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The Unique Serpent of Silver Lake

© Jill Stefko

Discoveries of new animal species are not common, but this happens more frequently than people believe. The okapi, sometimes called the ghost of the jungle, and the mountain gorilla were both discovered in Africa in the early 1900s. The kouprey, a mountain ox, was discovered in 1937 in the forests of Southeast Asia. It is critically endangered and is found in Cambodia and believed to be extinct in Laos and Viet Nam. A coelacanth, believed to be extinct, was caught off of the coast of Africa in 1938. The megamouth shark was discovered off of the Hawaiian coast in 1976.

People have sighted sea, river and lake serpents globally. Probably the most famous is Nessie of Loch Ness, Scotland. In the United States, lake serpents include South Bay Bessie (Lake Erie, PA), Champ (Lake Champlain, NY), Winnie (Lake Winnipesaukee, NH), Tessie (Lake Tahoe, NV-CA borders), Chessie (Chesapeake Bay, VA), Hodgee (Lake Hodges, CA) and the un-nicknamed lake monsters in Lakes Norman (NC), Flathead (MT) and Murray (SC). There is also Sylvie in Silver Lake, California, not to be confused with the Silver Lake, NY serpent. Most of these serpents have only local or regional fame.

From the descriptions offered by witnesses, lake serpents could be plesiosaurs, a dinosaur believed to be extinct, as was the case with the coelacanth. Obviously, they could be an elusive species of an aquatic animal that has been sighted, but not captured alive, killed or found dead so scientists could classify and categorize the animals. To some totally skeptical people the sightings are hallucinations, optical illusions like mirages, drug induced visions or outright hoaxes.

People have tried to offer explanations as to what the actual sighted monster was, as in the case of the White River monster, Whitey. Roy Mackal, a biologist, proposed that Whitey is an elephant seal who managed to swim up the Mississippi. The males can grow to be up to 17 feet long. Interesting theory, however, however, a seal would have to swim from its natural habitat in California and Baja California, then through the Panama Canal to the Atlantic Ocean to get to the big river. Another flaw in this thought is that seals are pinnipeds that use their flippers to navigate on land. They do not leave three toed tracks as Whitey did.

Giant otters have also been theorized to account for lake serpent sightings. It has been suggested that they swim in a groups and, when in formation, can be mistaken for a serpent. Other suggestions are unusually large specimens of sturgeon or catfish.

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