2009 November, 18th

Phil Butler

Scattered reports today reveal once again the surfacing of the Bear Lake Monster. The monster, which was first mentioned by Native Americans via oral tradition, supposedly inhabits Bear Lake on the Utah – Idaho border. The monster made the top Google Trends this morning as well as any number of media and blog outlets world wide. Our investigation of the story did not turn up any new video or image evidence, but we did uncover some facts.

The Bear Lake monster, like many other legendary creatures, has been reported as being anything from an over sized walrus, to a giant beaver, to a serpent not unlike the Lock Ness Monster. Most sightings, and the general folk tales describe the creature as more like the latter – a 60 to 90 foot long dinosaur basically. Video from Animal Planet speaks of the creature being a leftover from the ice age, which seems logical given the high mountain lake, a remnant if the last Ice Age itself.

Google Maps reveals size and location of Bear Lake

Though no evidence as to today’s “stirring up” of the legend can be found, it is interesting to note some of the stories of sightings of the monster. One in particular tells of someone capturing a member of this monster’s family, a smaller version, in 1871. The story was credible enough to be reported in the Salt Lake City Herald, and I quote;

“This latter-day wonder is said to be about twenty feet in length, with a mouth sufficiently large to swallow a man without any difficulty, and is propelled through the water by the action of its tail and legs.”

A quiet Bear Lake, or is it?

Accordingly, the citizen who supposedly captured the beast was a fisherman who had set a trap specifically to capture the legendary beast. Like Nessie and other such creatures, the Bear Lake Monster lives on, whether a figment of the imagination or a real enigma which may never be solved. For the people of Bear Lake, the legend still has its impact, and in some cases a dramatic one as the video below suggests. For the reader, if any more substantive news arises about Bear Lake’s most mysterious resident, we will report it here. For the town of Bear Lake, the monster is obviously good PR, until of course it eats someone.

The video below reveals a phenomena which may be even more disturbing than the serpent embodiment of the Bear Lake Monster, the creature alive in humanoid form.

The “Lost Tape” below reveals the monster on a slightly more scientific level.

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About the Author

Phil Butler is editor-in-chief of Everything PR and senior partner at Pamil Visions PR. He’s a widely cited authority on beta startups, search engines and public relations issues, and he has covered tech news since 2004. Phil wrote in the past for ReadWriteWeb, Mashable, Profy, SitePoint, Search Engine Journal, AltSearchEngines. Follow Phil on Twitter or send him an email at phil [at] pamil-visions [dot] com.

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