AI image used to illustrate this story by Frank Rocco Satullo
I sat by my grandpa on a pier in Huron, Ohio, fishing. My dad, his brothers, and my cousins were scattered about.
“Have you ever heard about the Lake Erie Monster?” He asked.
I looked up slowly and said a little shakily, “T-h-e … wh-a-a-a-t??
Most sightings of one of Ohio’s most famous cryptids (an animal whose existence has not been scientifically proven) have occurred in the western basin of Lake Erie.
“The water around the Lake Erie islands is shallow. Many shipwrecks lie beneath those waves. The survivors of one in the 1800s said it wasn’t the shoals or storm, it was a giant serpent that blasted a hole in their hull…” Grandpa began the tale.
The sightings date back to the early 1800s. The last one was in the 1990s. Somewhere in the timeline, this 30–40-foot-long brown, black, or gray serpent (according to various reports) was adorably named Bessie. Her nickname is believed to be a playful adaptation similar to “Nessie,” the famous monster of Scotland’s Loch Ness.
“The deadly creature moves so smoothly with the waves that it’s almost never seen. But in this shallow area of the lake, when storms kick up, the water turns choppy, leaving little in one area so it can swell in others. And it’s in those nearly waterless trenches that the Lake Erie Monster can’t hide!”
“Dad, stop scaring the kid, or you’ll have to answer to his mom if he keeps her up all night!”
Notable Sightings are on record as early as 1817, when crew members aboard a ship shared a similar description of the startling image rising from the water, prompting them to take a closer look. In return, the monster took a good look at them, perhaps seeing its first ship. In 1892, several fishermen reported seeing a large creature with a long body and unusual movement, unlike known fish. It didn’t appear again until 1969. That’s when a widely publicized sighting involved multiple people reporting a large, serpent-like creature near the western basin of Lake Erie. Newspaper coverage helped renew public interest, and the legend grew. Several more sightings were reported around the Toledo and Sandusky areas, since then, helping keep the story alive in modern times.
Grandpa winked at me and said, “No worries, kiddo, this is a monster that’ll never be under your bed.”
“Da-a-a-a-ad!”
By Frank Rocco Satullo, The OhioTraveler, Your Tour Guide to Fun
