- Chessie (sea monster)
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Chessie Creature Grouping Local Legend Sub grouping Sea serpent Data First reported 1943 Country United States Region Chesapeake Bay Habitat Water 
Whimsical costume of Chessie the Chesapeake Bay Monster at the 4th annual Maryland Faerie Festival, 2008.
Chessie is a legendary sea monster said to live in the midst of the Chesapeake Bay. Over the years there have been many alleged sightings of a serpent-like creature with flippers as part of its body.
According to Matt Lake in Weird Maryland, two perch fishermen, Francis Klarrman and Edward J. Ward, in 1943 spotted something in the water near Baltimore.
“This thing was about 75 yards (69 m) away, at right angles from our boat. At first it looked like something floating on the water. It was black and the part of it that was out of the water seemed about 12 feet (3.7 m) long. It has a head about as big as a football and shaped somewhat like a horse’s head. It turned its head around several times—almost all the way around.”[1]
In 1982 Robert and Karen Frew supposedly videotaped Chessie near Kent Island. Their video does show a brownish “something” moving side to side like an aquatic snake. [1]
Most sighting reports of this sea monster describe it as a long, snake-like creature. The reported length of the monster varies from 25 to 40 feet (12 m) long. It is said to swim using its body as a sine curve moving through the water. There were a rash of sightings in 1977 and more in the mid 1980s. Although there are alleged photographs of Chessie, there is no genuine evidence of its existence.
The last notable sighting of the beast was in 1997, off the shore of Fort Smallwood State Park, very close to shore. The legend of "Chessie" is very similar to, and was likely inspired by, that of "Nessie", the Loch Ness Monster.
The Chesapeake Bay is the largest estuary in the United States. Its surface and major tributaries cover more than 4,479 square miles (11,600 km2) and in places it is 175 feet (53 m) deep.
A photograph of an unknown sea creature taken by Trudy Guthrie in 1980 was later identified as a manatee from Florida. Manatees are unusual this far from Florida. A manatee nicknamed “Chessie” was rescued from the Chesapeake's chilly water in October 1994 and returned to Florida, but has revisited the Chesapeake several times since then. It was photographed in the Patapsco River in 2010 (unconfirmed) and near the shore of Calvert County on July 12, 2011. The more recent photograph was confirmed by U.S. Geological Survey biologists. Unlike the reports of a serpentine creature, manatees do not swim undulating from side to side.[2][3][4]
Other speculations to explain sightings have included a mutant eel theory, large river otters, prehistoric zeuglodons, and South American anacondas escaping from 18th and 19th century sailing ships.
References
- ^ a b Lake, Matt: Weird Maryland, page 68. Sterling Publishing, 2006. ISBN 1402739060.
- ^ Official Biography: Chessie Save the Manatee Club, retrieved 2009-12-17
- ^ Timothy B. Wheeler (October 21, 2010). "Aquarium tracking down reported manatee sightings". The Baltimore Sun.
- ^ Steve Kilar and Timothy B. Wheeler (July 15, 2011). "Chessie the manatee pays return visit to Chesapeake Bay". The Baltimore Sun. http://articles.baltimoresun.com/2011-07-15/features/bs-gr-manatee-20110715_1_florida-manatee-chessie-manatee-first. Retrieved July 18, 2011.
External links
Categories:- Lake cryptids
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