Art by Gary Hanna

A Monster Mystery

Is there a monster living in an American lake?

By Alex Winnick

From the October/November 2025 Issue

Learning Objective: Children will discuss a narrative about Champ the lake monster and evaluate whether it is real.

Lexiles: 500L

Featured Skill: Main Idea, Key Details,

Vocabulary: legend, claimed, capture, proof, enormous, mascot

Topic: Social Studies,

The morning was still and quiet on the big lake. It was
the summer of 1819. A man named Captain Crum climbed into his boat.

He looked into the dark waters. He thought he saw something. It looked like a huge creature with a long
tail! There was a splash. The creature rose out of the water.

Captain Crum was shocked! He was sure it was longer than any animal he had ever seen.
It seemed to have teeth and yellow eyes. Captain Crum watched as it swam across the lake and dove down.

Later a newspaper printed the captain’s story. People didn’t know what to believe. Could he really have seen a lake monster?

PAUSE AND THINK: What did Captain Crum think he saw?

Stories of the Monster

Lake Champlain is between Vermont and New York.

People had been telling stories about a monster in Lake Champlain for years.

Native American tribes had a legend. It was an old story that had been passed down. It said an animal that looked like a big snake with horns lived in the water.

Over time, the stories spread. People claimed they had seen the monster. Newspapers printed more stories about it. Now the monster even had a name. It was called Champ.

In the 1870s, P. T. Barnum was the owner of a popular circus. He offered a $50,000 prize for anyone who captured Champ.

Many people tried to win the prize. But nobody could get Champ.

PAUSE AND THINK: What did P.T. Barnum offer a prize for?

A Champ Photo

A woman took this photo. Is it Champ?

Then in 1977, something happened. A woman named Sandra Mansi was at the lake. She saw a head poke out of the water. She snapped a photo. She said it was Champ! She said the photo was proof that Champ existed.

But the object in the photo could have been anything. Maybe it was a bird on the water. Maybe it was a piece of trash.
Or maybe it really was Champ!

PAUSE AND THINK: What did Sandra Mansi do?

Real or Not?

This is a lake sturgeon.

Plenty of people think the photo is proof that Champ lives.

But scientists are not so sure. Logs float up and down the lake all the time. People may think the logs are Champ.

Experts also say that Champ might simply be an enormous fish. The largest animal that lives in Lake Champlain is a fish called a sturgeon. Sturgeons can grow to be 8 feet long. That’s
as long as some alligators. Sometimes these huge fish leap out of the water!