It is curious that the first white person who saw Champa, a monster from Lake Champlain, was the explorer Samuel de Champlain, whose name was given to this lake, which separates the two states: Vermont and New York.
In July 1609, in his travel journal, Champlain wrote that the serpent-like creature he observed was about six meters long, as thick as a barrel, and its head was similar to that of a horse. The Indians, according to the researcher, called this creation "choserow".
Lake Champlain
In the 373 years since this unusual encounter of the French discoverer with an unknown animal, Champa has been seen hundreds of times.
Some people claim that this monster is either a giant sturgeon, or otters swimming in single file, or incorrectly identified objects (for example, buoys, tree stumps, or empty barrels of diesel fuel). Others believe that Shampa's true origin lies in the fevered brain of pranksters and liars.
Primary school teacher Joseph W. Zarzinski is a 30-year-old dreamer who believes that "something lives in this lake - something strange and amazing." He admits that over the past seven years he has spent a lot of time and money looking for this animal.
In Pittsburgh, New York, in the Press Republican on December 30, 1980, Zarzinski called for decisive action to protect animals such as Champ:
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“Many researchers and scientists working in the field of cryptozoology have a wealth of information that such unknown animals can actually inhabit some part of our vast planet. However, these creatures are completely unprotected.
As a result of propaganda that ascribes to them the qualities of monsters, most likely they will become victims of hunters and thrill-seekers, uncontrolled pollution of the environment or some other dangerous human actions.
… Recently, [the snake-like animals of Lake Champlain] along the 200-kilometer coastline of the lake were taken under protection by local residents - members of a small community. On October 6, the board of trustees of Port Henry village made a decision that provides Shampoo with some protection …
This decision, in particular, states: "… the entire body of water of Lake Champlain, which adjoins the village of Port Henry, is closed to anyone who can in any way harm, disturb or kill the sea monster of Lake Champlain." …
One of the motives for the decision to protect Shamp was the report of rifle shots, most likely at the inhabitant of the lake. A man with a rifle could shoot at a swimmer or a diver, mistaking him for a writhing monster. Port Henry set a precedent for starting the process of protecting animals like Shampoo throughout Lake Champlain. More than a hundred visual sightings of Champe are sufficient reason to call Lake Champlain "American Loch Ness" …"
Dr. Roy McCull does not use the word "monster" when talking about creatures like Champ. In his opinion, in such cases we are talking about a completely normal, "albeit rare and elusive" animal.
After years of research on Nessie and similar long-necked monsters that inhabit the entire northern hemisphere, McCull concluded that these animals belong to the small and still existing family of zeuglodons - the primitive ancestors of whales that have long been considered extinct.
The outdated name for zeuglodons is Basilosaurus. The first finds of their remains were described as the remains of a reptile. Zeugolodons lived 45 - 50 million years ago. They were practically the largest creatures on earth.
On June 28, 1981, in the Boston Globe, Dr. McCull wrote: "I am of the opinion that for centuries we have observed zeuglodons, mistaking them for sea devils."
According to Dr. McCull, zeuglodons migrate from oceans to lakes in pursuit of salmon during the spawning season. Lake Champlain, thanks to the Richelieu and St. Lawrence Rivers, in the Canadian province of Quebec, is connected to the Atlantic Ocean. Lake Loch Ness has an outlet to the sea - as does Lake Okanagan in British Columbia (province of Canada), which is often seen Ogo Pogo.
“Zeuglodons bear little resemblance to modern whales,” explains Dr. McCull, pointing out that the remains of supposedly prehistoric animals are kept at the Smithsonian Institution. “The zeglodon is more like an anaconda - an amphibious boa constrictor with a crest on its back.”
The most powerful blow in the struggle to prove the existence of Shampa came from Sandra Mansey, who on July 5, 1977 photographed what really looks like this lake monster. Not wanting to be ridiculed, she hid her unique achievement until she mustered up the courage after Zarzinski and others openly defended Shamp.
Mansey's famous photo is the highest quality shot of the Lake Champlain monster
Sandra Mansey told (on the pages of Boston Magazine) cryptozoologist Lauren Coleman that at first it seemed to her that a very large fish was swimming in the middle of the lake, “… but then I realized that it was an animal with a gray-brown head and a snake-like neck. At the same time, it seemed as if the monster was twisting its head, studying the surrounding area …"
Dr. McCull convinced Ms. Mansey to submit the photograph to the University of Arizona Optical Research Center for examination. Later, Dr. Roy Frieden, professor of optics, concluded that the photograph was not a fake, but he could not say for sure what it was.
“The photograph provided by Ms. Mansey is of very high quality and by all indications it is not the result of editing or any kind of fraud. We have not found any evidence of fraud."
J. Richard Greenwell, a scientist at the University of Arizona, expressed confidence that the creature in the photograph looks like a "classic" plesiosaur - a representative of the order of marine reptiles, which are believed to have become extinct several million years ago.
Plesiosaur
