num_pages: 253
description: 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. KermaniScotland 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.
language: English
title: The Untold Story of Champ: A Social History of America's Loch Ness Monster
publisher: Excelsior Editions/State University of New York Press