November 12, 2024 • 14 mins
Wading back into cryptid waters, this Minisode of "A Study of Strange" covers the background on North America's Loch Ness monster, Champ.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:02):
They say that something
strange swims beneath the murkywaters of Lake Champlain,
a creature,a legend, older than most can remember.
sightings allegedly
date back hundreds of yearsto the indigenous tribes of the area.
And yet, in our modern age of scienceand smartphones,
while plenty of people still claimto catch a glimpse of the creature
(00:26):
known as champ,there is a lack of hard evidence,
not unlike a lot of other cryptids
that have been reported around the world.
This is a study of strange.
(00:57):
Welcome back to the show.
I am Michael May.
And tonight on this mini sode,we embark on a journey
diving into some cryptid waters,
specifically the waters of Lake Champlain,where for centuries
there's been a taleof a mysterious creature
which has terrifiedthose who traverse the lake.
(01:19):
This creature, known as Champor Champ, is typically referred to
as the Loch Ness Monster, North America'sversion of the Loch Ness Monster.
I should say I'm very excited about thiscryptid story.
I was in Vermont a few months ago,and as I do when I travel anywhere,
as I research,the history of strange things,
(01:41):
unsolved crime, weird stories.
And although I know a little bit aboutchamp, I was excited to dive into that
a little bit more.
And truth be told,
I've gotten a little more interestedin cryptids recently, especially after
my episode on the skunk capewith my guest, filmmaker Anthony Cousins,
who, I'm not gonna lie,I put me on a little bit of a
(02:01):
reading rabbithole, and it's made me way more intrigued
about some of these unexplainedcryptids around the world.
So let's dive right in.
Aunt tale beginsin the early 17th century,
when a man whose name would be synonymouswith exploration
and adventure, Samuel de Champlain.
(02:23):
He was born in France in 1567,
and Champlain was a navigator,cartographer, soldier,
eventual governor of New France,which would eventually become Canada.
And Champlainhad this insatiable curiosity
and somewhat a narcissistic determination
to expand the French Empire,and this led him on
(02:46):
numerous expeditions across the Atlanticand through North America.
This may have also been fueled by abit of an ego that he was known to have.
As he had a great desire for everyoneto think
that he was the best at everything,especially exploring.
In 1608, Champlainestablished the city of Quebec,
the heart of New France,but his ambitions did not stop there.
(03:10):
The following year, in 1609, Champlain
set out on an expeditionto explore the lands further south,
driven by the dual goalsof mapping new territories and forging
alliances with the indigenous peoplesagainst their common enemy, the Iroquois.
It was during this expeditionthat Champlain and his party
(03:32):
just happened to bumpinto a vast body of water
that would later bear his name,Lake Champlain.
For those that don't know,
Lake Champlain is in the GreatLakes region of North America.
Though it's not officiallyone of the Great Lakes, it is often called
the Sixth Great Lakebecause, well, it's really big.
It's over 100 miles long
(03:52):
and it connects viathe Champlain Canal to the Hudson River.
It also connects to the Saint
Lawrence River,which itself connects to the Great Lakes.
It sits between the US states of New Yorkand Vermont, into its north
into the Canadian province of Quebec.
Vermont's largest city,Burlington, is on the lake as well.
(04:13):
So the story goes
that on a warm July day,as they navigated the pristine waters,
Champlain documentedan extraordinary sighting.
He described seeing a 20ft serpentwith a horse
shaped headand a body as thick as a barrel.
This creature, unlike anythinghe had ever encountered before,
(04:35):
Was the beginningof one of North America's most well known
and documented cryptids.
To fully appreciatethe impact of Champlain sighting,
we must lookat the historical context of the time.
The early 17th century was a period chock
full of tales of sea monstersand mythical creatures.
It was an age of exploration,after all, and mariners logs and maps
(04:58):
often depicted fantastical beastslurking in uncharted waters.
In short, they were very popular.
Sea monsters were a common motifin the folklore of coastal communities.
In the writings of explorers, thesecreatures, often described as serpents
or leviathans, were believed to inhabitthe depths of the oceans and Great Lakes,
(05:20):
surfacingoccasionally to terrorize seafarers.
Champlain's account of the creaturein Lake Champlain
utilizedor connected with these popular beliefs.
Champlain's encounter in this story
doesn't seem to be a fleeting glimpse.
He notated the creature's size, the shape.
(05:41):
The movement talked about all sortsof details, allegedly,
which is interesting becausemost sightings of Champlain are so brief
that it's hard to actually saywhat it looks like in Champlain's
reputation as an explorer and a politicianlent credibility to this account.
Champlain's sightings
(06:02):
basically set the stagefor a series of subsequent encounters
that would happen with the creaturefor hundreds of years to come.
Fast forward to the 19th century.
In July 1819, a captain Crum reported
seeing a black monster in beluga Bay,
an inlet on the lake on the New York side.
(06:24):
He described itas being about 187ft long, with a head
resembling that of a seahorse,and eyes that glowed like peeled onions.
In 1873, champ started to get more popularand well-known.
A New York Times storyreported that a railroad crew
had seen the head of an enormous serpentin Lake Champlain, This story,
(06:45):
and probably a few other local talesthat are not as well remembered today,
copy attention of someone important P.T.
Barnum, showman. Circus guy.
Never wanted to miss out on promotions,gimmicks, and business opportunities.
P.T. Barnumoffered a reward of $50,000 in 1873,
so I'm not going to do the mathto find out what that is now.
(07:06):
But it's a lot of money
for a hide of the great Champlain Serpent.
To add to my mammoth World's Fair show.
In 1883, Sheriff Nathan H.
Mooney claimed to have seena gigantic water serpent as well,
and he described the creatureas having silvery scales.
It shimmered in the lightand it moved with an eerie
(07:30):
sort of serpentine motion.
In short,the late 19th century saw a number of
sightings, a lot of storiesthat added to the legend of champ.
no one had been attacked,killed or otherwise.
like Bigfoot and other cryptids today,the stories were interesting.
They sold papers.
They were intriguing and a lot of peoplelegitimately thought that they saw
(07:51):
something strangein the waters of Lake Champlain.
Now, whenever you hear
these stories, these cryptids,especially stories that go back
a few hundred years,there's always mentions of native legends.
That these stories startedbefore European exploration,
which again adds this sense of credibilityand history to these things.
(08:14):
The Abenaki and Iroquois tribes,
it is said, have long spokenabout a creature they called Doug.
I'm sure I'm pronouncingthat perfectly well.
Early in the 18th century,Abenaki warned French explorers
about disturbing the waters of the laketo not provoke a beast within.
Their legends had been passed downfrom generations,
(08:36):
and tell of these talesto basically make sure
that people are respecting the area,respecting the lake and waters.
Today, some suggest champ is a survivingplesiosaur,
a marine reptilefrom the time of the dinosaurs.
Others proposes a giant eel or sturgeon,
and those might accountfor some of the reported characteristics.
(08:57):
Also potentially a giant gar,
which, if you don't know what a garfish is, they are large,
alligator like faces,but the body of a fish, and depending
on the type of gar, they can get really,really big and are very scary looking.
And take note of the Gar comment herebecause
(09:18):
it might play an important rolein the story of champ,
So listen to the endto learn more about that.
Crypto zoologists and skeptics alikehave pored over the evidence,
including the famous 1977photograph taken by Sandra mansi.
If you're unaware of it,you've probably seen it a million times.
Her image shows a dark shaperising from the water.
(09:40):
It's been subjected to rigorous analysiswith no definitive conclusion.
Although I
will say she lost the negative,and she's never been able
to tell investigatorsexactly where she took the picture.
Those that believe in the cryptid likechamp, believe that the photo is proof.
Those that don't believe think it's proofthat it's not real.
(10:02):
Regardless,
I think this photo is a better onethan the surgeon's photo
with the Loch Ness Monster.
That's my personal opinion.
In recent years, technologyhas brought new tools to the search
for sonar readings,
and underwater cameras have capturedanomalies in the lakes depths,
unexplained blips and bluffs and shapes
(10:23):
that hint at something extraordinary
in the water belowthat people can't explain it this time.
in 2003, for example, the CommunicationsResearch Institute detected echolocation
signals in the lake similar to thoseproduced by dolphins or whales could
be a yet to be discovered aquatic mammal.
(10:45):
The scientific communityremains divided, but
this jury is still going on.
Champ is not only captivatedthose who live by the lake,
but also inspired a broadercultural fascination
from tourist attractions, restaurantsto a minor minor league
baseball team, champhas become a beloved symbol of the region.
(11:06):
So what are we to make of change?
Is it a speciesthat's yet to be discovered?
Or is it aseries of mis identifications and hoaxes?
So there's one main point of contentionwithin the history here
that I do want to bring up beforewe conclude, though Samuel de Champlain
(11:27):
is often quoted as having seena 20ft serpent in the water,
there's no actual evidencethat he ever said that he kept diaries
and journals, and what he actuallymentioned is large fish.
In fact, he described something.
He wasn't sure what it waswhen he described it, but its description
is very similar to that of a large gar,
(11:50):
not a serpent with a horse shaped head.
Now, I mentioned earlierbecause they're large
and they have a scary snoutand they can easily be misidentified.
The practical side of mewants to put that as a likely suspect
in miss identificationsin Lake Champlain, as well as sturgeons,
which can be gigantic in super creepyas well.
(12:13):
It's also inconclusivethat the natives had any stories
about a large, serpentine creatureto have come across this.
In other cryptid researchwhere there's mention of native stories,
because, again, I think it adds,sort of a credibility to these stories.
And it is fascinating to hear this.
However, I can't provethat any of these stories are real.
(12:37):
There's really no credibility to it.
So it seems like thatmay have been made up in the early sort
of folk tales, local local stories,and likely early press
that was written about somebodylike champ, where they added these
little anecdotes about native stories,but they aren't real.
However, I could be wrong.
It's tough to research these things.
(12:59):
So if you listeners have any informationabout real local tales
from the natives,from the indigenous tribes of the area,
reach out.
Let me know if they actually did talkabout large, serpentine or otherwise
monstrous unknown species of creatures
in Lake Champlain.
(13:20):
Before I go, there are some amazingbits of evidence in relation to champ.
There's a really cool video.
I believe it's a drone shot and it showsthis dark shapes swimming in the lake.
I'm not sure if it's real or not,but it's really cool.
There's also other photosthat I didn't go into, and other tales
and anecdotesthat I did not go into in today's episode.
(13:40):
So if you enjoy cryptids,give it a search, you will come across
all of it, and I will providesome links in the show notes.
Thank you for listening to today'sepisode of a study of Strange.
I will mentionI didn't intend to do a mini sode.
I wanted to do a couple of largernormal episodes with guests,
but I have been dealing with justa sinus infection that will not go away.
(14:05):
And it's been
really tough to talk,but I wanted to come out with an episode.
I wanted to keep content coming.
So thank you for bearing with me
as I deal with this,and hopefully I don't sound to,
lethargic and sickand nasally to listen to this.
If you enjoy content, pleasecheck out our Substack or our website
at City of strange.com.
(14:26):
You can support the show
there, get additional content,get episodes early, all of that fun stuff.
And it goes a long wayto helping us continue to make the show.
Besides that, you know, follow uson the socials, all those things,
and stay tuned for more!
A Study of strangehopefully coming soon when I'm not sick.
(14:47):
Thank you and good night.
They say that something
strange swims beneath the murkywaters of Lake Champlain,
a creature,a legend, older than most can remember.
sightings allegedly
date back hundreds of yearsto the indigenous tribes of the area.
And yet, in our modern age of scienceand smartphones,
while plenty of people still claimto catch a glimpse of the creature
(00:26):
known as champ,there is a lack of hard evidence,
not unlike a lot of other cryptids
that have been reported around the world.
This is a study of strange.
(00:57):
Welcome back to the show.
I am Michael May.
And tonight on this mini sode,we embark on a journey
diving into some cryptid waters,
specifically the waters of Lake Champlain,where for centuries
there's been a taleof a mysterious creature
which has terrifiedthose who traverse the lake.
(01:19):
This creature, known as Champor Champ, is typically referred to
as the Loch Ness Monster, North America'sversion of the Loch Ness Monster.
I should say I'm very excited about thiscryptid story.
I was in Vermont a few months ago,and as I do when I travel anywhere,
as I research,the history of strange things,
(01:41):
unsolved crime, weird stories.
And although I know a little bit aboutchamp, I was excited to dive into that
a little bit more.
And truth be told,
I've gotten a little more interestedin cryptids recently, especially after
my episode on the skunk capewith my guest, filmmaker Anthony Cousins,
who, I'm not gonna lie,I put me on a little bit of a
(02:01):
reading rabbithole, and it's made me way more intrigued
about some of these unexplainedcryptids around the world.
So let's dive right in.
Aunt tale beginsin the early 17th century,
when a man whose name would be synonymouswith exploration
and adventure, Samuel de Champlain.
(02:23):
He was born in France in 1567,
and Champlain was a navigator,cartographer, soldier,
eventual governor of New France,which would eventually become Canada.
And Champlainhad this insatiable curiosity
and somewhat a narcissistic determination
to expand the French Empire,and this led him on
(02:46):
numerous expeditions across the Atlanticand through North America.
This may have also been fueled by abit of an ego that he was known to have.
As he had a great desire for everyoneto think
that he was the best at everything,especially exploring.
In 1608, Champlainestablished the city of Quebec,
the heart of New France,but his ambitions did not stop there.
(03:10):
The following year, in 1609, Champlain
set out on an expeditionto explore the lands further south,
driven by the dual goalsof mapping new territories and forging
alliances with the indigenous peoplesagainst their common enemy, the Iroquois.
It was during this expeditionthat Champlain and his party
(03:32):
just happened to bumpinto a vast body of water
that would later bear his name,Lake Champlain.
For those that don't know,
Lake Champlain is in the GreatLakes region of North America.
Though it's not officiallyone of the Great Lakes, it is often called
the Sixth Great Lakebecause, well, it's really big.
It's over 100 miles long
(03:52):
and it connects viathe Champlain Canal to the Hudson River.
It also connects to the Saint
Lawrence River,which itself connects to the Great Lakes.
It sits between the US states of New Yorkand Vermont, into its north
into the Canadian province of Quebec.
Vermont's largest city,Burlington, is on the lake as well.
(04:13):
So the story goes
that on a warm July day,as they navigated the pristine waters,
Champlain documentedan extraordinary sighting.
He described seeing a 20ft serpentwith a horse
shaped headand a body as thick as a barrel.
This creature, unlike anythinghe had ever encountered before,
(04:35):
Was the beginningof one of North America's most well known
and documented cryptids.
To fully appreciatethe impact of Champlain sighting,
we must lookat the historical context of the time.
The early 17th century was a period chock
full of tales of sea monstersand mythical creatures.
It was an age of exploration,after all, and mariners logs and maps
(04:58):
often depicted fantastical beastslurking in uncharted waters.
In short, they were very popular.
Sea monsters were a common motifin the folklore of coastal communities.
In the writings of explorers, thesecreatures, often described as serpents
or leviathans, were believed to inhabitthe depths of the oceans and Great Lakes,
(05:20):
surfacingoccasionally to terrorize seafarers.
Champlain's account of the creaturein Lake Champlain
utilizedor connected with these popular beliefs.
Champlain's encounter in this story
doesn't seem to be a fleeting glimpse.
He notated the creature's size, the shape.
(05:41):
The movement talked about all sortsof details, allegedly,
which is interesting becausemost sightings of Champlain are so brief
that it's hard to actually saywhat it looks like in Champlain's
reputation as an explorer and a politicianlent credibility to this account.
Champlain's sightings
(06:02):
basically set the stagefor a series of subsequent encounters
that would happen with the creaturefor hundreds of years to come.
Fast forward to the 19th century.
In July 1819, a captain Crum reported
seeing a black monster in beluga Bay,
an inlet on the lake on the New York side.
(06:24):
He described itas being about 187ft long, with a head
resembling that of a seahorse,and eyes that glowed like peeled onions.
In 1873, champ started to get more popularand well-known.
A New York Times storyreported that a railroad crew
had seen the head of an enormous serpentin Lake Champlain, This story,
(06:45):
and probably a few other local talesthat are not as well remembered today,
copy attention of someone important P.T.
Barnum, showman. Circus guy.
Never wanted to miss out on promotions,gimmicks, and business opportunities.
P.T. Barnumoffered a reward of $50,000 in 1873,
so I'm not going to do the mathto find out what that is now.
(07:06):
But it's a lot of money
for a hide of the great Champlain Serpent.
To add to my mammoth World's Fair show.
In 1883, Sheriff Nathan H.
Mooney claimed to have seena gigantic water serpent as well,
and he described the creatureas having silvery scales.
It shimmered in the lightand it moved with an eerie
(07:30):
sort of serpentine motion.
In short,the late 19th century saw a number of
sightings, a lot of storiesthat added to the legend of champ.
no one had been attacked,killed or otherwise.
like Bigfoot and other cryptids today,the stories were interesting.
They sold papers.
They were intriguing and a lot of peoplelegitimately thought that they saw
(07:51):
something strangein the waters of Lake Champlain.
Now, whenever you hear
these stories, these cryptids,especially stories that go back
a few hundred years,there's always mentions of native legends.
That these stories startedbefore European exploration,
which again adds this sense of credibilityand history to these things.
(08:14):
The Abenaki and Iroquois tribes,
it is said, have long spokenabout a creature they called Doug.
I'm sure I'm pronouncingthat perfectly well.
Early in the 18th century,Abenaki warned French explorers
about disturbing the waters of the laketo not provoke a beast within.
Their legends had been passed downfrom generations,
(08:36):
and tell of these talesto basically make sure
that people are respecting the area,respecting the lake and waters.
Today, some suggest champ is a survivingplesiosaur,
a marine reptilefrom the time of the dinosaurs.
Others proposes a giant eel or sturgeon,
and those might accountfor some of the reported characteristics.
(08:57):
Also potentially a giant gar,
which, if you don't know what a garfish is, they are large,
alligator like faces,but the body of a fish, and depending
on the type of gar, they can get really,really big and are very scary looking.
And take note of the Gar comment herebecause
(09:18):
it might play an important rolein the story of champ,
So listen to the endto learn more about that.
Crypto zoologists and skeptics alikehave pored over the evidence,
including the famous 1977photograph taken by Sandra mansi.
If you're unaware of it,you've probably seen it a million times.
Her image shows a dark shaperising from the water.
(09:40):
It's been subjected to rigorous analysiswith no definitive conclusion.
Although I
will say she lost the negative,and she's never been able
to tell investigatorsexactly where she took the picture.
Those that believe in the cryptid likechamp, believe that the photo is proof.
Those that don't believe think it's proofthat it's not real.
(10:02):
Regardless,
I think this photo is a better onethan the surgeon's photo
with the Loch Ness Monster.
That's my personal opinion.
In recent years, technologyhas brought new tools to the search
for sonar readings,
and underwater cameras have capturedanomalies in the lakes depths,
unexplained blips and bluffs and shapes
(10:23):
that hint at something extraordinary
in the water belowthat people can't explain it this time.
in 2003, for example, the CommunicationsResearch Institute detected echolocation
signals in the lake similar to thoseproduced by dolphins or whales could
be a yet to be discovered aquatic mammal.
(10:45):
The scientific communityremains divided, but
this jury is still going on.
Champ is not only captivatedthose who live by the lake,
but also inspired a broadercultural fascination
from tourist attractions, restaurantsto a minor minor league
baseball team, champhas become a beloved symbol of the region.
(11:06):
So what are we to make of change?
Is it a speciesthat's yet to be discovered?
Or is it aseries of mis identifications and hoaxes?
So there's one main point of contentionwithin the history here
that I do want to bring up beforewe conclude, though Samuel de Champlain
(11:27):
is often quoted as having seena 20ft serpent in the water,
there's no actual evidencethat he ever said that he kept diaries
and journals, and what he actuallymentioned is large fish.
In fact, he described something.
He wasn't sure what it waswhen he described it, but its description
is very similar to that of a large gar,
(11:50):
not a serpent with a horse shaped head.
Now, I mentioned earlierbecause they're large
and they have a scary snoutand they can easily be misidentified.
The practical side of mewants to put that as a likely suspect
in miss identificationsin Lake Champlain, as well as sturgeons,
which can be gigantic in super creepyas well.
(12:13):
It's also inconclusivethat the natives had any stories
about a large, serpentine creatureto have come across this.
In other cryptid researchwhere there's mention of native stories,
because, again, I think it adds,sort of a credibility to these stories.
And it is fascinating to hear this.
However, I can't provethat any of these stories are real.
(12:37):
There's really no credibility to it.
So it seems like thatmay have been made up in the early sort
of folk tales, local local stories,and likely early press
that was written about somebodylike champ, where they added these
little anecdotes about native stories,but they aren't real.
However, I could be wrong.
It's tough to research these things.
(12:59):
So if you listeners have any informationabout real local tales
from the natives,from the indigenous tribes of the area,
reach out.
Let me know if they actually did talkabout large, serpentine or otherwise
monstrous unknown species of creatures
in Lake Champlain.
(13:20):
Before I go, there are some amazingbits of evidence in relation to champ.
There's a really cool video.
I believe it's a drone shot and it showsthis dark shapes swimming in the lake.
I'm not sure if it's real or not,but it's really cool.
There's also other photosthat I didn't go into, and other tales
and anecdotesthat I did not go into in today's episode.
(13:40):
So if you enjoy cryptids,give it a search, you will come across
all of it, and I will providesome links in the show notes.
Thank you for listening to today'sepisode of a study of Strange.
I will mentionI didn't intend to do a mini sode.
I wanted to do a couple of largernormal episodes with guests,
but I have been dealing with justa sinus infection that will not go away.
(14:05):
And it's been
really tough to talk,but I wanted to come out with an episode.
I wanted to keep content coming.
So thank you for bearing with me
as I deal with this,and hopefully I don't sound to,
lethargic and sickand nasally to listen to this.
If you enjoy content, pleasecheck out our Substack or our website
at City of strange.com.
(14:26):
You can support the show
there, get additional content,get episodes early, all of that fun stuff.
And it goes a long wayto helping us continue to make the show.
Besides that, you know, follow uson the socials, all those things,
and stay tuned for more!
A Study of strangehopefully coming soon when I'm not sick.
(14:47):
Thank you and good night.
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