Have You Heard Of Bessie, The Great Lakes Loch Ness Monster?

When people talk about cryptids or monsters, a few have worldwide acclaim: Bigfoot, Mothman, and the Loch Ness Monster are perhaps the most popular. As a kid who grew up watching Scooby-Doo on the daily, my all-time favorite movie was Scooby-Doo and the Loch Ness Monster. Nessie holds a special place in my heart, even though she lives way over in Scotland.

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So imagine my shock when I learned there might be a Loch Ness Monster living in Lake Erie. Not just an old campfire story, but a monster that saw a huge wave of activity as recently as 1990, so credible that it sent hundreds flocking to the lakeshore in hopes of photographing the monster for the first time.

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Bessie, The Lake Erie Monster

Despite Lake Erie being the shallowest of the Great Lakes, apparently a huge monster has managed to stay hidden this whole time. Spotted for the first time in 1793, Bessie is said to be a 30-foot serpent that "hisses" and "has a tremendous tail," according to an alleged sighting published in a newspaper in 1818.

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But the most intriguing part of this local legend is a recent craze in 1990. A Los Angeles Times article from 1990 highlights the story of Harold Bricker, who claimed to see a large black creature moving in the water, measuring 35 feet long.

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Bricker's report led to a flurry of other reports, prompting local Thomas Solberg to offer a $5000 reward to anyone who captured Bessie alive. The reward brought people from all around to try and find her, but ultimately amounted to nothing.

Still, it's quite wild that a mythical creature could stir up such a ruckus in our modern time. The Appalachian Historian recently did a massive deep dive on the Lake Erie Monster; if you'd like to learn more, you should check out their article.