I do believe that there -is- something in Lake Champlain…but I highly doubt it’s a ‘monster’. Then again…I have 0% faith that Nessie is still around; probability of her being a hoax is about…89%? I’ll go with that.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E_Vkzvc_Vb0.

Compare this digital rendering to the animal in the ABC video.

Stefano

If only the cameraman had lifted the camera just a tad we could have seen the mass at the end of the tentacles/head/flippers/whatever. That’s just a note for anyone who happens to be in the same position at some point.

And whatever it is that is under the boat is moving with speed–it comes close to the surface, and then ducks away from the boat and down, and some inanimate object is going to be at the mercy of the wakes and movement of the water…I just don’t think something inanimate is going to be able to move like that.

I will admit though, that the underwater part of the video definitely seems to be something. What? I don’t really know. It actually looked a lot like lake grass to me. As for the wakes in the video, I’ve seen the wind do the same thing on the water, blow in just one place like that producing the same result.

Second, many times the critters when they do surface, raise their heads out of the water and have been described as turning its head from one side to the other…not in all cases, mind you, but several…and while there have been theories that an eel could surface, it is basically built along the lines of a snake and could not effectively raise its head and neck out of the water without looking like an odd sight indeed, and definitely something that people would remember.

In the footage above, the image under the water does not make me think “eel”…there is a distinct mass/head at the front and a neck or thin body and it moves in such a way that I would not characterize as eel like…

So, like I said, I won’t rule out the eel theory completely, but there are an awful lot of things that don’t add up in the eel category either…I do agree with you that we need to start looking beyond the plesiosaur possibility…

AT BEST, whatever these lake critters are, they may be descended from something that was plesiosaur-like but it’s going to be far different than the ones I grew up reading about–and I still have a huge problem with the reptile/cold water thing…like I said, if it is really a water-dino, then it had to somehow adapt to cold water environment and no reptiles I am aware of can stand that (okay this is your chance to enlighten me oh Crypto readers…)

I do not want to pound down the people who do not believe in them…I think those that do not believe have a solid basis for why they do not believe and sometimes they do have a more objective eye because they do not “want” there to be a BF or a loch ness critter out there.

On the other hand, the best stance is keeping an open mind. We are all skeptics on this site–it is an integral part of being interested in cryptozoology. If we weren’t skeptics, the hippo umbrella stand at Loch NEss or the youtuber BF stuff would fool us all and we’d just believe ad hoc. Just because you are a skeptic does not mean you won’t fall for a good hoax now and then…that goes with the territory, but being open minded and being skeptical will allow you to eventually weed out the hoaxes and the miscalls from the real stuff that is in there.

My salute to all of you out there who strive to find the truth, believers and non, and to those who can admit when they are bamboozled by a slick video or photo or who can admit that yes what was seen was not a garbage can floating in the water at just the right light.

Alright, putting the soap box away, bringing out the gloves…let’s rock.

People may not always know what exactly it was that they saw, and their experience or education may not be suffiicient for them to know what they saw, but people DO know when they see something outside their experience.

Does it always mean it is a cryptid? No. Sometimes people do mistake known animals and other things like rocks, trees, and (otters:) for cryptids.

And that is where you have to take some of the background of the people phoning in these reports. If you have two fishermen who know the waters, have fished on it for years and are used to seeing all the usual wildlife and inanimate objects, and they say they see something outside their realm of experience, then you have to look farther than the typical scoftic response of: oh they are eye witnesses they don’t know what they are seeing, it had to be this that or the next thing.

Learned people like to pull Occam’s Razor out every now and so do I: Often the simplest answer is the correct one…and in the case of cryptids, sometimes the simplest answer is that there is a creature present that has not been identified.

Consider OTHER POSSIBILITIES, not just focus on pleisiosaurs, PLEASE!!! for the love of diversity.

First off, to be so bold, it’s almost certainly NOT a sturgeon, as they are a very rigid/heavy fish built like a tank and do not swim backwards. Yes US sturgeons can grow to 20 feet, 30 in Russia (if any still exist that large it would be a miracle), and they do develop an undulating dragon like ridge along their backs. BUT they exhibit none of the swiftness, and even more so, the flexibility that the witnesses describe and footage seems to corroborate.

SOME IDEAS TO CONSIDER:

A large EEL such as a massively overgrown Anguillidae (American CONGER eel) or a possibly related yet undiscovered species can grow and grow and grow and live 20 years plus migrating from fresh water to salt and back again or some never leave the freshwater. If what we were seeing was the head, and it was backing away, that would jive, as many eels species have a knack for backing up at nearly the same speed as they can move forwards, and as someone who had one in an aquarium years ago, I can attest that it was hardly ever seen as it buried itself in the gravel it came out ONLY at night, and was slippery as all heck.

Hard to tell but at a glance it reminded me in some aspects some tropical species of freshwater eel such as the electric eel or some other species of eel or fish (IE – a giant HAGFISH) or some giant unknown aquatic WORM or even a freshwater squid. One of the fastest evolving animal groups at the present are Cephalopods – and may have adapted to fresh water assuming it’s fresh in the lake).

An animal that size escaping detection and capture should be considered a likely candidate for the ability to use sonar and/or ability to bury itself in the mud for very long periods of time. Whatever it is, it’s almost a given that it comes out at night mostly and only rarely ventures to the surface especially during daylight.

I hope it’s something more magical but all things should be considered.

Just hope it’s NOT C’thulu.