Aquabeasties

Showing posts with label New York. Show all posts

Onondaga Lake
Syracuse, New York, United States

Cub Scout Troop 400's patch.

Oggie is a giant salamander-like creature inhabiting Onondaga Lake, one of the polluted lakes in the country, near Syracuse, New York.

Origin

The Onondagas and Iroquois told of monsters in Onondaga Lake that would occasionally come on land to terrorize families, and they built fortifications to protect themselves from the creatures. However, several urban legends also attempt to explain the creature's origins.

One story goes that in the summer of 1972 a young boyscout returned from a camping trip in upstate New York's Camp Woodland with a salamander he had found while sitting on a log. Initially the boy's parents allowed him to keep the creature, but eventually he lost interest in it and his mother began insisting that it be released. One night the boy's father snuck into his room, took the creature out of its box, and flushed it down the toilet, feeling it would have no chance of survival in the harsh Syracuse winter.

The salamander survived the flush and ended up in Onondaga Lake, where the hazardous chemicals that filled the lake slowly mutated the creature until it had grown into a monster.

Others say that Oggie is some sort of descendant of algae blooms and bacteria colonies in the polluted lake, and still others say it's a phantom (out-of-place) alligator.

The Sightings

In 1977 people began noticing a bizarre creature in the lake, and members of the Syracuse branch of Cub Scout Troop 400 reported that they had seen a dragon swimming not far offshore. The monster is now the troop's mascot.

Due to its description as a giant salamander, Oggie bears some resemblance to the giant salamanders of California.

Fame

The creature is a local celebrity, and a 14 foot-long statue of it is included in the area's yearly Halloween celebrations.

Sources:
The Legend of Oggie
Monster Spotter's Guide to North America by Scott Francis
Unknown Explorers

Champ

Description of how the photo was taken, from TrueAuthority.com:

Sandra Mansi of West Haven, Conn., is a woman who believes . . . who knows, she saw Champ. According to her account, she was near St. Albans sometime in 1977 when a large, brown creature surfaced about 50 yards from shore. She took one picture of the purported creature and, immediately afterwards, it dove out of sight. According to her report, a boat came less then a minute later.

Mansi was with her husband and two children when she said she saw the creature. Their photograph, widely distributed in the press, shows the animal, its head facing the other direction, looking exactly like a "prehistoric" reptile.

Sandra didn't show the picture to anyone until 1981, when friends convinced her to have it analyzed. Three experts, all specializing in rare and extinct animal life or photography, examined the picture and determined it was not a hoax. According to their analysis, it was indeed genuine.

The photograph was examined at the University of Chicago and the University of Arizona, and investigators at both schools said it showed some sort of animal life. While it was confirmed the creature in the Mansi photo was alive, its identity was not confirmed.

________________________________________________________________________