See the Secrets of the Northwest Lake Monster
Growing up next to this deep northwest lake, we aways heard stories of a strange creature below the waves. Yes, the northwest has its own lake sea monster like the Loch Ness Monster.
What is Being Seen in this Deep Northwest Lake?
Rumors of large creatures in the lake were first spotted sometime around 1900 according to reports. The lake used to be called " The Big Hole" maybe because it is so big and deep. Fisherman would spot large creatures in the water and tell the tales.
The First Eyewitness Account of the Creature
One story describes the story of an early sighting saying "the ripples shuddered and broke his reverie. A dark shape rose to the surface. It had a bumpy back and was longer than the rowboat,” he remembered. Up came his tackle, and his oars hit the water. He wasn’t going to tangle with “that monster.”
What Could Those Fisherman Be Seeing in the Lake?
Those early sightings are believed by locals to be mostly large sturgeon that are native to that lake and grow up to 20 feet and over 1,500 pounds. Then locals started seeing something else, and the stories started again. New sighting of a large creature "20 feet long (6 .5 meters)" and that "it moves up and down in the water as it swims" according to reports.
What Have Other Witnesses Said About the Creature?
There have been many sightings over the years adding to the lore of the creature. One witness claimed he "watched a sea serpent move through the lake for 15 minutes" while another "described a dark green, almost black, creature with shiny scales, moving with an undulating motion and creating a large wake in front of it." A sonar company also did a search between Trestle Creek and Anderson Point and found large blips but concluded they were "very large fish swimming below 200 feet and weighing well over 200 pounds."
Another Sighting of the Creature from 1985
"On Memorial Day, 1985, Julie Green and her friends set out for an afternoon on the lake in the mid-afternoon sun, the teacher from Coeur d'Alene reports, a large V-shaped wave crossed about 200 yards in front of her boat. "There was clearly something in the water ahead of us that was undulating, coming in and out of the water" according to reports. She went on with her story saying they "dropped her engine and gave chase, but the gunmetal-gray object, which rivaled the length of her 22-foot boat, soon outdistanced her."
Where is This Lake and What is the Creature Called?
The creature is said to be in Lake Pend Oreille, the 5th or 6th deepest lake in the USA depending on who you talk to. The lake is in north Idaho near Spokane and is over 1,100 feet deep, 43 miles long, and has over 148 square miles of water to hide in. Locals eventually started calling the creature "the Paddler." A North Idaho College once did a 3-year study of the creature and found "maybe the Paddler does exist. But the group also concluded that human nature tends toward storytelling and tales of the unknown."
What Could the Creature People Are Seeing Really Be?
Well, the Paddler could be some kind of large creature that lives mostly in the deep of Lake Pend Oreille. It could also be sightings of submarines training on the lake. The US Navy built a submarine base on the lake in the 1970's about the same time sightings started again. The Navy wanted it kept secret because the "39 degrees Fahrenheit water in the deepest parts of the lake provided perfect conditions for scientific research in building the quietest submarines in the world." So, is it a submarine or a cool legendary creature? I'll let you make up your own mind.