Our trip last month to the Adirondack region of New York wasn’t just to tour historical sites. Angel Chuck Billy also planned this adventure to continue his cryptozoology research. Although his primary areas of interest were UFOs and Bigfoot, he also dabbled in sea monsters as evident in his work regarding Cassie, Maine’s sea serpent who resides in Casco Bay. Therefore to honor Chuck Billy’s memory, I headed to Lake Champlain in Port Henry, New York, home of Champ the Lake Monster!
I began my search by stopping at the Bulwagga Bay area Champ Sightings sign.
Over the years there have been over 130 documented sightings. Specifically 143, if you count all the names on the sign. However, there’s something suspicious about that sign. The sightings are NOT in chronological order. This would have no doubt sparked Chuck Billy’s curiosity as to what are they trying to hide. Or in the least made his head hurt looking at that complete disregard for order, forcing him to waste valuable research time as he insisted on rewriting the list chronologically.
Before starting my investigation, I studied the sign closer. The first recorded sighting was in 1609 when French explorer Samuel de Champlain, of whom the lake is named after, supposedly spotted the creature. But there’s a problem. Some historians argue this sighting was actually in the St. Lawrence River, and more importantly there’s a translation error. He was describing a fish known today as a Garfish or Gar Pike, that grow 8 to 10 feet in length and have very sharp teeth. Impressive, yes. But not necessarily a monster. In fact it was a magazine from 1970 that started this rumor that Champlain saw Champ, claiming he wrote that he saw, a “20 ft serpent thick as a barrel, and a head like a horse.” There is no evidence that Champlain ever wrote that, and no citation was given in the 1970 article. That’s not to say though there weren’t early sightings! The Native Americans had stories of a large creature inhabiting the lake, which looked like a large, horned serpent or giant snake, that they called Gitaskog.
If Champlain did see something while exploring this vast lake which is 120 miles in length, approximately 490 square miles in area, and depths reaching 400 feet in places, folks forgot about it. It took a couple hundred of years before anyone paid much attention to Champ again. It was in July 1819 that a Captain Crum supposedly spotted the massive snake-like creature, with “three teeth and eyes the color of peeled onions,” and a white star on its forehead! This story in the Plattsburgh Republican newspaper sounds a little fishy to me. Champ didn’t return to the headlines again until 1873, when there was a flurry of activity, with 3 sightings, and an offer by P. T. Barnum of $50,000 in to anyone who got him Champ for his World’s Fair Show! Alright, he reduced the reward to $20,000 by 1887, so even P. T. Barnum was losing interest. Which by the way, may I note that these sightings in 1819 and 1873 are also not recorded on the sign! Rather suspicious if you ask me, and no doubt Angel Chuck Billy would agree, once he got finished rewriting it chronologically.
Since that time sightings trickled in with the occasional spike in witnesses. The biggest spike being in 1981 when there were 42 sightings! However, I probably should add it was in 1981 that the Vermont side of the lake held a conference dedicated to Champ, attracting international speakers and visitors. In fact it attracted so many visitors that Port Henry even declared their waters to be a safe haven for Champ that year, and the state of Vermont followed suit, passing a resolution the following year to protect the lake creature! The most recent sighting was in 2024 when filmmakers for Lucy and the Lake Monster spotted in post production what appeared to be a large creature swimming just below the surface of the water in Bulwagga Bay. Also may I add, this sighting was also not added to update the sign. The last recorded sighting on the sign was 1990. Therefore armed with this knowledge, I set out to do my own investigation at the Port Henry marina.
That’s where I spotted these logs along the shore. Some have argued that the famous photo of Scotland’s Nessie was really just a log floating in the water. Could the same be true of the 1977 photo snapped of Champ? I decided to take a different investigative approach, “Champy! Come out! Come out! Wherever you are!” Alright, I was in a bit of a rush, because we still had the forts at Crown Point to explore that day. In fact I was in such a rush, that I skipped visiting the Champ sculpture located at a nearby beach and/or campground. I admit I really should have done more homework before this investigation. But remember Angel Chuck Billy was the renowned dog ufologist, not me! I’m a rock star!
Anyways, you know how they say “an army marches on its stomach?” Well so do cryptozoologists! So I set up a surveillance post to watch the waters of Lake Champlain at Crown Point, as I enjoyed a refreshing bowl of water and a picnic. I was even prepared to share my treats if he popped up out of the water to say, “hello!”
There I got hopeful that I spotted Champ in the distance, but it turned out to just be the Lake Champlain Bridge constructed in 1929 as the first modern highway bridge to cross the lake, and rebuilt in 2011. I briefly thought maybe early construction of the bridge accounted for the 1926 sightings, but work didn’t begin until 1928.
Despite not finding Champ that day, he was never far from my thoughts. I continued to look for him from every angle I could on my trip, including from the top of Mount Defiance!
I even got out on the lake itself to search for this shy friend, by taking the Fort Ticonderoga Ferry which connects Ticonderoga, New York to Shoreham, Vermont. This ferry ride also made the trip to reach Mount Independence a lot faster than going by land. Alright I admit I was a little distracted and may have missed Champy, because it was my first ferry ride, and I was sharing it with a friendly motorcycle gang! I decided to network to help my fledgling rock star career, by asking if they’d be willing to work security at my concerts. As my tour manager, I’m sure Angel Chuck Billy wouldn’t have minded.
In summary, sadly despite all my efforts to make friends with Champ, I never did find him. Could he be out there? Maybe? Just because I didn’t spot him, doesn’t mean you won’t!
