The creature in Lake Manitou

Lake Manitou Monster

Lake Manitou ,Indiana, was  considered forbidden by the  Potawtomi native Americans who lived in the area. They believed  that a monster lived in the lake called, Meshekenabek.  Lake Manitou is a 55ft deep man-made lake which was created in 1827  flooding a large area and joining several smaller lakes. The Potawtomi warned settlers  against building a mill on the lake claiming that the monster would "rush forth from its watery dominions and take indiscriminate vengeance on all those who resided near the sacred lake."

Construction of the corn mill went ahead .Some of the men who worked around the  lake for the construction claimed  to have seen something large in the water. They said  the creature was dark coloured, and over thirty feet long with a long neck and a head like a horse. (sounds familiar).

Then some years later the area's first blacksmith also saw the monster. He claimed that  the head was about three feet across the frontal bone and looked  something like a cow’s head, but the neck tapering and having the character of the serpent. It’s was dingy coloured, with large yellow spots.

Two weeks after the blacksmith sighting, two  fishermen claimed that while out fishing on the lake one evening, a large disturbance in the water appeared on the lake.  The men began to row their boat in its  direction but then realising they could be in danger stopped and watched . They found themselves looking at a creature of nearly sixty feet in length moving rapidly under the surface of the water towards them. A  large grey head broke the surface of the water and then submerged  again. Once the creature had disappeared they rowed for the shore as fast as they could.

In July 21, 1838, the Logansport Telegraph reported that two men spotted a creature  which was "sixty feet long, and looked like a huge snake."

In 1849 the Logansport Journal reported that a huge buffalo carp weighing  several hundred pounds was caught in the lake. People thought that the monster had been found and caught., Then  in 1888 a 116-pound  catfish was pulled from the lake by four men. The monster sized fish was placed on display before being cut up  and sold at ten cents a pound.

So was there a lake monster, a serpent or just a monster fish ?

In recent years, reports of the Lake Manitou monster have been very few. If anyone knows of recent sighting please post a comment.