Champ Video to Be Shown on Good Morning America Monday, February 13

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.

John Kirk 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.

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