . for the shotgun, I saw this giant snake just poke up out of the water. Well I threw down my brewskie, right into the sand and ran to the water.”
Although there were no other witnesses to the sighting, the family who had helped consume gallons of booze ,swear they all saw the beast.
All i can say about this whole story, is it sounds like a bad movie, but if it is real let’s hope it comes up next time and eats someone just like Uncle Marty.
Looks like the Bear Lake Monster mystery still lives on.
Other sites are actually using this release, sometimes with different images, like the above.
Sometimes added material is given, such as below:
The Bear Lake Monster is believed to be like a huge brown sanke of around 90 feet long. It has ears that stick out from the side of its skinny head and its big mouth is capable enough to eat a man. Many say that it has small legs and can swim very fast, even faster than a horse can gallop.
In 1860, four people saw a serpent like creature with about twenty feet vsible which appeared to be covered with short hair. ALso two of its flippers were visible.
Before 1883, a group of men had seen a monster laying on the short of the lake. Soon, the creature was seen hurling itself into the water leaving leaving a lot of commotion. In 2002, Captain Hirschi had reported that he saw a sixty five feel long monster from about two hundred yards.
The Bear Lake Monster sightings are very similar to the Loch Ness monster seen decades back but nothing was proved.
Awful. Just plain awful. Speculation, bad writing, incorrect information, and various details joined together in my pick for worst lake monster item of the month.
Indeed, when a clip from the cryptofiction series, “Lost Tapes,” begins to transmit more correct info that an alleged press release, it is time to worry about the future of internet-based media.
Of course, “Lost Tapes” edited out the fact I said I might consider it a mammal, for that opinion would have been in direct conflict with their other interviewee who supported the “prehistoric reptile” notion. 🙂
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.
Filed under Cryptotourism, CryptoZoo News, Lake Monsters, Television, Videos