In American folklore, Champ or Champy is the name of a lake monster believed to live in Lake Champlain, a 125-mile (201 km) long freshwater lake shared by New York and Vermont, with part of the lake located in Quebec, Canada. The legend of the monster helps attract tourists to the areas around Burlington, Vermont, and Plattsburgh, New York.
History of the legend
Over the years, more than 300 sightings of Champ have been reported.
The original story is connected to Iroquois legends about giant snakes, which the Mohawk people called Onyare'kowa.
French mapmaker Samuel de Champlain, who founded Québec and after whom the lake is named, is often said to have been the first European to see Champ in 1609. The earliest record of this claim comes from the summer 1970 issue of the magazine Vermont Life. The magazine quoted Champlain as describing a "20 ft (6.1 m) serpent thick as a barrel, with a head like a horse." However, there is no proof that Champlain actually said this. He did write about large fish in the lake:
There are many types of fish in the lake, including one called Chaoufarou by the local people. The fish can grow up to 8 or 10 ft (2.4 or 3.0 m) long. Champlain saw some that were 5 ft (1.5 m) long, which were as big as his thigh. The fish had a head as large as two fists, with a snout 2.5 ft (0.76 m) long and sharp teeth. Its body was shaped like a pike, covered in strong scales that could not be pierced by a knife. Its color was silver-gray.
In 1878, a translated version of Champlain’s journals showed that Chaoufarou was actually a type of fish called gar, or gar pike, specifically the longnose gar.
An 1819 newspaper article in the Plattsburgh Republican, titled "Cape Ann Serpent on Lake Champlain," described a sighting by "Capt. Crum." He claimed to see a monster about 187 ft (57 m) long, 200 yd (180 m) away. He said the creature was followed by two large sturgeon and a billfish, had three teeth, and eyes that looked like peeled onions. He also described a red belt around the creature’s neck and a white star on its forehead.
In 1883, Sheriff Nathan H. Mooney claimed to see a water serpent about 110 yd (100 m) away from the shore. He said he could see "round white spots inside its mouth" and that the creature was about 25 to 30 ft (7.6 to 9.1 m) long. His sighting led to more people claiming they had seen Champ.
The legend of Champ interested P. T. Barnum, a famous showman. In 1873 and 1887, Barnum offered rewards for anyone who could prove the monster existed.
In 1977, Sandra Mansi took a photo during a family vacation that seemed to show an animal with a long neck emerging from the lake. The area where the photo was taken is no deeper than 14 ft (4.3 m). Joe Nickell, an investigator, said it is unlikely a large creature could live in such shallow water. Some believe the object in the photo might be a tree trunk or log. In a book about Champ, it was revealed that Sandra Mansi sent the photo to a nautical expert, Philip Reines, for analysis. Reines could not confirm the photo’s authenticity because Mansi had thrown away the negative and could not find where the photo was taken. Without the negative or location, it was impossible to verify what was in the image.
In 2005, fishermen Dick Affolter and his stepson Pete Bodette recorded a video that some say shows a creature resembling a plesiosaur. Others believe it could be a fish or eel. Two retired FBI experts who reviewed the footage said it looked real but could not confirm the presence of an animal.
In 2003, the Fauna Communications Research Institute recorded sounds from Lake Champlain as part of a Discovery Channel program. The sounds were similar to those made by beluga whales or dolphins, even though these animals are not known to live in the lake. A scientific article explained that the sounds might be a form of echolocation, though no known creatures in the lake use this ability.
In 2024, filmmakers working on the movie Lucy and the Lake Monster reviewed drone footage and noticed what appeared to be a large creature swimming below the surface in Bulwagga Bay. The creature was visible in the bottom right of the screen, swimming behind a boat. The boat was 142 inches long and 50.5 inches wide, and the creature seemed larger than the boat.
One of the film’s co-writers, Kelly Tabor, believes this footage is strong evidence for Champ. The film’s director, Richard Rossi, shared the footage with scientists. A 10-second clip from the longer 5-minute video was posted on YouTube.
On October 3, 2025, William Shatner presented the footage on his TV show The UnXplained, which airs on the History channel. Experts on the show analyzed the footage and concluded it could support the idea that Champ might be real.
Cultural importance to New York and Vermont
The Champ legend is now a source of income for communities. For example, the village of Port Henry, New York, built a large model of Champ and holds an event called "Champ Day" every first Saturday in August. Champ became the mascot for Vermont's baseball team, the Vermont Lake Monsters, after the team changed its name from the Vermont Expos in 2005. Champ has been the main attraction for the former Minor League Baseball team since its beginning and continues to be the mascot for the Futures Collegiate Baseball League team. This version of Champ appears at charity events and other functions in Vermont. Some local businesses, such as a car wash, use Champ's image in their logos.
In 2022, news outlets reported that a movie titled Lucy and the Lake Monster was being made. The film is based on a children's book about a young girl and her grandfather searching for Champ. The movie was filmed in Port Henry, New York, and around Lake Champlain's Bulwagga Bay in July and August 2022. Local newspapers in the Lake Champlain area reported that the film was completed in 2024 and premiered in the region in September 2024. As of 2025, the film has won several awards at film festivals.
Champ's existence is part of the setting for Joseph A. Citro's novel Dark Twilight (1991). Champ is also mentioned in the X-Files episode "Quagmire," where characters search for an animal believed to be an 'aquatic dinosaur' in Lake Champlain.