A huge serpentine creature was first sighted in Lake Erie by the Captain of the sloop “Felicity” in 1793. Throughout the 18th and 19th century, there were numerous reports of a sea creature dubbed “Bessie” or ” South Bay Bessie” living in Lake Erie. In 1990, several people witnessed a ”large creature moving in the water about 1,000 feet from their boat”. The creature was black, close to 35 feet long with a “snakelike head” and moved very fast.
A similar creature was spotted on several occasions throughout the 2000′s and most recently in summer 2010. However, no evidence has ever been found to confirm its existence.
Today both a beer and a hockey team have been named after the “Lake Erie Monster”.
Keep a weathered eye on the horizon; many a ship has been lost on Lake Erie. Was “Bessie” the last thing they saw?
The Lake Erie Chomper??
In the summer of 2001 while swimming in the murky Lake Erie waters of the Pump House Beach in Port Dover, three victims were attacked and bitten by a large unidentified creature. One victim was swimming in a meter of water when she felt a “chomp” on her calf which left a six inch set of puncture wounds.
Medical authorities had never seen anything of this nature and were at a loss to identify the attacker. It is speculated that the attack could have been from a protective bowfin. The primitive, aggressive species is known to protect the nest up to nine weeks after spawning.