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Is
there a monster in Lake Norman?
Who
knows. Maybe it all depends upon your definition of
the word "monster."
Jan
Sundberg, Expedition Leader for GUST: Global Underwater
Search Team (best known from The Learning Channel Special
Loch Ness: The Search for the Truth) has his
own theories. Read his special introduction for LakeNormanMonster.com
here.
One
thing is certain - people have seen things that no one
can explain. Sightings of strange shapes in the water
trickle in every so often. Rumors of human-sized catfish
near the dam have persisted for nearly forty years.
Are
these rumors or are they based on fact? They say that
near-record-breaking Arkansas blue
catfish have been caught in Lake Norman. However,
the blue catfish have not been stocked in the lake for
over 30 years. Regardless of how they got there, the
nutrient-poor waters of Lake Norman have been producing
some very large catfish.
One
lake resident that has baffled local scientist is the
appearance of a species of freshwater jellyfish that
is not indigenous to either Lake Norman or the Catawba
River that feeds the lake.
Caught
on film in late 2001 was a alligator sunning itself
on the banks of Lake Wylie (the lake downstream from
Lake Norman). When this video finally surfaced, it put
an end to years of yet-to-be proven alligator sightings
in both lakes.
Alligators
are not known to live as far inland as Lake Norman (nor
as far north). How were they surviving the winters?
Are there alligators are there in the lake? If so, how
did they arrive in Lake Norman? No one is sure. It is
thought that the alligators could seek the warmer waters
near the hydroelectric and nuclear stations during the
colder months.
So,
what about this "monster?" What can it be?
An alligator slowly meandering the lake surface looking
for food? A large catfish surfacing to gulp a small
fish?
Speculations have been made that it could be an alligator gar (what is an alligator gar?), a sturgeon, or an American freshwater eel. Others have even suggested the snakehead fish, especially since the snakehead fish has recently been caught in Lake Wylie, just downstream from Lake Norman. To this date, no snakehead fish have been sighted in Lake Norman.
Whatever the answer, we know that more and more people are reporting
sightings of something they can't explain.
How
do you explain a creature this large in a man-made lake?
It's happened before in Lake Hodges, California. The
Lake
Hodges Scientific Research Center presents some
pretty convincing evidence for the existence of "Hodgee"
the lake monster. "Hodgee"
lives in the lake formed by damming the San Dieguito
River. The LHSRC
even boasts video
from a 1995 CNN broadcast of a lake monster in Turkey's
Lake Van. (View the CNN.com article here.)
Sightings
have been made in lakes and rivers all over the world.
Below is a few of the more famous lake monsters:
- Scotland's
Loch Ness ("Nessie")
- Norway's
Seljord Lake ("Selma")
- Turkey's
Lake Van
- Canada's
Lake Okanagan ("Ogopogo")
- Canada's
Lake Memphrémagog ("Memphré")
- Canada's
Lake Pohénégamook ("Ponik")
- Lake
Erie ("South Bay Bessie")
- New
York's Lake Champlain ("Champ")
- New
Hampshire's Lake Winnipesaukee ("Winnie")
- California's
Lake Hodges ("Hodgee")
- South
Carolina's Lake Murray Monster
- Lake
Tahoe on the California/Nevada border ("Tessie")
- Darian,
Georgia's Altamaha River Creature ("Altamaha-Ha"
or "Altahaha-ha")
- Virginia's
Chesapeake Bay ("Chessie")
If
strange sightings have been made in so many lakes all
over the world, then why not Lake Norman?
Do
you have a sighting to report? If so, let
us know.
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