Also known as South Bay Bessie or the Lake Erie Monster, Bessie is a lake monster in Lake Erie.
Situated on the boundaries between the United States and Canada, with shorelines in Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania, New York, and the Canadian province of Ontario, Lake Erie is the southernmost of the Great Lakes.
Sightings of Bessie have been reported periodically since 1793. The lake monster is said to be snakelike, thirty to forty feet long, and gray in color. Although there have been modern sightings, the historical accounts have been more descriptive of the cryptid.
The earliest reports were vague stories of large lake serpents on the Canadian side of Lake Erie. The monster was said to be able to come upon the land, although it was primarily seen in the water.
In July of 1892, Captain Jenkins, while piloting the steam barge, Fenton, came across what he believed to be a wreck in the middle of the lake. As he got closer, however, he found that it was a serpent, at least thirty feet in length. Its neck was short and thick, the head was about a foot long, with nostrils above the snout, a large mouth that was turned upward. It had a forked tongue, and its eyes were blazing like balls of fire. The creature was black with yellowish bands on its body, and white patches on its head. By his account, the creature chased his barge, keeping pace for about twenty miles.
More recent sightings were reported in 1931, 1960, 1969, 1981, 1983, 1985, and 1989. In the summer of 1990, a blackish water creature, estimated to be forty to fifty feet long, was seen along the Ohio shore several times. A college teacher said its head was about the size of a football, and it was described as swimming in a serpentine manner. One eyewitness said it had what appeared to be small horns on the top of its head.
There were other sightings, including one on the Canadian side of the lake in October of 1994.
By the 1990s, lake monster mania was underway, with a flurry of reported sightings in 1990. By then, the sea monster was being promoted as a tourism marketing scheme.
Skeptics have suggested that Bessie could be a large specimen of a lake sturgeon made larger through fear or exaggeration, as the largest lake sturgeon found was just over seven feet long. Fishing nearly eliminated the sturgeon from Lake Erie by the late 1800s, but they have been making a comeback.
There have been no sightings of Bessie since the early 1990s.
True or not, websites focused on Bessie or other lake monsters inhabiting Lake Erie are appropriate topics for this portion of our guide.
Recommended Resources
Does Nessie Have a North American Cousin?
Published on the Exemplore website, the article was written by Jennifer Wilber on June 24, 2020. It compares the Lake Erie Monster, also known as Bessie or South Bay Bessie, with the Loch Ness Monster that inhabits Loch Ness in the Scottish Highlands. The Lake Erie aquatic cryptid has been sighted by people since 1793, with legends of a water serpent in the lake going back much further. Speculations by cryptozoologists and others are discussed, along with links to other online resources.
https://exemplore.com/cryptids/Bessie-The-Lake-Erie-Monster-Does-Nessie-Have-a-North-American-Cousin
Great Lakes Guide: Meet Bessie, the Great Snake of Lake Erie
Referring to Bessie as the Loch Ness Monster's Canadian cousin, who may also be known as the Great Snake of Lake Erie, the Lake Erie Monster, or South Bay Bessie. The site includes drawings of the beast, as it has been described by eyewitnesses, as well as speculation as to what it might be by cryptozoologists and others, who consider that it may be a surviving relative of the Plesiosaur, an ancient marine reptile. First Nations legends pertaining to Bessie are also discussed.
https://greatlakes.guide/ideas/meet-bessie-the-loch-ness-monsters-canadian-cousin-livin
Mysterious Universe: The Mysterious Monster of Lake Erie
Mysterious Universe specializes in publishing news and podcasts about unusual, extraordinary, or strange things. Written by Brent Swancer, and published on May 3, 2018, the article discusses a serpentine creature said to inhabit, or have inhabited, Lake Erie, the fourth largest and shallowest of the five Great Lakes. The aquatic cryptid has been described as being thirty to forty feet long, snakelike, with a dark gray or black coloration. Various sightings reports are discussed here.
https://mysteriousuniverse.org/2019/05/the-mysterious-monster-of-lake-erie/
Occult World covers a variety of topics related to the paranormal, including, in this case, Bessie. Written by Lux Ferre, and published on July 6, 2021, the article focuses on an unknown aquatic creature that was later nicknamed South Bay Bessie, or Bessie in Lake Erie. Although Native American legends spoke of an aquatic creature in Lake Erie, its first historical record was a report of a sighting published in the Daily Register of Sandusky, Ohio on July 8, 1898, with sporadic reports since.
https://occult-world.com/bessie/
Weird U.S.: Bessie, Lake Erie's Monster
Published on a travel guide to America's local legends and best-kept secrets, the site features an unknown creature, nicknamed South Bay Bessie, or just Bessie, who is said to inhabit Lake Erie. First heard of in Native American legends and vague stories of huge serpents, the cryptid appeared in a newspaper article in 1898, and, by 1912, the monster had become the butt of practical jokes. A Weird Ohio reader's eyewitness account is told here, along with speculation and other accounts.
http://www.weirdus.com/states/ohio/bizarre_beasts/south_bay_bessie/
