Lake Monster
Mysteries: Investigating the World's Most
Elusive Creatures
by Benjamin Radford and Joe Nickell; Foreword
by Loren Coleman
University Press of Kentucky, Lexington,
KY, 2006
208 pp., illus. 54 b/w. Trade, $24.95
ISBN: 0-8131-2394-1.
Reviewed by Michael R. (Mike) Mosher
Saginaw Valley State University
mosher@svsu.edu
My slight disappointment to find no tales
of monsters sighted in Lake Huron (a few
miles from our home) was alleviated by
passing mention of one sighted across
the state in Lake Michigan near Ludington.
For mine was another Great Lakes boyhood
spent devouring both Famous Monsters of
Filmland magazine and Frank Edwards' books
of unexplained phenomena. As teenagers,
we chuckled at reports one summer of the
MoMo monster, called that for its range
of sightings from southeastern Michigan
towns Maumee to Monroe. A few years after
that, Mike Kelley and his friends at UM
School of Art had a noise band/art gang
called Destroy All Monsters after a favorite
Japanese giant monster film.
The authors of Lake Monster Mysteries,
Radford and Nickell discuss the monsters
allegedly sighted from Vermont in Lake
Champlain and nearby Lake Memphemagog.
Though I'd long heard stories from my
father, who'd lived in the area in the
1950s, interest in the Champlain creature
was spiked by Sandra Mansi's 1975 photo.
Her single snapshot showed something that
appeared to have a crooked neck and humped
back, yet skeptics Radford and Nickell
found curving driftwood that could be
used for a comparable construction in
the water alongside the lake's shore.
They visit several other lakes in Upstate
New York and Canada, photographing the
sites of sightings, including local lake
monster-themed cultural artifacts like
educational or advertising signs, even
playground structures. There seem to be
no fatalities attributed to the creatures,
so the monsters are locally publicized
with humor, clearly an encouragement to
summer tourism. One excursion boat captain
comes on the loudspeaker to encourage
all adult passengers to go below decks
for a better look at the lake . . . near
the boat's bar that sells snacks and liquid
refreshments.
While focused on North American sightings,
the book begins with a chapter on Scotland's
Loch Ness monster, the oldest and most
persistent of sightings. The authors review
the sightings' history, the literature
on them, the most plausible explanations
and the more speculative ones. In the
final chapter they quickly notes other
numerous international lake monsters,
sightings in Europe, Asia, and Africa.
One recalls the huge Nile perch in Lake
Victoria, first glimpsed by many in photographer
Peter Beard's Eyelids of Morning: the
Mingled Destinies of Crocodiles and Men
(1975), the monstrous fish more recently
subject of the documentary film "Darwins
Nightmare".
Despite their research efforts, no monsters
are found nor tangible evidence of their
existence now or in the past. Nickell
provides a drawn diagram of how a string
of otters might be mistaken for a serpentine
creature and creates the book's several
calligraphed maps, too. The authors take
pride in methodical reconstruction of
photographs alleged to show monsters and
detail the conditions of their creation.
The skeptical duo write in a clear, measured,
non-sensationalistic manner. For them,
all the incidents have a popular history,
anthropology, and forensic photography
challenges that are interesting enough
without added exaggeration or emotion.
At one point Radford tosses out an arresting
Bangles metaphor to illustrate a point
about false conclusions, how stylized
painted representations in ancient tombs
seemed to make a 1980s rock band think
the paintings' subjects would "walk like
an Egyptian". This reader is left feeling
he would enjoy conversation over a drink
with the authors, perhaps in the lobby
of a friendly inn in a New England or
Canadian lakeside town doing business
in drawing tourists curious to see their
alleged monster. Their Lake Monster
Mysteries is a serious book, while
remaining light and enjoyable. It should
be on sale in the lobby of the aforementioned
inn, or the historical association in
towns proud of their purported lake monsters.