‘The lake surface was glass. My girlfriend and I were fishing from our anchored rowboat in about fifteen feet of water, facing the New York shore. ‘Ron, what’s that?’ I turned. About thirty feet away I saw three dark humps … protruding about two feet above the surface. The humps were perhaps two or three feet apart. They didn’t move. We didn’t either. We watched in disbelief for about ten seconds. The humps slowly sank into the water. There was no wake, no telltale sign of movement. Unexplained. Eerie. Unsettling.’ — from the Foreword by Ronald S. Kermani
Scotland may have Nessie, the Loch Ness Monster, but we have Champ, the legendary serpent-like monster of Lake Champlain. The first recorded sighting of Champ, in 1609, has been attributed to the lake’s namesake, French explorer and cartographer Samuel de Champlain. This is pure myth, but there have been hundreds of sightings since then. Robert E. Bartholomew embarks on his own search, both of the lake firsthand and through period sources and archives—many never before published. Although he finds the trail obscured by sloppy journalism, local leaders motivated by tourism income, and bickering monster hunters, he weighs the evidence to craft a rich, colorful history of Champ. From the nineteenth century, when Champ was a household name, to 1977, when he appeared in Sandra Mansi’s controversial photograph, Bartholomew covers it all. Real or imaginary, Champ and his story will fascinate believers and skeptics alike.
Tabla de materias
List of Illustrations
Foreword
Acknowledgments
Introduction
1. From Out of the Blue: The Early Memoir of a Sea Monster
2. The Serpent, Or at Least Its Tale, Resurfaces
3. The Comeback Critter: The Fall and Rebirth of a Legend
4. Awash with Controversy: Shonky Journalism, a Controversial Photo and a Monster Dispute
5. Egos, Obsessions, and the quest for fame: The Monster Hunters
6. In the Eye of Beholder: The Search of Answers
Endnotes
Sobre el autor
Robert E. Bartholomew is a native New Yorker who teaches history at Botany College in Auckland, New Zealand. His many books include
The Martians Have Landed! A History of Media-Driven Panics and Hoaxes (with Benjamin Radford) and
Outbreak! The Encyclopedia of Extraordinary Social Behavior (with Hilary Evans).