I have not seen any manatees but I did witness a seal in the southern Chesapeake last year. That was pretty cool! Seals are known to venture into the Chesapeake, but that is a rarity. It was the last thing I expected to see while fishing with my buddies. Two of us saw it, twice at that. The other two fisherman questioned our sighting. I am glad I am not the only one that witnessed it. And although we were being doubted by our other two friends, two days later, on a fishing internet sight, other fisherman had seen the seal too! And it was one of the doubters that sent me the link to the site. LOL

As for the 1982 tape: That tape was analized by experts. And the results were that it was not an inanimate object but a living creature. Although they could not identify what creature it was, at least it was not boat wake or a log. Some local scientists theorized it was an anaconda or some other unknown serpent-like creature. They theorized that since Baltimore is a port with cargo ships coming and going, somehow the snake hitched a ride on a ship and jumped ship when the cargo ship docked. Others explained that it could have been a giant eel.

I have seen the video and I can not tell you what it is. I can tell you what it isn’t. It isn’t boat wake or otters or manatees or seal. It is some kind of creature. But what it is, I do not know!

As for manatees in particular being the basis behind lake monsters…no. To be honest I am still hard pressed to see how anyone could mistake them for mermaids. Granted months at sea, poor diet, dehydration and liberal alcohol consumption HAD to be a requirement for that sort of sighting.

To me they look more like a log or rock, certainly not serpentine or dino-like. Perhaps another out of place animal is responsible for lake monster sightings, but a manatee is pretty unlikely IMHO.