Bessie

Bessie or South Bay Bessie is an alleged water serpent or a reptile that allegedly lives in Lake Erie in United States. First sighting of this creature date back to 1793. This strange creature is described by eye witnesses as a long snake like beast with gray scales measuring 1 foot in diameter and 30- 40 feet (9- 12 meters) in length.

 

History of Sightings of Bessie

1817 Captain of the sloop Felicity reports seeing  a large serpent with a snake like body while hunting ducks north of Sandusky, Ohio. He approximated the size of the creature to be "more than a rod (16.5 feet) in length".

1817 Boat on the Lake Erie saw a strange creature in water. They described it as being 60 feet (18 meters) in length and covered in copper scales. The boat crew shot their muskets at the creature. They assumed to have missed it.

1817 This sightings of Bessie occurred near Toledo. Two French Dusseau brother saw Bessie writhing on the beach. The brothers assumed the creature was in agony in last hours of its life. They ran away in terror, but when they returned the creature was gone. It was presumed the carcass was simply washed away by the waves. Only strange marks on the beach sand remained from an unknown creature. Later Dusseau brothers describes this creature 20- 30 feet (6- 9 meters) in length. Its body was fat and  bulky like that of a sturgeon, but it had small arms. Its body was covered by silver scales the size of an American dollar. Some of them were left on the shores.

 

Description
Bessie is said to be a gray colored snake-like creature between 10 and 13 meters long. She is said to be able to move in water and on land.

Sightings
Bessie was first sighted in 1817. Thereafter, spurred on by a newspaper's April Fool's joke in 1912, a wave of deliberate hoaxes began that lasted into the 1990s. Apparently local authorities were also involved with the aim of attracting tourists to the area.

In 1931, two men claimed to have caught Bessie in Sandusky Bay. However, the alleged monster quickly turned out to be a Burmese python. It turned out that the snake belonged to a traveling circus to which one of the two men belonged.

Possible explanations
There were many sturgeons in the Sandusky area; in the 19th century it was considered one of the American strongholds for caviar. Because sturgeons can grow to over ten feet in length and be mistaken for reptiles because of their primitive appearance, many believe Bessie is just a large sturgeon. In 1998, a specimen measuring eight feet long and weighing 250 pounds was caught in Lake Erie.