Champ (folklore)
Lake monster said to inhabit Lake Champlain.
According to American folklore, a lake monster called Champ or Champy supposedly lives in Lake Champlain, a 125-mile freshwater lake shared by New York, Vermont, and Quebec. The legend attracts tourists to the Burlington and Plattsburgh areas.
Quick Facts
- Also known as
- Lake Champlain Monster, Champy
- Similar entities
- Loch Ness Monster
- Ogopogo
- Altamaha-ha
- Tahoe Tessie
- Nahuelito
- Sub grouping
- Lake Monster; Sea Serpent
- Country
- United States, Canada
- Region
- Lake Champlain
- Habitat
- Water
Facts from the source article.
History of the legend
More than three hundred people have reported seeing Champ over the years. The legend traces back to Iroquois tales of enormous snakes, which the Mohawk called Onyare'kowa. Samuel de Champlain, the French explorer who founded Quebec and gave the lake its name, is often credited as the first European to spot the creature, supposedly in 1609. The earliest known source for this claim comes from a 1970 issue of Vermont Life magazine, which stated that Champlain wrote of a “20 ft serpent thick as a barrel, and a head like a horse.” No evidence supports that Champlain made such a statement, though his journals do mention large fish. A translation of those journals from 1878 clarifies that the word Chaoufaou referred to gar pike, specifically the longnose gar. In 1819, the Plattsburgh Republican published a story titled “Cape Ann Serpent on Lake Champlain,” describing how a Captain Crum saw a huge serpentine monster. Crum estimated it was about 187 feet long and roughly 200 yards away. Despite the distance, he claimed it was followed by “two large Sturgeon and a Bill-fish,” and he could make out three teeth, eyes the color of peeled onions, a red band around its neck, and a white star on its forehead. In 1883, Sheriff Nathan H. Mooney said he saw a water serpent about 110 yards from shore. He claimed to be close enough to see “round white spots inside its mouth” and estimated the creature was 25 to 30 feet long. Mooney’s account prompted many others to come forward with their own sightings. The legend even caught the attention of showman P. T. Barnum, who in 1873 and again in 1887 offered rewards to anyone who could deliver the monster to him.
Cultural importance to New York and Vermont
The legend of Champ has turned into a moneymaker for the region. The village of Port Henry, New York, built a large statue of the creature and celebrates "Champ Day" each year on the first Saturday of August. Champ gained wider recognition as the mascot of Vermont's baseball team, the Vermont Lake Monsters, after the team changed its name from the Vermont Expos in 2005. The creature has been the team's main draw since the team began, and it remains the mascot for the Futures Collegiate Baseball League team. This costumed version of Champ makes appearances at charity events and other gatherings across Vermont. Local businesses, such as a car wash, also use Champ's image in their logos. In 2022, news outlets announced a feature film called Lucy and the Lake Monster, about a young orphan girl and her grandfather searching for Champ, based on a children's book of the same name. Filming took place in Port Henry and around Lake Champlain's Bulwagga Bay during July and August 2022. Regional newspapers reported that the film was completed in 2024 and had its premiere in the Lake Champlain area in September 2024. By 2025, the movie had won several awards at film festivals. Champ's existence also provides the setting for Joseph A. Citro's 1991 novel Dark Twilight. The creature is referenced in The X-Files episode "Quagmire," where characters hunt what they believe to be an aquatic dinosaur in Lake Champlain.
More in American Legendary Creatures
Spotted an error? Know more?
Reader corrections go straight into our review queue. Suggest an edit · How this site is sourced