“Shampy is alive!” wrote fishing boat captain Scott Thurber , posting a sonar image on social media showing the strange creature.
Thurber was fishing for trout on Lake Champlain on the US-Canada border and had a Garmin Eco Map UHD sonar on his boat. This is a specialized sonar with a high level of detail.
Thurber needed an echo sounder to search for large trout, but at some point sonar displayed something much larger and with unusual outlines.
According to Thurber, his sonar captured the legendary sea monster of Lake Champlain named Champy or Champ. According to numerous descriptions of eyewitnesses, it resembles the Scottish Nessie, the same long-necked water lizard with flippers, similar to the ancient plesiosaur.
As in the case of Loch Ness, many explorers visited Lake Champlain to try to find Champy. But of all of them, only Vermont cryptozoologist Cathy Elizabeth was lucky, who in 2022 first “caught” Champy on sonar.
However, in her case it is difficult to consider something in detail, but Thurber accidentally photographed Champy “in all its glory.”
According to Thurber, a large school of fish swam about 90 meters from where the sonar spotted the underwater creature, so it is possible that the creature was heading to this school for a bite to eat.
In American folklore, Champ or Champy is the name of a lake monster said to live in Lake Champlain, a 125-mile (201 km)-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.
Over the years, there have been over 300 reported sightings of Champ.
