Mysterious Creatures : A Guide to Cryptozoology

Sacramento River. A 20- to 30-foot snake seen
on August 14, 1999, by Paul Dale Roberts in
Sacramento. Paul Dale Roberts, “River Serpent,”
Fortean Times, no. 128 (November 1999): 52.
Stafford Lake. Rumors of a large animal in this
small lake north of San Francisco were proven in
1984, when it was drained for dam repairs: a
White sturgeon (Acipenser transmontanus) 6 feet 6
inches long was recovered. “Stafford Lake Monster
Caught,” ISC Newsletter 4, no. 4 (Winter
1985): 8.
Lake Tahoe. See TAHOE TESSIE.
Trinity River. A water panther was known to
the Wintun tribe. Roland B. Dixon, “Water Monsters
in Northern California,” Journal of American
Folklore 19 (1906): 323.
Colorado
Lake Como. Loren Coleman, Mysterious America
(Boston: Faber and Faber, 1983), p. 276.
Lake Katherine, near Mount Zirkel. In late August
1979, Jerry Cross and Bill Hoppe saw a black,
15-foot animal with a hump. Denver Post, October
19, 1979.
Twin Lakes Reservoir. Around 1939, Mrs. Jess
L. Gerardi and her family saw an animal with a dinosaur’s
head. Denver Post, June 17, 1979.
Connecticut
Lake Basile. One report from 1949 of a creature
that emerged from the lake, left claw prints, and
galloped like a horse. Loren Coleman, Mysterious
America (Boston: Faber and Faber, 1983), p. 276.
Connecticut River. Loren Coleman, Mysterious
America (Boston: Faber and Faber, 1983), p. 276.
Lake Pocotopaug. Janet and Colin Bord, Unexplained
Mysteries of the 20th Century (Chicago:
Contemporary Books, 1989), p. 360.
Florida
Lake Clinch. Loren Coleman, Mysterious America
(Boston: Faber and Faber, 1983), p. 276.
Lake Monroe. Loren Coleman, Mysterious
America (Boston: Faber and Faber, 1983), p. 276.
St. Johns River. See PINKY.
St. Lucie River, North Fork. A 30-foot, brownish-gray
monster was seen in May 1975 by Mrs.
Dimiter Stoyanoff. Howard D. Salkin, “Mysterious
Water Monsters of North America,” Sea Monsters,
Spring 1977, pp. 22–25, 57–58.
Suwannee River. See THREE-TOES.
Georgia
Altamaha River. See ALTAMAHA-HA.
Chattahoochie River. Loren Coleman, Mysterious
America (Boston: Faber and Faber, 1983), p. 276.
No Man’s Friend Pond. Loren Coleman, Mysterious
America (Boston: Faber and Faber, 1983),
p. 276.
Savannah River. Loren Coleman, Mysterious
America (Boston: Faber and Faber, 1983), p. 276.
Idaho
Payette Lake. See SHARLIE.
Lake Pend Oreille. See PADDLER.
Snake River. On August 22, 1868, a 20-foot animal
with fins or wings was seen near Olds Ferry,
near Weiser. Federal Writers’ Project, Idaho Lore
(Caldwell, Idaho: Caxton Press, 1939), pp.
104–106.
Tautphaus Park (former lake in), Idaho Falls.
An odd animal seen in the early 1900s. Letter, Fate
15 (February 1962): 119–120.
Illi noi s
Lake Decatur. Giant, mutated catfish said to
live here. Troy Taylor, Haunted Decatur Revisited
(Alton, Ill.: Whitechapel, 2000).
Lake DuQuoin. An animal was seen in the summer
of 1879 by a Mr. Paquette; other sightings
were reported until 1968, when the lake was partially
drained. Jerome Clark and Loren Coleman,
“America’s Lake Monsters,” Beyond Reality, no. 14
(March-April 1975): 28, 33.
Four Lakes Village Quarry, Lisle. Robert Seeger
took a photo of something with two humps that
he saw making ripples in a quarry lake in October
1970. Chicago Today, November 10, 1970.
Lake Michigan. In early August 1867, there
were several sightings of a serpentine animal in the
lake off the Chicago area, from Evanston to
Michigan City, Indiana. Chicago Tribune, August
6–7, 1867.
Stump Pond, DuQuoin fairgrounds. Found to
be a large catfish. “The Monster of Stump Pond,”
Fate 18 (January 1965): 24–25; “Follow-up,” Fate
18 (February 1965): 24.
Indiana
Bass Lake. Potawatomi Indian legend of a monster.
Donald Smalley, “The Logansport Telegraph
and the Monster of the Indiana Lakes,” Indiana
Magazine of History 42 (1946): 249–267.
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