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Is There a Monster in Lake Champlain? (Fishermen Say They Saw It and Caught It on Tape)
ABC News ^ | Feb. 22, 2006

Posted on 02/24/2006 7:48:32 AM PST by presidio9

Residents near Lake Champlain in New York say they have their own Loch Ness monster. They call it Champ, and it's a local legend.

It is the inspiration for parade floats, T-shirts, key chains, minor-league baseball team mascots, and wild stories.

ABC News obtained exclusive video of something just under the surface of the lake that some say may be Champ. The video was taken by two fishermen with their digital camera last summer. Before their supposed sighting, they were Champ skeptics.

"It was as big around as my thigh," said fisherman Peter Bodette. "I'm 100 percent sure of what we saw. I'm not 100 percent sure of what it was."

"It made my hair stand on end at the time," said fisherman Dick Affolter. "It just didn't fit anything — any creature I had seen."

Affolter said they never saw the entire body.

"What we saw always stayed at the surface and parts of it would come above the water, like the back of the nose or the head," he said.

In the past, grainy pictures and home video taken from too far away did not provide a clear picture. This footage — showing an odd wake — is from a closer vantage point, but still not clear.

Lake Champlain Lore

So far, there have been hundreds of sightings — sometimes more than a dozen a year — of Champ.

"There are people who say they've seen something unusual in the lake," said Lohr McKinstry, a reporter for the Press Republican, who has been writing about Champ sightings for more than 20 years. "Some sort of unusual life that shouldn't be there in Lake Champlain. Best guess would be that it is some sort of creature that possibly should be extinct."

The Champ frenzy began in the 1880s when P.T. Barnum offered $50,000 for the capture of Champ dead or alive. Hunters and fishermen came out of the woods, but no one was able to collect.

As for the latest sighting, two retired FBI analysts reviewed the tape and said that it appeared authentic.

"I can't find anything in there that would suggest or indicate to me that this has been fabricated or manipulated in any way," said Gerald Richards, a forensic image analyst. "However, there's no place in there that I can see actually see, an animal or any other object on the surface."


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Miscellaneous; US: New York; US: Vermont
KEYWORDS: champ; cryptozoology; lakechamplain; pliosaur
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Old Picture

New Video

1 posted on 02/24/2006 7:48:33 AM PST by presidio9
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To: pcottraux; Idisarthur


2 posted on 02/24/2006 7:49:15 AM PST by presidio9 ("Bird Flu" is the new Y2K Virus -Only without the inconvenient deadline.)
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To: presidio9

You threw me when you said "caught it" in your headline! :-)


3 posted on 02/24/2006 7:51:17 AM PST by mwyounce
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To: presidio9

In these days of photoshop they can have just about any monster they want in Lake Champlain. Grainy photos of a vague image are boring.

Lets see a clear and obvious pic of Godzilla or the Green Gargantua poppin out of the Lake. Or....GASP....Hillary....no that would be too terrifying.


4 posted on 02/24/2006 7:53:06 AM PST by fizziwig (Democrats: so far off the path, so incredibly vicious, so sadly pathetic.)
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To: mwyounce

For future referrence, should I legitimate story of a pliosaur capture, I intend on posting it to breaking news.


5 posted on 02/24/2006 7:53:42 AM PST by presidio9 ("Bird Flu" is the new Y2K Virus -Only without the inconvenient deadline.)
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To: presidio9
Champ lives!
6 posted on 02/24/2006 7:54:47 AM PST by Yo-Yo
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To: presidio9

ping


7 posted on 02/24/2006 7:55:20 AM PST by dangerdoc (dangerdoc (not actually dangerous any more))
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To: Yo-Yo

8 posted on 02/24/2006 7:56:58 AM PST by presidio9 ("Bird Flu" is the new Y2K Virus -Only without the inconvenient deadline.)
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To: presidio9
...???...now if this "monster" was wearing a bikini, I'd be interested...not knowing the area around lake Champlain...betcha there's a lot of souvenir stands huh?
9 posted on 02/24/2006 7:57:25 AM PST by Doogle (USAF...8thAF...4077th TFW...408th MMS...Ubon Thailand..."69"..Night Line Delivery,AMMO)
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To: Doogle

10 posted on 02/24/2006 7:58:47 AM PST by presidio9 ("Bird Flu" is the new Y2K Virus -Only without the inconvenient deadline.)
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To: presidio9

bump


11 posted on 02/24/2006 7:59:45 AM PST by lesser_satan
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To: presidio9

I ain't believing it till I see the thing strung up on a dock and 5 different zoologists say "yeah, ain't nothing I've ever seen before". A video of something moving around in murky water doesn't prove jack to me.


12 posted on 02/24/2006 8:02:20 AM PST by stacytec (Nihilism, its whats for dinner)
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To: presidio9

I'm going to scroll down and look for the pic of Helen Thomas. lol


13 posted on 02/24/2006 8:03:01 AM PST by mlc9852
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To: presidio9

Ping


14 posted on 02/24/2006 8:03:18 AM PST by HEY4QDEMS (Learn from the past, don't live in it.)
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To: Doogle

The 'Cashman controversy' must be affecting Vermont's bottom line, so it's time for the Chamber of Commerce to drag 'ol "Champ" up out of the mothballs.


15 posted on 02/24/2006 8:04:40 AM PST by who knows what evil? (New England...the Sodom and Gomorrah of the 21st Century, and they're proud of it!)
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To: presidio9
The Champ frenzy began in the 1880s when P.T. Barnum offered $50,000 for the capture of Champ dead or alive.

Champ is older than Leahy, Sanders, and Jeffords combined? Wow. P.T. Barnum...major clue regarding Champ's origins.

16 posted on 02/24/2006 8:10:40 AM PST by who knows what evil? (New England...the Sodom and Gomorrah of the 21st Century, and they're proud of it!)
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To: stacytec
"A video of something moving around in murky water doesn't prove jack to me."

Skeptic!
17 posted on 02/24/2006 8:12:07 AM PST by hophead ("Enjoy Every Sandwich")
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To: presidio9
uh oh...take a closer look.
Image Hosted by ImageShack.us
18 posted on 02/24/2006 8:12:23 AM PST by mkjessup (The Shah doesn't look so bad now, eh? But nooo, Jimmah said the Ayatollah was a 'godly' man.)
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To: presidio9

Cool.


19 posted on 02/24/2006 8:16:55 AM PST by trisham (Zen is not easy. It takes effort to attain nothingness. And then what do you have? Bupkis.)
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To: fizziwig
"Lets see a clear and obvious pic of Godzilla... poppin out of the Lake"

Here ya go! Looks pretty clear to me!!
20 posted on 02/24/2006 8:17:20 AM PST by Blzbba (Sub sole nihil novi est)
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