Name: Bear Lake Monster(s), Bessie, Isabella, The Loch Ness Monster (according to some very passionate people)
You may know it from: Sadly not the golden plates.
Further Readings: The USU Bear Lake Monster Archives, “Bear Lake Monster” in Deseret Evening News (August 8 1868)
Dear Reader,
Happy Hallow’s Eve eve!!! Tonight, monsters lurk in the dusk, and cryptids are especially representative of this holiday. The cryptids I will be writing about dwell in Bear Lake, on the border of Idaho and Utah. While the monster’s true origins are subject to debate, its first appearance is universally considered to be in the August 3, 1868 edition of the Deseret Evening News. Joseph Rich, the author, gave a minimal description of the monster’s appearance. He described only “ears or bunches on the side of its head, the size of a pint cup” and its “brownish color.” What was important about the monsters to Rich were their size (since the largest one was “ninety feet in length”) and their speed (which was “faster than a horse could run on land.”) This account was corroborated by a member of the public named N.C. Davis, who had seen several more by the end of the next month.
Doubt can be cast on this source in a few regards. First, Rich claims that the monsters are described as Water Devils by the Native Americans of Bear Lake, a serpentine creature with many legs from long ago. There is an explanation for what Rich could be referring to, but it does not fully add up. It’s possible Rich was talking about the Pawapicts (often called Water Babies), which appear in Ute folklore. Pawapicts are shapeshifting creatures which share very little with each other in appearance besides long black hair. They are known for drawing the Ute toward them by either seduction or the imitation of a baby’s cry, then eating them once they reach the water. The Bear Lake Monster uses a similar technique, drawing in one of its first witnesses by resembling a corpse on the water, then nearly swallowing that person whole.
The problem with this idea is that the Bear Lake Monster and the Pawapicts, while serving a similar purpose, are completely different when it comes to their appearance. The Pawapicts are at most as large as a human being. Bear Lake Monsters on the other hand are at the very least as large as a horse. The Pawapicts are also not described as serpentine at all and seem to be humanoid.
The character of Rich himself must also be called into question. Rich was known as a notorious teller of lies and he identified the Bear Lake Monsters as a “first class lie.” This idea is supported by the fact that a majority of the Bear Lake Monster encounters were published in the Deseret Evening News.
The motivation behind such a lie may have been far greater than a simple prank. Rich was a person who held a lot of social and political authority in Bear Lake: he was a state legislator, a district judge, and the child of a Mormon apostle. He may have seen the creation of the Bear Lake Monster as a good way to give the Bear Lake region an image. This may possibly explain why he attempts to historicize the monster. In the article a month later, Rich portrays himself as being able to gain outsider interest, since he says, “I have received letters from various parts of the world,” and Bear Lake was later described as “the land of the monster.” It also caused a bit of a frenzy and a split in the town itself, as while numerous reports flooded in, there were also many doubters.
Almost all of the articles I read about the Bear Lake Monster insisted on its existence and any evidence they could find was used as proof against the non-believers. To definitively prove the existence of the Bear Lake Monster, some remains would need to be found, and for that, the Bear Lake Monster would need to be killed. Rich says this at the end of the first article: “I hope it will be concluded by the capture of one sometime… Here is an excellent opportunity for some company to bust Barnum.” This foreshadowed what was to follow. In 1870, Charles D. Evans claimed to find a piece of the monster’s jawbone and he hoped to put it on public display in a museum. In an 1871 article, a “reliable gentleman” captured the monster in a large trap, and the article ends by saying, “There is a good opening for Barnum or some other Enterprising Showman.” In 1874, the Bear Lake Monster was shot in the head by a group of fishermen and “his skin has been taken from his back and can be seen by un-believers.” The monsters played an important part in fostering the town’s image, and killing one of them could allow the people to briefly take control of that image.
The settlement around Bear Lake was Mormon, and with the newfound reception of Bear Lake and the monsters within, it was only a matter of time before it was recognized by Mormon authorities. Brigham Young, the current president of the Church of Latter Day Saints, traveled to various different Mormon colonies in Utah, including Bear Lake itself. In 1873, a Mormon accompanying Young observed that “monsters have been seen swimming here… it would have been a gratification if to have had one of these monsters show itself as they [Young and company] passed along.” A year later, that wish was granted. William Budge, a high ranking bishop of the Mormon church, had an encounter with a Bear Lake Monster. He wrote of this to Brigham Young, who subsequently allowed it to be published in the Deseret Evening News. The notorious liar Joseph Rich, now an apostle himself, had found recognition from the highest member of his own church through his greatest lie.
Nowadays, the monster is still used for the purpose Rich intended: tourism, to put the name Bear Lake on the map. There are several seasonal festivals that feature the monster, like the Bear Lake Monster Mash Festival and the Bear Lake Monster Winterfest. A Bear Lake Monster Tour boat gives scenic trips across the lake and handmade Bear Lake Monsters float through the town itself during parades. Even after Rich confirmed that the monster was a hoax, there are still occasional sightings, but they are held up to stricter scrutiny. For example, in 2004 a Bear Lake business owner said that he saw the monster, but it was written off as an attempt to boost tourism. The debate about the authenticity of the Bear Lake Monster is still considered up for debate, with people who still advocate for its reality. The Rich account may have been false, but eyes new and old say that what they saw on the lake may be real.