Wally the Wallowa Lake Creature.

Wallowa Lake Oregon, is a glacial lake formed in the last ice age. It is approximately 5 miles long and a 1 mile wide and said to be over 280 feet deep. It is also said to be home to the lake monster nicknamed Wally. Wally is described as being a long, serpent like creature, with multiple humps which show above the water line. Some compare it to a Chinese dragon and say it has horns on it’s head. It has been estimated to be anything from 8 feet long to 100 feet long but that could be just one hump showing for the shorter sighting or more than one beast in a line for the longer. (interestingly enough some of the sightings of the Loch Ness creature claimed it had horns or protuberances on it’s head)

Sightings and stories can be can be traced as far back to the native population of the Nez Perce Indians. The Nez Perce Indians made their summer home on the shores of Wallowa Lake. The Nez Perce have many traditions and legends surrounding the mystery of the Wallowa Lake Monster, including one of the most well known about their chief’s daughter and the son of a rival tribes chief.The legend goes that the Nez Perce Indians and the Blackfeet Indians were at war when Wahluna, the daughter of Red Wolf, the chief of the Nez Perce fell in love with Tlescaoe, the son of Bloody Chief, the leader of the Blackfeet. One night Tlescaoe went to the Nez Perce camp and met with Wahluna and the two stole a canoe, presumably to elope together. They were about half way across the lake when the two tribes realised what was happening and both tribes got into their canoes and headed after them. When they met in the middle of the lake a batter broke out, a great commotion in the water stopped them in mid fight and a giant beast rose from the water, attacked the canoes and killed everyone.(Some one must have survived to tell the tale I presume)

One of the first accounts of the Wallowa Lake Monster by settlers was published in the Wallowa County Chieftain Newspaper in 1885. Apparently , a prospector, was about midway across the lake when he saw an animal about fifty yards to the right of his boat. The animal reared its head and neck out of the water about 10 feet, paused, then quickly dove back into the water. The startled prospector stopped rowing and gazed around the lake in astonishment. As he looked for the strange creature, the beast appeared again, about the same distance as before but this time to the left of his boat, and this time exposed its body which the prospector estimated to be about 100 feet long. The monster glided along for several hundred yards, it seemed to have a large, flat head and a neck as wide as a man’s body and about 10 feet in length. The creature let out a bellow something like a cow’s and then slide slowly beneath the surface.

A more recent sighting was by a woman , Irene Wiggins, who has owned the lodge at Wallowa Lake since 1945. She claims she saw the creature several times over the years.

There have been scattered sightings over the years of something in the lake. What I find interesting is that this is once more a glacial lake, with cold waters ,formed in the last ice age and this seems to be theme among lakes which are said to contain large creatures. I am not sure monster is a good term for them but it is the one in normal use. I don’t imagine if they exist they are monsters , just some large unknown creatures that live out their lives in the lakes.

See here for more information: http://www.oregongenealogy.com/wallowa/reavis/wallowa_lake_monster.htm