The Utah Lake monster story

Utah Lake, is a body of water in north-central Utah, of approximately 150 square miles. The indigenous natives, The Ute told legends about the evil dwarfs or water babies living in the waters of the lake that lured mortals into the water where they drowned They also told settlers of a creature so large it was able to swallow a man whole.

Then in 1864, Isaac Fox said he saw a 25 foot long aquatic creature whilst hunting near the lake's north shore. The beast was described as having fierce dark eyes and a hound-shaped head. It chased Fox to shore and almost caught him . Fox said the creature then swam back to join a second creature in the water perhaps its mate. Henry Walker of Lehi was in Utah Lake in 1864 when "to his fear and surprise, he saw what looked like a large snake . . . with the head of a greyhound." In the later 1860s, two men reported they heard splashing at the Lake. They spotted a creature with a head shaped like a greyhound with "wicked-looking black eyes.".The sightings continued when in 1866, two men cutting hay saw a yellow animal with black spots that repeatedly displayed a forked red tongue. Needless to say, the two men fled before making more detailed observations. In 1870, it was said that fishers from Springville discovered the skull of a large creature with a 5-inch tusk protruding from its jaw, but what happened to the evidence isn’t clear.

It was taken more seriously when LDS Bishop William Price of Goshen and two fellow travellers spotted the serpent on the west shore of Utah Lake in 1871. He said it stood about 6 feet out of the water like a giant snake, and that the beast's 60-foot-long body looked like a section of stovepipe.

Two youngsters ,Willie Roberts and George Scott ,saw it in June 1880. Far out in the lake, a small animal resembling a dog or beaver approached them. They thought nothing about it until the creature roared like a lion, raised its huge head out of the water and revealed four legs, each about a yard long. The head boasted alligator-like jaws about 3 feet long. The critter chased them, making "savage gestures." The boys' "terrified countenances" and consistent reports convinced their parents and English traveller Phil Robinson they had met the "great snake" of Utah Lake. "Does the Smithsonian know of this terror?" Robinson asked.

There was another sighting of the creature in 1921, followed by a brief flurry of sightings. Then there was a report in 1946 by a local Scout master who said he had seen the bizarre creature appear on the surface of the lake. The account was widely regarded to be so detailed and accurate that it shouldn’t be doubted.( however eye witness testimony is considered unreliable and as mistaken identity is common so there will still have been sceptical discussion about the report)

There appear to have been no sightings reported since. Article on the monster:

http://www.heraldextra.com/news/local/article_4adacc44-6721-541d-bca1-b7edca69069f.html?mode=story

So what is or was in Utah lake? It sounds like a large ferocious eel. There have been reports of giant snakes that ruled the world 10 million years ago, so there are always possibilities of some surviving one presumes. As it has not been seen for some time it could have been a giant eel now died out. However some think the story of the boys seeing feet points to a giant beaver. Again it is always possible some may be surviving from the ice age. But that is cryptozoology for you.....full of possibles!