The Legend of the Lake Erie Monster.

So some say a monster lurks in Lake Erie:

That somewhere in the deeps there's something unknown, snakelike, and terrifying:

My kids were lucky enough to catch a glimpse of it:

He's been hanging out in the North Coast Harbor by the Great Lakes Science Center:

We happened to be there the day that the Downtown Cleveland Alliance was bringing him out.  So the chick pushing the stroller in their facebook banner is me, and the other lady tweeting a pic of the monster is Ashley. 

Our collective pile of kids making monster noises at the monster.

This monster is going to be lurking about through Halloween and then he's headed indoors until spring.  He's definitely worth taking the kids to see if you have a chance!

Here's the thing, though.  I think there's some truth to the legend.  As the story goes "Bessie", a snakelike creature somewhere between 30-50 feet long, was first sighted in the 1800s.  There've been sightings throughout the last century up through the 1990's.

My dad has seen it.

He is a charter boat captain who used to run out of Edgewater until it was destroyed by Sandy.  Now he captains out of Vermillion.  He's been fishing Lake Erie for 40+ years and has spend countless hours on the lake.  If anyone would know for sure it would be him.

Waterspout on Lake Erie photograph by my dad.  He's seen alot of cool stuff on our lake.

I remember him telling the tale as a kid but wanted to get my details straight for this post. Here's his story.

It was in the early '90's sometime.  He was trolling off of Lorain about 12-13 miles out.  They saw 3 humps moving across the water.  The humps were about a half a mile from the boat.  Unfortunately because they were trolling and had lines out they couldn't pursue it.  He's never seen anything like it before or since.

What do you guys think?  Do you believe in the Legend of the Lake Erie Monster?