Of all the mythical lake monsters, the legendary inhabitant of Loch Ness is perhaps the most famous on a global scale. However, this is far from the only body of water with such fame - many lesser known such lakes are scattered virtually all over the world.
The Kazan-Kosmopoisk group became interested in similar legends in their region, in particular, those associated with the Kara-Kul lake, and in 2011 visited it with a small expedition.
Lake Kara-Kul ("Black Lake") is located in the Vysokogorsk region of the Republic of Tatarstan, in the vicinity of the village of the same name. The reservoir itself is of karst origin, the underlying rocks are represented mainly by dolomite-limestone, which is easily washed away by water. With gentle northern and western shores in general, the lake has a hollow character, the funnel is located in the northwestern part of the lake. The reservoir consists of two stretches connected by a channel.
The area of Lake Kara-Kul is 5.3 hectares (total - 10.6 hectares), length - 650 m, maximum width - 180 m. The average depth of the lake is 4.2 m, the most known is 16 m, although there are other unofficial data. According to legend, at the beginning of the twentieth century, the deepest place here reached 30 m, and according to geologists from 1948 - 27 m. Probably, there is a process of shallowing of the lake due to siltation and soil formation by springs from the northern shore.
The formation of the lakes of the Ashit basin, to which the Kara-Kul belongs, is attributed to the late Cenozoic era. Only the southern part of the reservoir under consideration, called Amet, is a modern dam with a depth of approximately one to three meters, bounded by a dam 10 m wide. At present, Kara-Kul is a "State natural monument of regional significance of the landscape profile."
Information that a local analogue of the Loch Ness monster is found in this lake came to the local regional group "Cosmopoisk" from one of the residents of Kazan, who had to visit the area on business. In his words, the locals described him as a snake-like creature, whose rare appearance in public foreshadowed fires in the village. Further Internet searches confirmed the existence of a similar legend.
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The most interesting and informative were the information from the story about this lake by the local teacher Ganiev Akram Aglyamovich. In his words, the monster was nicknamed "su gezese" - "water bull". Descriptions of him were very contradictory: they represented him as a giant snake with a barrel-shaped body, then a winged giant fish, then a horned creature on four legs. Various eyewitnesses assured that they had seen the "karakul monster", or part of its body, or heard its terrifying roar of low frequency (it is worth paying attention to the last circumstance).
In the description of Akram Ganiev, there is also a mention of Lake Ozynby, located 13 km from Kara-Kul, with exactly the same legendary inhabitant in its depths. Also, similar legends are associated with another lake - Elan-er ("Serpentine Lake", from the Tatar "elan" - snake, Mar. "er" - lake), located in the Volga region on the border of Mari El with Tatarstan, only 9 km from Kara-Kul. The collected legends about him are posted on the electronic resource of the tourist "Team Kochuyushikh" from Kazan.
In particular, that in the lake, or rather in the caves of Mount Elan-kuryk, once lived a huge snake, the King of all earthly reptiles, who demanded offerings for the right to conduct hunting or fishing here. Because of the snake, none of the hunters dared to swim in Elan-er. This tradition has survived to this day. In this regard, sometimes there are rumors about strange traces of a large body near the lake, about huge remnants of discarded snake skin near the water, as well as about a terrible night roar (again) from the side of the lake.
The popularity of snake plots in the folklore of this region is evident. The mythological nature of the described lake monsters is obvious, if only because these reservoirs cannot provide for the existence of a large population of large animals for a long time, despite the assumptions about underground rivers connecting the lakes. The only question remains: what natural factors could have sustained the existence of such byliks for a long time, the roots of which are clearly associated with ancient myths?
The members of the expedition of the Kazan-Kosmopoisk group examined the lake and examined the bottom of its northern part using an echo sounder. The maximum recorded depth was 11 m with average values of 7-9 m. Black Lake really lived up to its name: the water was dark and opaque. The interviewed people vacationing on the shore and the rare local residents met on Sunday did not know anything about the rumors about the monster living here. Apparently, these legends are gradually forgotten.
As for the reasons that may be associated with the roar that the legendary monster supposedly makes, several versions have been proposed. The source of unusual sounds could be karst formation processes, or an underground river. But the most plausible is the assumption about a small bird from the heron family - Big Bittern (Latin “Botaurus stellaris”).
The bittern has a very loud cry, reminiscent of a bull's roar (cf. “water bull” in Kara-Kul), which is difficult to associate with a rather inconspicuous bird. Such sounds are usually emitted by a bittern in spring and in the first half of summer, usually at dusk, at night and in the morning. Apparently, it was the bittern that could unwittingly give rise to rumors about lake monsters on the territory of its vast habitat.
Victor Gaiduchik