Cryptids of the Week: 1/11-1/17, 2015

Welcome to the 7th Cryptids of the Week! I haven't done this since December but I am now starting it up again. Here are the two cryptids chosen for the week of Jan. 11-17, 2015.

Champ

Champ is the name given to the Lake Champlain monster. Lake Champlain is a 109 mile long lake( that's five times bigger than Loch Ness) that is situated between New York and Vermont and it also extends into Canada. The first champ sighting occurred in 1609 when Samuel de Champlain saw what some think was the monster, although others say it was only a large fish.

There have been hundreds of Champ sightings, but the most famous occurred in 1977. Sandra Mansi was at lake Champlain watching her kids play in the shallow water when she saw a huge monster rise to the surface. She had a camera with her, so she got it and snapped a picture of the monster. Many consider this photo some of the best evidence for any lake monster. Nobody has ever been able to prove that the photo is a hoax. 
Several books have been written about the lake monster, by researchers Joseph Zarzynski, Dennis Jay Hall, Katy Elizabeth, and Robert Bartholomew. Champ has also been featured on several TV shows, in luring the documentary America's Loch Ness Monster in 2003, MonsterQuest, In Search of Aliens, and The Monster Project.
There is a champ store owned by Loraine Franklin in Vermont. Several groups have looked for the monster in Lake Champlain; Champ Quest, headed by Dennis Jay Hall was active around the turn of the century, and now Katy Elizabeth's group Champ Search is on the lookout for Champ. 
Dennis Hall gave champ the name of Champtanystropheus, which is now listed as its scientific name if it is proven to be real.


Sandra Mansi's Champ photo

Lake Worth Monster

The Lake Worth Monster was seen near Lake Worth(near Fort Worth, TX) in the summer of 1969. Some people said it looked like a white Bigfoot, but some said it was a goatman. Sallie Ann Clarke wrote a book about the sightings, but it is mostly fictional. No one really knows what the monster was, and the sightings stopped after that summer.
Many years later some people said they faked the monster, but it was seen throwing tires, swimming cross the lake, and once pulled a man out of the back of his truck and attacked a car!
The Lake worth Monster Bash is held at Lake Worth every year and the monster was featured on an episode of Monsters and Mysteries in America and the documentary Southern Fried Bigfoot.



photo of the Lake Worth Monster




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