Friday, 10 May 2019

The Iliamna Lake Monster Latest.


Search renewed for Iliamna Lake’s ‘monster’ with DNA testing and underwater video
By Casey Grove, Alaska Public Media – Anchorage

If there really is a lake monster in Alaska’s largest lake, a group of researchers using cutting edge technology this summer might have the best chance yet of finding it. People around Iliamna Lake have reported seeing the creature – only in quick glimpses – since the late 1940s. But there’s never been proof of what exactly it is. Now, a team has plans to sift through DNA in the lake and drop a camera down to its deepest spots, a thousand feet down, in an attempt to solve the decades-old mystery. The group of researchers includes camera specialist Charlotte Levy [lee-vee], who, by day, is assistant director of Natural Resources at the Aleutians East Borough. Levy told Alaska Public Media’s Casey that people who’ve reported seeing the monster tend to have a similar story.
The Iliamna Lake Monster:
Lake Iliamna is the largest lake in Alaska and the second largest freshwater lake within the U.S.A. Proportions are , 80 miles (129 km) long and 25 miles(40 km) wide with an area of 1,000 sq mi (2,600 sq km). The Iliamna Volcano, 10,016 ft (3,053 m) high, lies northeast of the lake and is still active.The lake was named by Tanaina Indians, whose mythology held that it was inhabited by a giant blackfish capable of biting holes in canoes. Lake Iliamna is still an isolated body of water, its shores largely unpopulated. The largest village, Kakhonak, counts only 200 permanent residents. The lake cannot be reached overland. Summer visitors must come by boat or fly in to a single airstrip.
Reports of a monster in Lake Iliamna go back to the Aleut and other indigenous tribes. The Aleuts did not hunt the lake's creatures as they believed them to be dangerous. Some early white settlers and visitors reportedly saw the things, too, but the stories only took off in the 1940s, when pilots began spotting monsters from the air. The flyers' descriptions generally matched the native tales. The lake's creatures were usually described as long, almost slender animals, like fish or whales, up to 30 feet in length. 

Good Luck, lets hope they find some answers.


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