The quotation Champlain never wrote
Lake Champlain stretches more than a hundred miles along the border of New York and Vermont and reaches into Quebec. Countless articles say that the French explorer Samuel de Champlain, who gave the lake his name, was the first European to see its monster, in 1609, and describe it as a serpent twenty feet long and as thick as a barrel. The earliest known source for that claim is an article in the summer 1970 issue of Vermont Life. Nothing in Champlain's own writings says it.
What Champlain did describe was a large fish that local people called the chaousarou, with a long snout full of sharp teeth, which later translators identified as the longnose gar, a fish that really does live in the lake. The story of the explorer and the serpent is a good example of how a legend acquires an old, respectable beginning it never had.
Serpents and showmen
Champ's real paper trail begins in 1819, when the Plattsburgh Republican reported that a Captain Crum had seen a huge serpent in the lake and estimated it at 187 feet long. Reports came and went through the nineteenth century. In 1873 and again in 1887 the showman P. T. Barnum offered rewards for the hide of the great Champlain serpent. Nobody collected.
In 1883 a county sheriff, Nathan H. Mooney, said he had seen a serpent about 25 to 30 feet long, and more reports followed. The creature acquired the friendly nickname Champ, and by the late twentieth century it had become what Nessie is to Loch Ness: a tourist attraction, a local mascot and a standing invitation to look at the water a little longer.
The Mansi photograph, 1977
On July 5, 1977, Sandra Mansi, on a family vacation by the lake, photographed what looks like a long neck and small head rising from the water, with a dark hump behind it. It remains the most famous image of Champ. Analysts found no sign that the print had been tampered with, but the photograph could not be fully tested: Mansi had not kept the negative, and she could not say exactly where on the lake it had been taken.
Skeptics have offered several readings. The skeptical investigator Joe Nickell argued that the photo was taken over water only about 14 feet deep, an unlikely place for a large animal to swim and hide, and others have suggested a floating log or tree trunk catching the light, or a diving bird. Without the negative, the location or a second view, the picture shows an unidentified shape, which is not the same as an unknown animal.
Protected, just in case
In 1982 the Vermont House of Representatives passed a resolution protecting Champ, and the following year the New York legislature passed one of its own, recognizing the creature's possible existence, protecting it from harm and encouraging serious scientific study of unusual animals in the lake. The resolutions are not laws, and they cost nothing, but they made Lake Champlain one of the few places with official words on the books about its monster.
The lake holds plenty of large, real animals that could account for many sightings: lake sturgeon, which can grow longer than a person, the longnose gar Champlain described, big fish breaking the surface, swimming otters and deer, and logs and waves. No body, bone or verifiable specimen of anything larger has ever been found.
Frequently asked questions
Did Samuel de Champlain see Champ?
No. The often-repeated quotation about a serpent as thick as a barrel first appears in a 1970 magazine article. Champlain wrote about a large fish he called the chaousarou, later identified as the longnose gar.
Is the Mansi photograph of Champ real?
The print shows no sign of tampering, but it cannot be fully tested: the negative was not kept and the exact location is unknown. Skeptics suggest a log, a tree trunk or a bird, and note that the water where it was taken is shallow.
Is Champ protected by law?
Vermont passed a resolution in 1982 and New York in 1983 recognizing Champ and protecting it from harm. They are resolutions rather than wildlife laws, a gesture toward a creature that has never been proved to exist.