Champ Video: First Weekend Update

Here are the latest developments in examining specific details of the Eric Olsen “Champ video,” which was captured less than a week ago, on Sunday, May 31, 2009. This is the first weekend update. “First” this weekend, and the “first” weekend since this animate object, which I will call “Champ” for ease of discussion, was taped.

One of the main questions has been about the exact location of this “Champ” sighting/taping.

Sam Hemingway’s first Burlington Free Press article summarized what information was generally known of the spot.

That published information said that the taping took place at “Lake Champlain near Oakledge Park in Burlington,” Vermont, “across the mouth of the small cove and beach area at the park.”

I asked Hemingway if he had any more exact information, as I was working with John Donald Carlucci of Darke Media on Google Earth mapping of the taping area.

Hemingway wrote back with this: “I was told by Eric that it was taken on [the] far side of the small beach/cove at Oakledge Park, where the rock juts out a bit into the water. He was at the edge of the rock looking north, northeast when he began filming.”

Carlucci took this information and placed a marker where he thought the alleged “Champ Sighting Site” apparently occurred on Lake Champlain. Carlucci was off, but his maps have served as the basis for correct information from Burlington as to the site of the taping.

So, looking at this site, here is what Google Earth shows (click to enlarge any of the images).

The creature was on the north, Burlington side of the spit, as indicated from the photo below (ignore the old red marker). My thanks to Burlington resident and Cryptomundo correspondent E. Shepard for this revision.

Carlucci also points to the following photograph taken about twenty minutes after sunrise, for a comparison shot, regarding the lighting.

The following shot by Carlucci is an overview with a tennis court in this shot with known dimensions (36 ft x 78 ft). The tennis court, to scale on the final image after the following, assists in showing the distance between the location of Olsen and the spot approximately where the animate object (“Champ”) was swimming.

The water is deep well into the cove (as seen here and noted by people familiar with the location).

This first following winter photo is of the actual rock spit where Eric Olsen took the May 31, 2009 video.

The next two photos are from the proper orientation looking north, and buoys can be seen. Look closely and you can see a buoy beyond the sunbather that appears to be the one in the Olsen video.

The following stabilized version of the Eric Olsen-obtained video was produced by Carlucci of Darke Media. I consider it to a fundamental tool in studying the original data shown in the Olsen video.

Murphy notes, concerning these: “I have been having a closer look at this video today and have put up an enhanced and slowed down clip from the last few seconds, showing what to me looks like a tail appearing behind the animal. The animal arches it’s back, and then as part of an undulatory movement the end of what looks like a tail appears shortly after. It could be a wake, admittedly, but I’m not so sure. Also, at one point the animal stretches out, showing more of its back and appearing much longer than any moose or deer.”

This museum is not a 501(c)3. It is a privately supported not-for-profit venture. Your donations are critical.

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.

Email • Facebook • Twitter •