Indian Lake Monster

I found this article while looking for something else and thought I would share it just for fun.

Mr. and Mrs. Parker of East Walnut street planned to enjoy a lazy summer's day on Indian Lake just like any other. The couple rowed around searching for a likely spot to catch some fish for their supper. Finding a “deep swamp-encircled bay” they cast their lines and waited patiently. Nothing disturbed the early afternoon sounds of the birds twittering.

Looking up from her line, Mrs. Parker happened to notice something swimming toward their little rowboat. Despite her shock, she alerted her husband. The pair was so startled they sat stock still and watched in amazement as the mysterious thing glided nearer.

The Parkers described the curious fish-like creature as having an eel-like body about six inches in diameter. It had a “great head and bill about the shape and size of the head of a collie dog” which it carried about three feet above the surface of the water. The creature traveled smoothly through the water creating barely a ripple, though leaving “a wide wake behind him.” The couple didn't estimate the size of the lake monster, but did indicate that it must have been at least several feet long.

“What startled me was the queer look of those big eyes,” said Mrs. Parker. They were as large as dimes “and standing away out from its head.” The thing stared around “looking at us almost as if the old fellow could speak. It turned its neck half way around to watch us, and it came so near that my husband could have hit it with the oar.” Mrs. Parker begged her husband not to club the creature fearing that it could capsize their craft if it wished to.

The Parkers stated that it appeared the creature was inspecting them, but apparently finding them uninteresting “it simply ducked down and disappeared” after it passed them by.

Said Mrs. Parker “I have seen those big fish in the pool in the park at Detroit, but this was far bigger than any of them.”

Kalamazoo Gazette 8-10-1907.