Dennis Jay Hall was a major force behind Champ research about 15 years ago. He was born in Middlebury, Vermont in 1956. In 1965, when he was nine, his aunt and uncle told him about seeing a Champ creature in Lake Champlain. That changed his life forever.
Loren Coleman and Jerome Clark have an entry for Hall in their 1999 book Cryptozoology A to Z, and as of 1999 said he had spotted Champ 19 times. And, he has seen them after that, too. Hall is the author of the books Champ Quest 1999 and Champ Quest 2000(which I recently ordered.) He is also apparently co-author of Water Horse of Lake Champlain II by Katy Elizabeth, although I don't see where it says that on the book. Hall was director of Champ Quest years ago, and then suddenly was gone.
Hall recently returned to the Champ hunting scene, and now works with Katy Elizabeth's group Champ Search(although I think Hall's Champ Quest is a much better name!)
One good place to see Hall talk about Champ is on the 2003 documentary America's Loch Ness Monster (not the MonsterQuest episode.) In it he shows and discusses his Champ video footage, and talks about what he believes the creatures to be. What? An ancient reptile called the Tanystropheus. Tanystropheus was an aquatic long-necked reptile (not a plesiosaur) that lived before the dinosaurs. Hall even has a name for the creature in Lake Champlain: Champtanystropheus.
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| CGI Champtanystropheus from the 2003 documentary America's Loch Ness Monster. Best documentary ever on Champ in my opinion. |
About a year ago I looked up Dennis Hall to see if he was still searching for Champ. I was shocked to find he wasn't and had totally disappeared. But, now he's back with Champ Search, as I mentioned earlier. It's good to see him back on the Champ scene.
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| Dennis Jay Hall(in back) and Katy Elizabeth searching for Champ from Phantoms and Monsters |
Below is one of Hall's Champ videos, from 2002.