Champ
A lake monster said to inhabit Lake Champlain on the Vermont–New York border, with reported sightings dating to the 19th century and a famous 1977 photograph that remains the most-cited piece of purported evidence.
Field Guide Entry
Origin Story
Indigenous Abenaki oral tradition described a creature in the lake long before European settlement, and 19th-century newspapers carried occasional sighting reports. The name "Champ" stuck after decades of regional folklore, by analogy with Scotland's Loch Ness Nessie.
Evidence & Claims
The best-known evidence is the 1977 "Mansi Photograph," taken by Sandra Mansi, showing a long-necked shape breaking the lake's surface. Sonar surveys and amateur sightings have continued intermittently since.
Skeptical Explanations
Analysts have proposed the Mansi photograph shows a floating log, an otter or sturgeon wake, or another mundane object; the original negative has never been independently examined, which has prevented a conclusive debunking or confirmation either way.
Visiting Information
The ECHO science center sits on the Burlington waterfront with exhibits on the lake's ecology and history, and lake views from the building itself. Open daily, all seasons.
Approximate Area
loading map…
The marker represents a general area, not an exact site.
Field Gallery
No approved field photos yet. You could be first.
Community Notes
No community notes yet.
Explore More Mysteries
The Fouke Monster
Arkansas, United StatesA Bigfoot-like cryptid said to roam the swampy woodlands near Fouke, Arkansas, with reports stretching back to the early 1970s and a 1972 docudrama that turned the legend into a regional tourist draw.
Bigfoot / Sasquatch
California, United StatesNorth America's most famous cryptid, a large, hair-covered bipedal creature reported across the Pacific Northwest for over a century, anchored by the 1958 footprint discovery that gave it its name and the 1967 Patterson–Gimlin film that remains its most-debated piece of evidence.
Loch Ness
Scotland, United KingdomScotland's deepest loch, home to over a century of modern sightings of "Nessie," a creature whose legend stretches back to a sixth-century account by St. Columba.
Loveland Frogman
Ohio, United StatesA businessman's report of three frog-faced humanoids beside an Ohio road in 1955 became a local legend that resurfaced in 1972 when two Loveland police officers, on separate nights, each reported their own encounter along the same river.