Flathead Lake Monster

Region: Flathead Lake MT

Lead Investigator: Agent 69

Last Updated: 4 August 2020

• Other names: Flessie (Reference to "Nessie", the Loch Ness Monster)
• Specific to Flathead Lake
• Over 100 documented sightings since 1889

Flathead Lake Monster Identification

• Large eel-shaped creature, round with a wavy body like a snake
• 20 to 40 feet long
• Brownish to blue-black skin and grayish-black eyes
• Often described as looking like a whale or a giant sturgeon

History

• First stories of a monster in Flathead Lake originate in a Kutenai traditional legend.
• 1889: First sighting reported by Captain James C. Kerr of the lake steamboat the U.S. Grant, claimed he and his 100 passengers saw an unusually large whale-like object in the water.
• 1950s: A significant cash reward was offered by Big Fish Unlimited to anyone who could catch what was termed the "superfish" of Flathead Lake
• 1993: Thirteen separate reports in one year.

Proposed Explanations

• Giant Sturgeon
• Sea Serpent
• Natural phenomena such as wave action, shadows, lighting effects, and logs
• Misidentified bears, horses, deer, elk, dogs, a dead monkey, a loose circus seal, and an escaped buffalo
• Hyperactive imaginations, playful pranks

Images

17 May 2021. Laney Hanzel. Flathead Valley, Montana.

28 June 2018. Agent 69. Flathead Valley, Montana.

Giant Beluga Sturgeon, a potential explanation.

1921. Tetyushi, Russia.

Other Resources

Laney Hanzel Interview

Flathead Lake Monster Still At Large

Tracking 129 Years of Flathead Lake Monster Sightings

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