Lake Champlain Region

The Possible Science of Champ

Could Champ be a plesiosaur? They are believed to have become extinct at the end of the Cretaceous era.

The official title of such monsters are "cryptozoological creatures," indicating their maybe mythythical status. If lake monsters do exist, the Loch Ness monster, "Nessie," and the Lake Champlain monster, "Champ," might be related.

Both Lake Champlain and Loch Ness in Scotland are freshwater lakes dug by glaciers over 10,000 years ago. Lake Champlain's maximum depth of 400 feet is enough to provide a monster with plenty of hiding room.

Both monsters share approximate size, comparative shapes, which feature long sinuous necks, and similar behavior, being seen often at dusk and dawn, and at night, confirming the belief of some that it is a naturally nocturnal creature.

photographer unknown

This apparent Plesiosaur washed up on Moore's Beach in Monterey Bay, California in 1925.
The neck was described as being about 20 feet long.

Perhaps the idea of an extinct creature surviving all this time without our knowledge isn't so strange. Everyone's favorite example is the coelacanth.

photographer unknown

The coelacanth was thought to be extinct for 70 million years until it was discovered alive and well in 1938. The fish is no longer on the extinct list since more than 200 have been captured since then.

The Investigations Get Real

Champ-Beyond the Legend by Joseph Zarzynski was the first book to study Champ in depth. So to speak.

A New York Social Studies teacher, Joseph Zarzynski, became a well-known and enthusiastic cryptozoologist in the 1970's. "Zarr," as he was familiarly known, was able to persuade many who had seen Champ but feared ridicule to finally come forward with their stories. Zarr founded the "Lake Champlain Phenomena Investigation" and was a prominent investigator through the 1980's. He uncovered the famous "Mansi photograph" of Champ, which remains the most indelible image of a sighting.

Image © Sandra Mansi

The famous Mansi Champ photo of 1977 has undergone two photographic investigations; by B. Roy Frieden, of the Optical Sciences Center at the University of Arizona, in 1981, and Paul H. LeBlond, Department of Oceanography at the University of British Columbia, in 1982.

Both concluded that the photograph was untampered with, but questions remained. LeBlond's analysis claimed there were still unknown factors: "Sources of error may appear at many stages of the estimation method, and this must be kept in mind when interpreting the results."

Dennis Hall, of Champ Quest, is always looking.

The latest leader in the Champ Hunt is Dennis Hall, who has personally encountered the creature on several occasions. His store of photographs and videotaped evidence is the most recent and can be viewed on his website, Champ Quest.

Dennis may have actually captured a Champ specimen. In the 1970’s he discovered an 12-inch-long reptile in a marshy area bordering the lake that looked like no other living reptile, especially the forked tongue. Dennis’ father thought the creature should be examined by the scientists at the University of Vermont. They declared it was unlike any living reptile in the catalog.

Unfortunately it simply deepened the mystery when the specimen was lost, like many another tantalizing example of a cryptozoological creature. Dennis Hall later recognized its image in a book on prehistoric reptiles.