Case file · Cryptid
Bessie, the Lake Erie serpent
In July 1817 a schooner's crew on Lake Erie reported a dark serpent thirty to forty feet long, the first well-known account of the creature later nicknamed 'Bessie' or 'South Bay Bessie'.
1817 CE · 41.60, -82.80 · status: legend
The account
Later that year another crew fired muskets at a copper-coloured creature, and settlers near Toledo described a sturgeon-like animal with arms. Reports followed in 1892, 1896 and the 1980s–90s.
The sceptical view
Large lake sturgeon, floating logs and waves explain most lake-monster reports; many Bessie accounts survive only in uncited retellings.