Lake Monster

Lake Erie is the sallowest of the 5 Great Lakes, yet it contains one of the least known Lake Monsters in the world. Unless you grew up on the shores of Lake Erie, like I did, I doubt you heard much, if anything, about 'Bessie'. She is said to be a snake like creature, 30-40 feet in length, approximately a foot in diameter and grey/blue in color. 'Bessie' is most often seen in the Western Basin and was first witnessed in 1817. There are many skeptics around, they believe that 'Bessie' is large lake Sturgeon, which are common fish in Lake Erie. The Sturgeon can reach sizes of 20 feet in length and over 200 pounds. Many believers refute this, stating that what they saw was much larger than a sturgeon and looked like a sea serpent. There have been many sightings of Bessie over the last few decades with some more sinister 'attacks' occurring in the 1990's. Here is a listing of some of the benign sightings of 'Bessie': 1960 - Ken Golic was fishing off a pier in Sandusky when he heard two rats. He decided to throw a couple of rocks at them when he saw the creature. He stated that it was cigar-shaped and came out of the water about 1-1 1/2 feet. It was about 11:00 PM on a clear, calm night. 1969 - Jim Schindler stated that a ser- pent came within 6 feet of him near South Bass Island. Although he did not see the length, the width was about 2 feet. The animal appeared to be about 1 foot under the water. 9/1981 - Theresa Kovach of Akron saw a snake-like reptile that "was so large that could easily capsized a boat. It seemed to be playing." She watched it from a house on the Cedar Point Cause- way. 1983 (app.) - Mary M. Landoll told John Schaffner about her encounter with Bessie off Rye Beach in Huron. Mary went out to the front porch just before dawn when the lake was quite placid. From the left end, she heard a rowing sound and saw what looked like a capsized boat. It was a greenish-brown color about 40-50 feet in length. Landoll realized that it wasn't a boat, but an animal of some sort. It had a long neck and an eye was visible on the side of the head with a grin going up one side. The creature appeared to be playing in the water, but still put a scare into the witness. Summer, 1985 - Tony Schill of Avon, Ohio was boating with friends north of Vermilion when they reported the serpent. It was dark brown and had a flat tail. Tony stated that "5 humps came out of the water. No way it was a sturgeon." Dale Munro, of Lorain was also boating when he came face-to-face with it. He stated that it had 3 humps and was black. He also reported that it was twice the size of his 16 foot boat. The location was in calm waters just off the Lorain Coast Guard Station and his sighting lasted 3-4 minutes. May or June, 1989 - Gail Kasner obtains a graph from a boat owned by Ken Smith, of Streetsboro. The fishfinder appears to show a sonar reading of a cigar-shape apparition about 35 feet in length at a depth of about 30 feet. July 8, 1990 - Susan seeson, of Salem witnessed the creature 2 miles from Cedar Point. Her description basically matched other reports. September 3, 1990 - Bob Soracco was jet skiing off Port Clinton when he thought he spotted a porpoise. (Porpoise in fresh water? Oh well, Bob had just moved from Florida.) He told reporters that he saw humps with grey spots. "It was very long as I moved closer and it was going down. September 4, 1990 - Harold Bricker and his family were fishing north of Cedar Point Amusement Park when a serpent type creature swam by their boat about 1000 feet away Their description- 35 feet long with a snake-like head. It moved as fast as their boat. Later, the Bricker's reported their sighting to the ODNR rangers at East Harbor State Park. September 11, 1990 - Fire inspectors, Jim Johnson and Steve Dircks, of Huron saw the creature from a third story window facing Lake Erie. They decribed it as dark blue or black at about 30-45 feet long. He further stated that he saw three parts of the creature above water. "It laid there motionless for three to six minutes and was flat on top." Week of September 16 1991 - Dennis Szececinski, of Toledo saw Bessie near Toledo's water intake structure three miles offshore in Maumee Bay. He was fishing in the bay when something long and black slithered in front of him. Gathered from: The Beacon, Ottawa County, 9/90 Dayton Daily News, 10/7/90 Fort Wayne Journal Gazette, 9/23/90 Columbus Dispatch 9/26/90 When 'Bessie' attacks: There is an unconfirmed rumor which tells of a lethal encounter with a creature who's head was the size of a car and killed 3 people in 1992. I have found nothing more than rumors about this attack. However, the Ottawa Citizen had a report published on August 13, 2001, about a 'creature' attacking swimmers in Lake Erie. "PORT DOVER - Dr. Harold Hynscht has a medical mystery on his hands. He treated three patients recently who suffered major bites on their legs after swimming in Lake Erie beside the Port Dover pump house. All were in about a meter of water when the attacks occurred. Hynscht, a diver with extensive knowledge of aquatic life, is at a loss to identify the animal that caused them. The bites were not minor. Six inches separated the wounds inflicted by the top and bottom teeth, suggesting the animal has a large mouth. "That's a big, honking fish," Hynscht said. "The doctor has ruled out round gobies, lamprey eels, snapping turtles, walleye and other muskellunge-type fish as well as piranhas. The only species that seems plausible, Hynscht said, is the bowfin, a primitive, aggressive fish that protect their nests up to nine weeks after spawning. "One of the consistent elements of the stories I've heard is that it happened so fast they hardly had time to react," Hynscht said. "Whatever is doing this is doing so because of territory. It's not doing this because it's hungry. "Hynscht is trading information and theories with a wildlife biologist in Toronto in an effort to determine the attacker's identity." Whatever this creature turns out to be, the aggressive nature of the animal in question puts it into direct conflict with the human race... and that can only mean trouble ahead." Could this have been young 'Bessies' attacking the swimmers? I have been following up with some of the reports coming out of the Western Lake Erie area. I have found no recent sightings, but I believe that she is there. 'Bessie' has a long a storied history. A simple search on the internet will bring up news articles, stories, and even pictures of her. I am hoping to do some more research in the springtime around the Cedar Pointe area of Lake Erie.

Death Waltz A New Mexico Ghost Story retold by S. E. Schlosser Within an hour of my arrival at Fort Union, my new post, my best friend Johnny came to the barracks with a broad grin and a friendly clout on the shoulder. He'd hurried over as soon as he heard I had come, and we talked 'til sunset and beyond. As soon as Johnny mentioned Celia's name, I knew he had it bad for her. To hear him talk, Celia was the most amazing woman who had ever graced God's green earth. She was the sister-in-law of the captain, and all the young men on the base were infatuated with her. Celia was the prettiest of the eligible ladies that graced Fort Union society. She liked the spice of adventure to be found so near the wilds. Johnny alternated between elation when Celia talked with him and despair when she flirted with another man. I watched their courtship from afar and was troubled. There was something about Celia that I didn't like. I never mentioned it to Johnny, but I thought she was too much of a flirt. I wished Johnny had fallen for a nicer woman. About a month after I arrived at Fort Union, a birthday dance was given for one of the officers. To Johnny's elation, Celia agreed to be his partner at the dance. Johnny was dancing on cloud nine all night, until a messenger came gasping into the room to report an Apache raid. With a small scream of terror, Celia clung shamelessly to Johnny and begged him not to go even though he was the lieutenant put in charge of the mission. Well sir, Johnny proposed to her right then and there and Celia accepted. Furthermore, Celia told Johnny that she would wait for him, and that if he didn't come back she would never marry. I doubted Celia's sincerity, but Johnny just ate it up. I was assigned to Johnny's troop, so I had to leave too. We started out the next morning, and had a rough week tracking down and fighting the Apaches. Johnny split up the troop; taking command of the first group and giving me command of the second. My men reached the rendezvous point with no casualties, but only half of the other group arrived, and Johnny was not among them. They'd been ambushed by the Apaches. I had to take command of the troop. We searched for survivors, but never found Johnny's body. As soon as I could, I ordered the men to turn for home. Celia made a terrible, heart-rending scene when she found out Johnny was missing. She flung herself into my arms when I gave her the news and sobbed becomingly. The display turned my stomach, it was so obviously insincere. I excused myself hastily and left her to the ministrations of the other soldiers. From that time on, I was careful to stay away from Celia, who mourned less than a week for my friend before resuming her flirtatious ways. About a month later, a rich handsome lieutenant arrived at Fort Union. He was from the East, and Celia took a real shine to him. Johnny was completely forgotten and so was her promise to him. It wasn't long before Celia and the lieutenant were engaged and started planning a big wedding. Nothing but the very best would suit Celia, and her bridegroom had the money to indulge her. Everyone in Fort Union was invited to the ceremony, and the weather was perfect on the day of the wedding. Everyone turned out in their best clothes and the wedding was a social success. After the ceremony, all the guests were invited to a celebratory ball. We were waltzing around the ballroom when the door flew open with a loud bang. A gust of cold air blew in, dimming the candles. A heart-wrenching wail echoed through the room. The music stopped abruptly and everyone turned to look at the door. Standing there was the swollen, dead body of a soldier. It was dressed in an officer's uniform. The eyes were burning with a terrible fire. The temple had a huge gash from a hatchet-blow. There was no scalp. It was Johnny. The whole crowd stood silent, as if in a trance. No one moved, no one murmured. I wanted to cry out when I recognized Johnny, but I was struck dumb like the rest of the wedding guests. Johnny walked across the room and took Celia out of her bridegroom's arms. She was frozen in horror and could not resist. Johnny looked at the musicians. Still in a trance, they began to play a horrible, demonic sounding waltz. Johnny and Celia began to dance. They swept around and around the room, doing an intricate waltz. Johnny held the white-clad bride tight against his dead body while a deathly pallor crept over her face. Her steps slowed but still Johnny held her tight and moved them around in a grisly parody of a waltz. Celia's eyes bulged. She turned as white as her gown and her mouth sagged open. She gave one small gasp, and died in his arms. Johnny dropped Celia's body on the floor and stood over her, wringing his blood-stained hands. He threw back his head and gave another unearthly wail that echoed around the room. Then he vanished through the door. Released from the trance, the crowd gasped and exclaimed. The bridegroom ran to Celia and knelt beside her, wringing his hands in the same manner as Johnny. His cries were all too human. Unable to bear the sight of the stricken bridegroom, I took my captain aside and asked permission to take a small detail back to the place where our troop had been attacked by the Apaches to search once more for my dead friend. He sent a dozen men with me. We combed the area, and finally found Johnny's body hidden in a crevice. It looked exactly the same as it had appeared on the night of Celia's wedding. We brought Johnny back to the fort with us and the captain buried him beside Celia. Celia's bridegroom went back East shortly after we buried Johnny, and I resigned my commission a few days later and went home, never wanting to see that cursed place again. I heard later that Celia's ghost was often seen at dusk, weeping over Johnny's grave, but I never went back to Fort Union to see it for myself.

Cincinnati.com Monday, July 09, 2012 Haunted In Ohio DVD arrives Contributed By: Sean Paul Clermont County Film and Television producer Richard Shane Reinert has finished up another project with local ties. Haunted In Ohio is his latest project and it's a return to local legends. Reinert says, "It's been great to comeback with local legends I've been hearing about since my teenage years. Lucy Run Cemetery, The Loveland Frog, and so many legends appealed to me in this project. It all started with a friend from high school telling me about this house he and his family lived in." The project's production value is much improved over previous projects thanks to what Reinert says "the DSLR HD revolution." "With the amazing advances in the technology you can really improve your low light video settings and just the overall quality to make your project look much more professional," says Reinert. Clermont County has been good to Reinert as he has released 3 previous projects on the county's history and ghost stories. He has lived in Clermont County his entire life. Reinert says, "This project adds more than just legends but also some very good advice from professionals in the field. Paranormal Nights(Amelia) gave plenty of insight on just how serious and dangerous the paranormal field can be." Haunted In Ohio is available on DVD at filmbaby.com, and is coming to invink.com and all branches of the Clermont County Library.

NEW DVD!!!

In Ohio ghost stories just keep coming to one man television and film producer Richard Shane Reinert. Haunted In Ohio is his latest project and it delivers even more the buckeye state's creepy tales. Reinert says that he wasn't looking to do another ghost story project but so many people contacted him with stories he couldn't help but put together this project. Areas featured in this project include Amelia, Bethel, Morrow, New Richmond, Georgetown and more! Haunted in Ohio is available through invink.com, filmbaby.com and coming soon to other retailers. For more information go to www.darkfigureproductions.com

Ghost story!!

I was laying in bed on a stormy night. At the time, I was 10-years-old so I was extremely scared of thunderstorms. This night made that fear permanent. I was almost asleep until I heard a distant giggle from outside. I got out of bed to look out of my window thinking my younger brother was crazy to play in the storm, but when I pulled back the curtains, I saw a small human figure running in circles out in the field. I froze and just watched until it stopped and looked in my direction then started running my way. I jumped back in bed and hid under the covers. A few moments later, I peeked above the covers and my room was still pink and empty. I relaxed a bit, but had the urge to look out the window again. So I got out of bed again, pulled back the curtains and saw complete darkness. Then a bolt of lightening lit up the field and a saw a group of small faces at my window staring right at me. They had blood streaming down from their eyes and mouth. One of them opened their mouth to show me the razor sharp teeth he had. Like a idiot, I stood there and stared until they started beating on my window. I jumped back in bed and hid under the covers and tried to fall asleep. It was hard because they just kept banging on my wedding until a hour later, they stopped. There was no way that I was going to look out the window again so I finally passed out relieved. The next morning, I woke up remembering the terrible nightmare. Just for laughs, I thought I looked out the window. So when I pulled the curtains back, I screamed. There were little hand prints all over my window. by Katie

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New Ghost Stories

New ghost stories and videos up at http://www.darkfigureproductions.com

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