Champ (folklore)

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Alleged lake monster in Lake Champlain, United States

title: "Champ (folklore)" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["american-legendary-creatures", "lake-champlain", "sports-mascots", "monster-mascots", "mascots-introduced-in-2005", "folklore-of-vermont", "lake-monsters", "reptilian-cryptids"] description: "Alleged lake monster in Lake Champlain, United States" topic_path: "geography/united-states" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Champ_(folklore)" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary Alleged lake monster in Lake Champlain, United States ::

::data[format=table title="Infobox mythical creature"]

FieldValue
nameChamp
imageMansi Photograph (cropped).jpg
captionChamp in the Mansi photograph.
AKALake Champlain Monster, Champy
Similar_entitiesLoch Ness Monster, Ogopogo, Altamaha-ha, Tahoe Tessie, Nahuelito
Sub_GroupingLake Monster / Sea Serpent
CountryUnited States, Canada
RegionLake Champlain
HabitatWater
::

|name = Champ |image = Mansi Photograph (cropped).jpg |image_size = |caption = Champ in the Mansi photograph. |AKA = 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 In American folklore, Champ or Champy is the name of a lake monster said to live in Lake Champlain, a 125 mi-long body of fresh water shared by New York and Vermont, with a portion extending into Quebec, Canada. The legend of the monster is considered a draw for tourism in the Burlington, Vermont and Plattsburgh, New York areas.

::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/19/Champlainmap.svg" caption="Map of Lake Champlain watershed"] ::

History of the legend

Over the years, there have been over 300 reported sightings of Champ.

The original story is related to Iroquois legends of giant snakes, which the Mohawk named Onyare'kowa.

French cartographer Samuel de Champlain, the founder of Québec and the lake's namesake, is often claimed to be the first European to have sighted Champ, in 1609. The earliest source for this claim is the summer 1970 issue of the magazine Vermont Life. The magazine quoted Champlain as having documented a "20 ft serpent thick as a barrel, and a head like a horse." There is no evidence that Champlain ever said this,, although he did document large fish:

The 1878 translation of his journals clarifies that Chaoufaou refers to gar (or gar pike), specifically Lepisosteus osseus (the longnose gar).

An 1819 report in the Plattsburgh Republican, entitled "Cape Ann Serpent on Lake Champlain", reports a "Capt. Crum" sighting an enormous serpentine monster. Crum estimated the monster to have been about 187 ft long and approximately 200 yd away from him. Despite the great distance, he claimed to have witnessed it being followed by "two large Sturgeon and a Bill-fish" and was able to see that it had three teeth and eyes the color of peeled onions. He also described the monster as having "a belt of red" around its neck and a white star on its forehead.

In 1883, Sheriff Nathan H. Mooney claimed that he had seen a water serpent about "20 rods" (the equivalent of 110 yd in length) from where he was on the shore. He claimed that he was so close that he could see "round white spots inside its mouth" and that "the creature appeared to be about 25 to in length". Mooney's sighting led to many more alleged eyewitnesses coming forward with their own accounts of Champ.

The legend of Champ captured the interest of P. T. Barnum, and in 1873 and 1887, the famous showman offered rewards for anyone who could bring him the monster.

::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d7/Benjamin_Radford_and_Joe_Nickell_with_Champ_eyewitness_&_photographer_Sandra_Mansi.jpg" caption="Sandra Mansi with investigators [[Joe Nickell]] and [[Benjamin Radford"] ::

::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/4d/Mansi_Photograph.jpg" caption="Full Mansi Photograph"] ::

In 1977, Sandra Mansi took a photograph while on vacation with her family that appears to show an animal with a long neck emerging from the lake. The entire bay of the lake where the photograph reportedly was taken is no deeper than 14 ft. According to Joe Nickell, it is unlikely that a giant creature could swim, let alone hide, in such shallow water. It has been suggested that the object in the photograph could possibly be a rising tree trunk or log. In the book The Untold Story of Champ by Robert E. Bartholomew, it is further revealed that the original photo was sent to Philip Reines, a nautical expert at the State University of New York at Plattsburgh, so that he could examine and hopefully authenticate it. Reines quickly realized that the two most vital elements in verifying the photo were missing. Sandra Mansi said that she had thrown away the negative, and that she could not locate where she snapped the photo. Without the negative or location it was impossible to determine with any degree of certainty what was in the photo. Possessing the negative would allow the image to be magnified to see greater detail, while knowing the location could reveal important clues such as the object's size and distance, and whether the photo was even taken on Lake Champlain. Reines could not authenticate the photo and the story behind it led to big questions and potential red flags detailed in his book.

Champ reportedly can be seen in a video taken by fishermen Dick Affolter and his stepson Pete Bodette in the summer of 2005. Close examination of the images may be interpreted either as a head and neck of a plesiosaur-like animal and even an open mouth in one frame and a closed mouth in another; or as a fish or eel. Although two retired FBI forensic image analysts, who reviewed the tape, said it appears authentic and unmanipulated, one of them added that "there's no place in there that I can actually see an animal or any other object on the surface".

Related, the recording of sounds from within the lake by the Fauna Communications Research Institute in 2003, working as part of a Discovery Channel program. The group described the sounds as being similar to those produced by Beluga whales or dolphins—neither of which are known to live in Lake Champlain. An article describing the recordings has been published to scientific literature, explaining that the sounds were likely a form of echolocation despite none of "the known native creatures" being able to echolocate.

::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/12/Champ_Drone_Footage_from_"Lucy_&_the_Lake_Monster".png" caption="Still shot from 5 minute drone footage of Champ swimming behind boat containing two lead actors in the "Lucy & the Lake Monster" film"] ::

During post-production of the film Lucy and the Lake Monster, the filmmakers reviewed their drone footage from production on August 2, 2024, and noticed what appeared to be a large creature swimming just below the surface of the water in Bulwagga Bay. The alleged creature is visible in the bottom right portion of the screen, swimming behind a boat on which the two lead actors of the film were aboard. The boat was 142 inches from the tip of the bow to the stern and 50.5 inches at the widest point, and the alleged creature appears to be larger than the boat.

One of the co-writers, Kelly Tabor, believes it to be a foundational piece of evidence for Champ. The second co-writer and director of the film, Richard Rossi, said that he shared the footage with scientists. A ten-second clip from the longer five minute footage was shared publicly on YouTube.

On October 3, 2025, William Shatner presented the Tabor-Rossi footage on his program The UnXplained, a television series on History. The show had various experts analyze the footage, and the conclusion was that this was corroboration that Champ might be real.(Season 7, Episode 15, "Terrors of the Deep.")

Cultural importance to New York and Vermont

::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/29/Champmascot.JPG" caption="Vermont Lake Monsters mascot"] ::

The Champ legend has become a revenue-generating attraction. For example, the village of Port Henry, New York, has erected a giant model of Champ and holds "Champ Day" on the first Saturday of every August. As the mascot of Vermont's baseball team, the Vermont Lake Monsters, Champ became more prominent after the team was renamed from the Vermont Expos following the 2005 season. Champ has been the primary attraction of the former Minor League Baseball team since their inception, and continues to serve as the Futures Collegiate Baseball League team's mascot. This mascot version of Champ appears as a special guest at various charitable and other functions throughout Vermont. Several nearby establishments, including a car wash, use images of Champ as a logo. ::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/af/Behind-the-Scenes_"Lucy_&_the_Lake_Monster"_filming.png" caption="Cameramen film on Lake Champlain for the film "Lucy & the Lake Monster.""] ::

In 2022, media reported that a feature film, Lucy and the Lake Monster, was in the works about a young orphan girl and her grandfather looking for Champ, the film being based on a children's book with the same title.

The production filmed in Port Henry, New York and in various locations around Lake Champlain's Bulwagga Bay in July and August, 2022. Newspapers in the Lake Champlain region reported the film finished in 2024, and premiered in the Lake Champlain region in September, 2024. As of 2025, the film has garnered multiple awards on the film festival circuit.

Champ's existence serves as a backdrop for Joseph A. Citro's novel "Dark Twilight" (1991).

Champ is mentioned as being an example of a monster inhabiting Lake Champlain in the X-Files episode titled “Quagmire” in which characters hunt an animal believed to be an ‘aquatic dinosaur’.

References

New Information On Mansi Photo

References

  1. Caudell, Robin. (Nov 5, 2011). "Gordie Little writes children's book". Press-Republican.
  2. (2001). "Canada's Lake Creature: Champ". Centre culturel Marie-Anne-Gaboury.
  3. de Champlain, Samuel. (1878). "Voyages of Samuel de Champlain". Prince Society.
  4. Mackerel, Horse. (24 July 1819). "Cape Ann Serpent on Lake Champlain". Plattsburgh Republican.
  5. "The Search for Champ". Lake Placid/Essex County Visitor's Bureau.
  6. (July 2003). "Legend of the Lake Champlain Monster".
  7. Hall, Dennis Jay. (June 1999). "Champ Quest 1999: The Ultimate Search". Essence of Vermont.
  8. (27 August 1873). "Vermont News". The Green Mountain Freeman.
  9. Staff writer. (5 August 1887). "After a Sea Serpent". The Daily Post.
  10. Radford, Benjamin. (April 2004). "Lake Champlain Monster". Fortean Times.
  11. Nickell, Joe. (July 2003). "Legend of the Lake Champlain Monster". The Committee for Skeptical Inquiry.
  12. Phillips, Adam. (21 March 2006). "Is Lake Champlain Home to a Sea Serpent?". [[Voice of America]].
  13. (22 February 2008). "Is There a Monster in Lake Champlain?". [[ABC News (United States).
  14. (July 2003). "Lake's First 'Champ-Hearing' Recorded". Burlington Free Press.
  15. (2010). "Echolocation in a fresh water lake". The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America.
  16. (December 18, 2024). "Champ film streaming premiere surfaces". Community Newspaper Holdings Inc..
  17. (14 August 2024). "SC filmmaker surprised by lake footage where a sea monster is alleged to live.". McClatchy Company.
  18. (12 August 2024). "Champ movie to hold world premiere: Potential footage of plesiosaur surfaced in post-production".
  19. (20 October 2025). "Greenville-based filmmakers capture possible evidence of "lake monster"". Gray Media.
  20. (October 13, 2025). "Filmmakers capture footage of potential Champ via drone: William Shatner television program debuts interviewed segment". Sun Community News.
  21. "The UnXplained with William Shatner: The History Channel’s Most Addictive Mystery Show".
  22. (December 31, 2025). "2024 Champ sighting off Port Henry? You decide…". Page Communications.
  23. Joe, Nickell. (July–August 2003). "Legend of the Lake Champlain Monster". [[Committee for Skeptical Inquiry.
  24. "Champ Touchless Car Wash".
  25. (May 26, 2023). "Meet the Authors of Lucy and the Lake Monster". WSPA "Your Carolina".
  26. (April 16, 2022). "Champ to star in new book and film series". WCAX-TV.
  27. (December 19–26, 2024). "Virtual showing of the film, Lucy & the Lake Monster, through December".
  28. (July 14, 2022). ""Lucy and the Lake Monster" films in Port Henry". Yahoo News.
  29. (July 19, 2022). "'Champ' movie starts filming in Port Henry's Bulwagga Bay". CBS.
  30. (September 9, 2024). "Highlights from Lucy & the Lake Monster's world premiere". Denton Publications, Inc..
  31. (March 20, 2025). "Reedy Reels Film Festival celebrates 10th anniversary with 60 films". Community Journals Media Group.
  32. (March 27, 2025). "Lucy and the Lake Monster to screen at Reedy Reels". FOX Carolina.

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american-legendary-creatureslake-champlainsports-mascotsmonster-mascotsmascots-introduced-in-2005folklore-of-vermontlake-monstersreptilian-cryptids