The Lake Murray Monster
in South Carolina, USA.
The Lake Murray Monster is reported to live in Lake Murray (no surprise there!) near West Columbia, South Carolina USA. This is a large freshwater lake in southern USA. The lake itself is a fairly recent development. The Saluda River, which is the main river flowing into it, was dammed in 1930 to provide the region with hydroelectricity. SightingsReports of a monster in the lake began pretty much as soon as the hydroelectric dam was completed. The first report was in 1933 and they have continued sporadically up to the present day.
The creature has of course been described as large and serpentine. Reports have had this animal to be up to 60 feet long!No useful pictures of this creature exist, and there is only one photograph, as shown to the right. This could be a series of fish net floats, but I believe it to be a fake photo. There are no ripples in the water surrounding these so-called "humps" and close examination of the photo shows very uniform color within the blobs of black, as if black lumps have been superimposed over the water. This is simple enough to do with even a basic photo editing program. So What Could It Be?The age of the lake limits the possibilities of what may be responsible for the monster sightings. Since the water in the lake has all come from rivers, so must the creature living in the lake. This limits the possibilities to either a large fish or a large crocodilian, either an Alligator or an American Crocodile.
At least one large Alligator has been sighted in the lake in recent years. This is no surprise, as this lake is within their normal range in the wild.Another possibility is that the creature is a very large fish. Sturgeon, Alligator Gars and even carp can grow to genuine monster size given enough time, space and food.
All three of these fish are carnivorous and would be lured toward fisher folk offering bait on their lines. It is possible that a person not familiar with the appearance of an Alligator Gar would be both startled and very scared by this creature's appearance. This lake is also within the Gar's natural range. The Alligator Gar can grow up to 10 feet long and weigh as much as 300 pounds. They also leap out of the water from time to time, and sometimes make a wheezing bellowing sound as they do so. What a recipe for a monster sighting!ConclusionThe logical explanation is that the Lake Murray monster is a large fish. We'll never know for sure though, and I'm sure the monster enthusiasts and tourism dependent businesses in West Columbia don't mind the mystery persisting.
Top Of Page
Return from the Lake Murray Monster to Sea Monsters
or
return to the Reptiles Home Page.
|
