Champ Video to Be Shown on Good Morning America Monday, February 13
Posted by: John Kirk on February 12th, 2006
You might remember that last August, two Vermont anglers, Richard Affolter and Peter Bodette, claimed to have filmed the monster of Lake Champlain as it allegedly frolicked around their boat at the mouth of the Ausable River. At first they thought the object they were looking at was railroad tie, but realized it was too long for that. They then claimed the subject of their video began to move in a “serpentine manner”, but don’t say whether it swam in the horizontal plane as a snake would or in an undulating fashion as aquatic mammals do. The creature left a sizable wake which they described as a series of patterned ripples like corduroy.
In one segment of the footage, what looks like part of an alligator head breaks the surface and sunlight reflects off what appears to be the eye of the beast. Others who have viewed the footage have expressed their opinion that it looks like an otter’s eye and nose. Affolter and Bodette claim they were able to move their boat as close as 20 – 30 yards from the creature before it submerged from view.
Well, if you tune in to Good Morning America on ABC between 7:30 – 7:40a.m tomorrow (Monday, February 13) you will be able to see the footage for yourself. I have gone through a lot of reports from people who have seen the video and there is clearly a dark shape under the surface. The question is: Is it Champ, or something else? Tune in tomorrow and judge for yourself. You can see a little preview photo of what the footage shows by clicking here
There is a distinct dark patch in the middle of the photo and it will be interesting to see what shows up. I have seen other videos from Lake Champlain that range from the very interesting to a school of fish misidentified as a monster.
For more on tomorrow’s program check out this article here.
About John Kirk
One of the founders of the BCSCC, John Kirk has enjoyed a varied and exciting career path. Both a print and broadcast journalist, John Kirk has in recent years been at the forefront of much of the BCSCC’s expeditions, investigations and publishing. John has been particularly interested in the phenomenon of unknown aquatic cryptids around the world and is the author of In the Domain of the Lake Monsters (Key Porter Books, 1998).
In addition to his interest in freshwater cryptids, John has been keenly interested in investigating the possible existence of sasquatch and other bipedal hominids of the world, and in particular, the Yeren of China. John is also chairman of the Crypto Safari organization, which specializes in sending teams of investigators to remote parts of the world to search for animals as yet unidentified by science. John travelled with a Crypto Safari team to Cameroon and northern Republic of Congo to interview witnesses among the Baka pygmies and Bantu bushmen who have sighted a large unknown animal that bears more than a superficial resemblance to a dinosaur.
Since 1996, John Kirk has been editor and publisher of the BCSCC Quarterly which is the flagship publication of the BCSCC. In demand at conferences, seminars, lectures and on television and radio programs, John has spoken all over North America and has appeared in programs on NBC, ABC, CBS, PBS, TLC, Discovery, CBC, CTV and the BBC.
In his personal life John spends much time studying the histories of Scottish Clans and is himself the president of the Clan Kirk Society. John is also an avid soccer enthusiast and player.
Very interesting. From the computer screen in the background it seems like it might be swimming in the horizontal plane. In any case I’ll have to check it out tomorrow morning.
But notice in the linked article the one scientist said that it had to be treated seriously, not like a “Sasquatch sighting”? Amazing. A scientist runs into very convincing evidence of one cryptid and then automatically discounts any validity to other cryptids – even one with a much greater volume of evidence surrounding it. No wonder it so difficult to get some of these matters formally investigated.
It sounds like her speciality is marine mammal sounds, I wonder if she’s heard the most convincing recordings of sasquatch vocalizations?
Did anybody watch the segment on GMA? I set my Tivo, but had to go to work. I will check it out this evening…
Well, it’s 10 minutes into the second hour of the show on the west coast, and they haven’t even mentioned that the video is coming up. I wonder if it’s been dumped?
I didn’t get to catch it either. Anyone else catch it?
I watched basically the whole show and it didn’t come on. I was away from the TV for a minute here and there, but I don’t think I could have missed it.
Cold feet? Champ get bumped? Cover-up?
I contacted Lohr McKinstry who wrote the article on the Champ segment on GMA and asked why it wasn’t on this morning.
He wrote back to say that it is now scheduled for Tuesday, Feb. 14, between 7 a.m. And 9 a.m.
Keep your fingers crossed and hope for the best that they actually show it tomorrow.
Thanks John for checking into it I was quite dissapointed this morning
Wasn’t on. I’ll wait until someone puts it on-line.
well day 2 and still no show wonder what the excuse is?
I’ve got to think that it’s not going to air at all, at this point.
For what it’s worth Lohr McKinstry got an email from ABC saying it will be on Wednesday morning.
I am not holding my breath anymore on this one.
It better be good.
Well if the Third time is the charm as the saying goes we could be disscussing what was showed tomorrow, though I’m about of patience myself
Ok- did I miss it, or did they not show it again?
What is the DEAL?!
Guys, seriously: it’s pretty clear that they’re not going to show it. Let’s just move on.
I received this from the Press Republican newspaper this morning in regard to this segment which is now proving more elusive than Champ itself:
The Champ segment is now reset to next week, on a date to be announced.
PR
I hate to sound cynical, but I’ll believe it when I see it.
Oh now it’s next week? I least i won’t be putting my medical am needs back another straight day in a row. will listen if the ‘hosts’ mention it then try and see otherwise why waste my time.
Interesting the media that screems about the public’s right to know does not bother to allow the same public to make up it’s own mind
Sheesh.
If they paid the eyewitnesses for the film its odd that they are not showing it constantly or at least several times to get their money’s worth. I mean the olympics are going on but they’ve shown some pretty inane stuff instead of the footage.
If the eyewitnesses weren’t paid for it they should sell it to someone else or just put it on the web. Or did the eyewitnesses sign some kind of agreement with ABC? If its decent footage one of the news channels would probably play it constantly for at least a day or two.
That’s the problem with what the networks see as just “fluff” pieces…they’re totally expendable and not treated with any value. I’ll be very surprised if any of the commentators manage to get through the segment without laughing…
Any more information on when the clip is supposed to air?
No Champ tape has played on ABC
My theory is that the time is disappearing for them to think this is a newsworthy item. I bet they wait for Champ or Nessie to come back into the news this coming spring or summer, and then reconsider screening it.
They haven’t broadcast it yet.
It was shown this morning, but I did not see it. A correspondent has emailed me this:
” Two long-time residents were out on a boat this summer fishing. They got something on their digital video camera. Mostly a wake made by somehting moving underwater, and a shot of something underwater close to the boat. Not very good shots, but not fabricated.”
Thanks to Loren who supplied this link: Is There a Monster in Lake Champlain?
You can see the video online there.
The surface shots show standing waves, but then there is this thing under the boat that is really difficult to see. It is cylindrical but moves awkwardly like some sort of fish.
Is it Champ? Honestly speaking I could not tell you if it was.
Back to the drawing board.
Yes they showed part of it this morning about 15 minutes into the second hour. did not show head shot.
there was SOMETHING under the boat looked to have a piece moving independent from the ‘main body’ but it really did not look like a fin to me. Have no ida what it was. but there was SOMETHING there.
They took great pains to note the fishermen were NOT ‘crackpots’ which I find insulting. but the ‘expert’ and interviewing host at least did not laught out loud while showing or discussing the footage
Where’s the link to the on line look?
On the whole (and not surprisingly), it was a pretty superficial piece. Reporter Jim Avila emphasized several times that the fishermen were “not crackpots,” which is all well and good, but has little bearing on their accuracy or credibility as eyewitnesses. (Would anyone expect Avila to admit on air if they WERE crackpots?)
Given the difficulty of executing marine hoaxes, I’m perfectly willing to grant that the fishermen videotaped what they saw. But, of course, standing waves and some aquatic animal doesn’t make Champ. Fisherman Peter Bodette is quoted as saying that, “I’m 100 percent sure of what we saw. I’m not 100 percent sure of what it was.” No offense to Mr. Bodette, but this flunks Logic 101: If a person does not know what he is seeing, he can’t be sure of what he saw. When the human mind perceives something, it tries to categorize it and relate it to a known object. Until it finds a match, or a close match, there’s no criteria upon which to make a judgment about what something is, and it thus remains unidentified in that person’s mind—though not necessarily unidentifiable.
I’m afraid it’s more of the same: sincere eyewitnesses and inconclusive video. Obviously the question of Champ’s existence can’t be judged on evidence such as this alone. It does seem a little odd to me that it’s only airing now; this took place six months ago. I’d be curious about why it took so long, what sort of financial deal they had. It also seems odd to me that ABC News didn’t bother to interview anyone most knowledgeable about Champ, either myself, or Joe Nickell, or John Kirk, or Loren. They got McKinstry, which is good, though he’s a journalist, not a researcher or cryptozoologist. Interesting but frustratingly and predictably fruitless.
While it wasn’t very clear it was at least better than some of the video that are just waves. The footage next to the boat shows something pretty strange.
I’m not as down on the piece as the other commentors. It was a good move having the former FBI analysts look it over and somewhat vouch for its authenticity. They could have also mentioned the recordings taken in Lake Champlain that some experts claim to be echolocation, and interviewed them and played the recordings. But it was better than most cryptozoology stories in the news.
Sidenote: Do they have the website set up so you can only view the piece once, as it loads in parts? When it finished playing as it was loading it didn’t seem to let me play it again and it kept loading – is this something with the computer here or is that how it is set up?
Thanks for the link but my computer cannot play it for some reason
Back in the 1980’s I liked to camp at the KOA Campground at South Hero Island Vermont near the Sand Bar. It’s now a bunch of homes built up since then. On a summer midmorning day my wife and I were walking along the southwest end of the South Hero island overlooking Lake Champlain towards Stave Island about a mile or more away.
All of a sudden I see an explosion of water in a long serpentine fashion. It was like watching an alligator do it’s death spin. But MUCH MUCH larger than a little gator or even a big croc. I didn’t actually see its body only the white foam it kicked up.
I can only surmise that it was hunting fish off of the northern end of Stave Island and had nabbed a big salmon or a sturgeon and was trying to break it in half the way crocs and gators do. Well I got off a blurry Kodak Instamatic shot but it was worthless. My wife denies seeing anything! Chicks!!! A guy at work said it was a flock of birds hitting the water all at once. Note he wasn’t there! Can you say “denial”?
Well I attached a jpeg with coordinates, sat photos, and a photo simulation of what I saw.
This was my first exposure to this critter leading me to do more research. I discovered that the US NAVY Sound Lab in Conn. is interested. I also met Joe Zarzinynsky, the late Dr. Greenwald, Dr. Roy Mackal, and Sandra Mansi who had their own documented close encounters.
There is a guy who claims his dad actually had a “captured” baby and is the reason why U-Haul has a dinosaur on it’s trucks (they believe him I guess). He won’t say what happened to it or if he still has it in a private pond or at least it’s dead carcass. They officially have a scientific name for the species too. Tanta…. something or other. The local college in Burlington TOTALLY are into this and believe this guy 100%. I however am very skeptical. Why won’t he tell me the status of his beastie??? OK he wrote a book. Big deal I’m not paying $30 bucks for it!
Then there’s the recent (2006) Lake Champlain bio-sonar detected by very curious scientists. It is clearly of a large unknown animal in the Lake. It was only 30′ under the boat! Here’s what Champ sounds like.
Is paleo-science about to be REWRITTEN!!! What’s next rewriting evolution too??? Hey I never bought that egg-head crap anyway!
Spooky
OK the guys name is Dennis Jay Hall. Here’s his photo and backstory.
He claims that his dad had a captured Champ back in the 1950’s. It would be in Jericho Vermont today. Maybe this is what his backyard Champ pool looks like? – not really 🙂
Spooky
Yes, Dennis Hall has a lot of stories and theories. I include a section on him in my book Lake Monster Mysteries (out in May); Hall claims that instead of the baby champ carcass being subjected to DNA analysis, it ended up in a local school’s biology department, where it (of course) was accidentally discarded. Hall also says that early settlers ate Champ creatures. So there you go.
The comment that
“Then there’s the recent (2006) Lake Champlain bio-sonar detected by very curious scientists. It is clearly of a large unknown animal in the Lake.”
is misinformed. Nobody, not even the scientist von Muggenthaler, states that the recordings were of Champ. She states that the sound is similar to that of a beluga whale, which do exist in the St. Lawrence seaway but not in Champlain. Her findings have yet to be published or peer-reviewed, but hopefully that will happen soon.
I think you’re overemphasizing the mention of Belugas. Here’s a quote from an analysis of the recordings:
“The echolocation signal under analysis is similar to Beluga whale and killer echolocation, yet different enough so that we can not make a positive identification. Methods such as cross-correlation, where one compares the properties of one sound to another, can usually tell us what type of creature it is, but not in this case. It is significantly different from both whale and dolphin, but it is echolocation.”
I haven’t seen the video, but the photo’s are not clear. Like with ufo picture’s most of the sightings are always blurry and won’t do to proof anything…unfortunately.
I know many sightings were made in Lake Champlain and other locations. People were talking about a snake-like prehistoric creature. I bought a poster-photo in Bangkok showing the American Army at the Mekhong river, Laos military base in 1973, holding a “snake like fish” of 7.80 meters called Queen of Nagas. I have never seen this creature on t.v. or where ever and I don’t know who has issued this photo for publication but you should see this picture, you’ll be amazed!!!
The video is inconclusive, but it fits nicely with the existing data and eyewitness accounts.
So likely these guys filmed a large reptile under their boat, a reptile with an extremely long neck and a small head.
If I was watching a video of a large Tanystropheus looking up with it’s long neck and small head at a boat, then whipping it back down, this video is what I would expect that would look like. It does not move like an eel, or a fish. It moves like a long necked animal moving it’s head around. But that is my opinion and I am biased, because I accept from the evidence that there is a population of large, long necked animals living in lake Champlain.
Nobody will take notice until one marches down the beach in front of a tv news crew, though, with a sign saying, ‘I demand tax exempt status, I am an unknown animal!’
Jeff-
Talk to Loren et. al. and see if they will post your picture as another “mystery photo” on the blog. Does the fish/snake in the picture look anything like the mystery animal in the previous “mystery photo” contest.
Jeff-
Think your picture may be a hoax. Is it the same picture posted and described at the link below?
The fish in the picture is actually an oarfish.