Case file · Cryptid
Zhuo Yongsheng's Tianchi footage
On 6 September 2007 a Jilin TV reporter filmed six dark shapes swimming fast in Heaven Lake and sent stills to Xinhua.
2007 CE · 42.01, 128.05 · status: disputed
The sceptical view
The images are too distant to identify; scientists doubt any large animal lives there.
The researched reading
Six dark shapes filmed at a distance on a crater lake with a monster legend: most likely ordinary animals or water effects.
| Explanation | Weight | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Something known, misidentified | 50% | Distant dark shapes in a lake are often swimming animals such as otters or bears, waterbirds, boats’ wakes or wind patterns. Images too distant to resolve are the usual source of lake-monster claims. |
| A cultural story | 20% | Tianchi has a monster tradition since 1962 and a tourism interest in sightings, which primes witnesses and media. |
| A hoax or fabrication | 12% | Footage handed to state media can be selective. Other Tianchi “monster” claims have proved to be staged or misleading. |
| Perception, memory or mind | 9% | Expectation turns blurry dark shapes into animals. |
| Undetermined | 5% | The share a generic explanation had beyond what has been shown for this case: it fits many cases like this one, but has not been demonstrated for this one. |
| An unknown or out-of-place animal | 3% | A cold, high crater lake that was fishless until recent stocking cannot feed a population of large animals. |
| Genuinely anomalous | 1% | No such claim is needed. |
Official position: No official investigation; scientists doubt a large animal could live there.