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The
Legend Of The Bear Lake Monster
The
story was written in 1868 by Joseph C. Rich and was sent to the Deseret
News Newspaper. It goes as follow:
"The Indians have a tradition concerning a strange, serpent-like
creature inhabiting the waters of Bear Lake, which they say carried off
some of their braves many moons ago. Since then, they will not sleep close
to the lake. Neither will they swim in it, nor let their squaws and
papooses bathe in it.
Now, it seems this water devil, as the Indians called
it, has again made an appearance. A number of our white settlers declare
they have seen it with their own eyes. This Bear Lake Monster, they now
call it, is causing a great deal of excitement up here. S. M. Johnson at
South Eden was riding along near the Lake the other day when he saw
something a number of yards out in the lake which he thought was the body
of a man. He waited for the waves to wash it in, but to his surprise,
found the water washed over it without causing it to move. Then he saw it
had a head and neck like some strange animal. On each side of the head
were ears, or bunches the size of a pint cup. He concluded the body must
be touching the bottom of the lake. By this time, however, Johnson seems
to have been leaving the place so rapidly he failed to observe other
details.
The next day three women and a man saw a monstrous
animal in the lake near the same place, but this time it was swimming at
an incredible speed. According to their statement, it was moving faster
than a horse could run.
On Sunday last, N. C. Davis and Allen Davis of St.
Charles; Thomas Sleight and James Collings of Paris, with six women were
returning from Fish Haven when about midway from the latter place to St.
Charles, their attention was suddenly attracted to a peculiar motion of
waves on the water about three miles distant. The lake was not rough, only
a little disturbed by the wind. Mr. Sleight ways he distinctly saw the
sides of a very large animal that he would suppose to be not less than 90
feet in length. Mr. Davis doesn't think he was any part of the body, but
is positive it must not have been less than forty feet in length, judging
by the waves it rolled up on both sides of it as it swam, and the wave it
left in the rear. It was going south, and all agreed it swam with a speed
almost incredible to their senses. Mr. Davis says he never saw a
locomotive travel faster, and thinks it made a mile a minute. In a few
minutes after the discovery of the first, a second followed in its wake,
but seemed much smaller, appearing to Mr. Sleight about the size of a
horse. A larger one followed this, and so on until before disappearing,
made a sudden turn to the west a short distance, then back to its former
track. At this turn Mr. Sleight says he could distinctly see it was of a
brown color. They could judge somewhat of the speed by observing known
distances on the opposite side of the lake; and all agree that the
velocity with which these monsters propelled themselves, was astounding.
They represent the waves rolling up on each side as about three feet high.
This is substantially their statement as they told me. Messengers Davis
and Sleight are prominent men, well known in the country, and all of them
are reliable persons, whose veracity is undoubted. I have no doubt they
would be willing to make affidavits to their statements.
Was it fish, flesh. or serpent? Amphibious, of just a
big fib, or what is it? I give up, but live in hopes of some day seeing
it.
The Deseret News ran the story July 31, 1868. Great
excitement followed. A news staff member during the next month quizzed
many Bear Lake people and found hardly a person who doubted it.
However, the inevitable skeptics did appear on the
scene.
The Indians had taken a great deal of interest in
stories of the monster and claimed that their ancestors told them about a
monster. They were telling some pretty good-sized stories about the
creatures.
In 1874, a traveler named John Goodman came through the
Bear Lake Valley. He described an Indian legend about two lovers whom,
upon being pursued by some of their fellow tribesmen, plunged into the
lake and were changed by the Great Spirit into two large serpents.
However, this is just a legend.
The description of the Monster was the following: A
creature with a brown-colored body, somewhat bigger in circumference than
a man, anywhere from 40 to 200 feet long. Its head was shaped like a
walrus without tusks or like an alligator's, and the eyes were very large
and about a foot apart. It had ears like bunches, about the size of a pint
cup. It had an unknown number of legs, approximately eighteen inches long,
and it was awkward on land, but swam with a serpent-like motion at a speed
of at least sixty miles an hour. No one ever described the back part of
the animal since the head and forepart was all that was ever seen. The
rest was always under water.
Make believe? No one knows for sure.
Story
Provided By The Bear
Lake Chamber Of Commerce
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