Lake St. Clair Serpent

 

Lake St Clair Monster

 Lake St. Clair is part of the great lakes system. Lake St. Clair connects Lake Huron (to the north) with Lake Erie (to the south). It  has an average depth of  11 feet (3.4 metres) but  23 feet  (over 7 metres) at its deepest point. It is 27 feet (8.2 m) deep in the navigation channel which is dredged by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. The lake is fed by the St. Clair River. which flows to Lake Huron.

It is said to have a sea serpent resident there.

In August 23rd, 1897, a newspaper called the Essex Free Press wrote about a  monster being observed  in the lake.

"While Miss Ella Burdickand some friends were out fishing on Lake St. Clair, one evening last week at sundown, a dark peculiar looking object was seen coming up the lake. They rowed very close to the object and were able to get a good look at it. It appeared to have a head somewhat like a dog, with huge eyes protruding and tusk-like projections on each side of the head. Its body appeared to lie some seven or eight feet under water. Some fishermen also saw it and claimed it was some sort of sea serpent. It was certainly a very dangerous and horrible-looking object and was swimming at a very rapid rate."

Also  in 1897, some  fishermen left their horse on the lake side  and went fishing. A witness saw a creature drag the animal into the lake. The witness described  an eel-like sea serpent  to the local authorities.

Later in the same year, a creature was seen in the St. Clair Flats from a Riverside Hotel. The male observer   said that it moved at a "terrific rate of speed."

There have been no recent sightings. However both Lake Huron and Lake Erie are also said to have monsters resident. AS they are all connected could it be a family of creatures travel  between the lakes ?

Lake Huron has average depth of 195 ft ( 59 m), while the maximum recorded (by sonar) depth is  is 750 ft ( 229 m).. In 1975 a group of creatures were reported seen by the London Ontario Free Press on June 12th near Kincardine and another in the Goderich area in 1989.

Lake Erie is 241 miles long( approx 389kms) and 57 miles(approx 90kms) at its widest point.It is shallow compared to other great lakes but is said to be over 200 feet(over 65 metres) at its deepest.

The lake creature, now known as Bessie, was first reported in 1817 when the crew of a schooner reported seeing a large serpent like creature swimming in the lake. On July 8th, 1898, the Daily Register Newspaper, of Ohio reported that the lake monster was able to live on both land and in water and  was a fierce, ugly, coiling creature between 25(8 metres) and 30 feet long ( 10 metres)and at least 12 inches thick( .3 metres).

It became a bit of joke in 1912 when some hoaxers tried to pass off an exotic snake as the creature. Then more sightings began to be reported.

In 1960, Ken Golic was fishing off a pier in Sandusky when he heard what he thought were  rats. He decided to throw a couple of rocks at them but then when he got close he saw a cigar shaped creature.

In 1969, Jim Schindler was startled by a snake like creature came near South Bass Island. He said it appeared to be about 2 feet ( .6 metre)wide.

In September 1981, Theresa Kovach of Akron watched a snake like creature  from a house on the shore.She said  that "was so large that it could easily capsized a boat."

In 1983, Mary M. Landoll saw Bessie off Rye Beach in Huron. Mary was out to the front porch just before dawn when from the lake she heard a rowing sound and saw what looked like a capsized boat, but realised it was animate. It was a greenish-brown and about 50 feet (18metres) long .It had a long neck and an eye was visible on the side of the head .

In 1985,there were two reported sightings . Tony Schill of Avon, Ohio was boating with friends north of Vermilion when they saw a dark brown snake like creature with a flat tail. Tony stated that "five humps came out of the water. No way it was a sturgeon." .In 1985, Dale Munro of Lorain was also boating when he saw something strange. He stated that it had three humps and was black.

In 1989, Gail Kasner had a sonar reading,a graph, from a boat owned by Ken Smith of Streetsboro. It appeared to show cigar shape object about 35 feet (11 metres)in length at a depth of about 30 feet.(10 metres)

Then there were several sightings in 1990 including:

Susan Seeson, of Salem saw a  creature two miles from Cedar Point. In September , Bob Soracco was jet skiing when he saw something.. He told reporters that he saw humps with gray spots. "It was very long as I moved closer and it was going down.". In the same month, Harold Bricker and his family were fishing north of Cedar Point Amusement Park when a creature swam by their boat .They described it as being 35 feet (11 metres)long and having  a snake like head. It moved as fast as their boat. Also in  September  Fire inspectors, Jim Johnson and Steve Dircks of Huron, saw the creature from a window facing Lake Erie. They described it as  black at about 30 feet( 10 metres) long.

In September 1991, Dennis Szececinski,was fishing in the bay when something long and black slithered in front of him. Also in in 1991, George Repicz shot  some video footage which he claimed showed  Bessie.

In the summer of 1998, Leslee Rasgaitis reported seeing 3 black humps moving in the water of the shore of Huntington Beach, Ohio.

There are some more recent sightings I believe but the explanation given is that it is a sturgeon.

However it could be a large snake or serpent family of creatures  that travels between the lakes through the river system .What do you think?