There are two main categories for these creatures. Some lake monsters look much like sea serpents or Nessie, Scotland's Loch Ness Monster, with a long, serpentine body, perhaps with paddles or humps, and a head that is shaped somewhat like that of a horse. These creatures all seem to be related to each other, and they were first explained by cryptozoologists as living plesiosaurs, primitive reptiles, though today the concensus has switched to zeuglodons, a weird, primitive whale that is supposed to be extinct. Some other lake monsters seem even more dragon-like, and these often have supernatural powers attributed to them.

On the more normal end of the spectrum, some lake monsters seem to resemble animals that we are more familiar with, such as giant turtles or giant crocodiles. The creatures in this other category are quite varied, linked only by the fact that they do not resemble sea serpents. Creatures in this group include the gigantic, hairy monsters like seals with canine faces that are said to reside in Lake Simcoe and Muskrat Lake in Ontario, Canada, and the school of twenty-foot mystery fish that are reported from Iliamna Lake in Alaska.

Most lakes that are supposed to house monsters are in remote areas, are very big, or both. Iliamna Lake is over a thousand square miles in area and more than a thousand feet deep. Unless these monsters have the ability to waddle onto land, draining the lake in question would answer the question of whether a monster was in it once and for all, but researchers are understandably reluctant to do this. Even when such an option isn't too expensive, it would destroy a valuable ecosystem and, if there is a monster, kill it. Most cryptozoologists are afraid of making a new animal extinct just to prove that it had once existed.

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Holiday, F. W. The Goblin Universe

The Hunt for Lake Monsters

~Authors~ Would you like your nonfiction book indexed in The Cryptid Zoo? Ask if you can send a review copy.

Juliano, Dave. Sea Serpents and Lake Monsters

Keel, John A. The Complete Guide to Mysterious Beings. New York: Doubleday, 1994. Pages 297-316

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Lake Monster Sightings

Lake Van Monster

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McEwan, Graham J. Mystery Animals of Britain and Ireland. London: Robert Hale, 1986. Pages 11-16, 77-118, 196-202, 206-209, 211-212

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Moran, Mark & Sceurman, Mark. Weird N.J.: Your Travel Guide to New Jersey's Local Legends and Best Kept Secrets. New York: Barnes & Noble, 2004. Page 108

Newton, Michael. Encyclopedia of Cryptozoology: A Global Guide to Hidden Animals and Their Pursuers. Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland & Company, 2005. Page 4, 11, 14-15, 20-22, 24, 27-30, 34-35, 38-41, 54-60, 68, 72, 75-77, 83-85, 88-102, 106-107, 113, 118-120, 122, 124, 126, 128, 130-133, 139, 140-141, 146-148, 150-152, 154-165, 172-174, 176, 178-180, 182-186, 188-192, 194, 196-197, 201-206, 208, 211, 219-222, 226-229, 231-232, 236-258, 263-275, 277-283, 285-286, 288-289, 291-292, 295-297, 299-300, 302, 308-311, 313, 315-317, 321, 322, 324, 328-331, 336-337, 341-346, 348-354, 357-363, 365-366, 368-369, 371-377, 379, 382, 384, 391-395, 397-403, 405, 407-411, 413, 415, 418-426, 428-451, 453-455, 458, 461-462, 464, 466-469, 472-475, 477-480, 482-489, 491-493, 495-496, 507, 509

The Online Lake Cryptid Directory

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