Have you heard the legends of the Sea Serpent in Seneca Lake? Known as Oniare (own-yar-eh) to the indigenous people of the area, it was described as a dragon-like horned water serpent, lurking in the lakes to capsize canoes and eat people. The Native tribesmen warned the white settlers about the serpent, but the tales were dismissed. However, it wasn’t long before the white settlers had tales of their own.
August 18, 1883, “The Sun”: The story mentions a sighting in the Seneca River of a monster 30 feet long. The newspaper dismisses it as an eel, and not worthy of the description of “monster.” True, the Seneca River isn’t Seneca Lake, but it is in the Finger Lakes region! The rest of the descriptions to follow, however, are from Seneca Lake itself.
1884: A group of Hibernians “spot the creature” off of Long Point. It took me a very long time to realize that this was not actually a drawing of the real monster, but of a Hibernian dressed up as the sea-serpent. D’Oh!
July 17, 1899 (Elmira Star Gazette page 8): George Sorner captures a large creature in Seneca Lake. It is about 13 feet long, and was later determined to be a large eel.
July 16, 1900: The steamboat Otetiani was cruising on the lake when it encountered the creature. Described as between 15-25 feet long, the several prominent witnesses on board described it as a reptile with shark’s teeth. The captain rammed the creature with the boat and killed it. They lowered the lifeboats and attempted to retrieve the creature, but at the last minute its body slipped out of the ropes and sank into the lake. For the full tale, the entire news article is included below. 1900 Jul 16 Buffalo Review pages 1&6
August 4, 1903: In 1903, Grover Wehnes’ terrifying tale reached newspapers across the country. He had been sailing on Lake Seneca at Kashong Point and saw a huge serpent in the water who followed him for half a mile. He said he wouldn’t go out there again for $500 ($15,585.00 in today’s dollars).
September 7, 1912: In 1912, the Elmira Star Gazette reported that two Elmira families saw a strange monster off of Long Point on Lake Seneca. The story reports that the creature was black in color and eight to ten feet long. According to this report, Long Point is a wild area on the lake and the waters are at their deepest point here. One of the wives on the excursion believed the story should be made public in order for people to make sure their children are safe while at the lake. The full story follows below.
July 5, 1913: two young boys playing at the foot of Castle St. in Geneva, NY saw a creature swimming that was green in color and about 6 feet long.
July 19, 1913: two Elmirans spotted the creature near Glenora. Emil Schaple and her daughter Mrs. Henry Ellett watched it for 10-15 minutes through opera glasses. It was 25 feet long, 18 inches in diameter, and a greenish-black color.
August 21, 1914: Edrick McConnell of Watkins Glen was rowing at Corbett’s Point. The animal was 10 feet long, 7 or 8 inches wide, with the head the size of a human head. On the top of its head was hair that stuck straight up. The creature was black in color. Earlier that summer, the news reports, and elderly man had also seen the creature, and where the creature disappeared into the lake the “water was fairly boiling.” The story appears below.
April 18, 1921: While a fisherman was busy pulling in a large trout, a huge creature rose in the water near his boat. It was as long as a row-boat and its head was as large as a barrel.
Geneva daily times., April 18, 1921, Page 7, Image 7
August 15, 1927: Summer visitors at Kashong Point noticed a large creature swimming in the water and emitting strange sounds. Despite the children’s pleas to leave the creature alone, Dr. Jay Covert traveled out to the creature, roped it up, and brought it to shore. It turned out to be a black Angus cow that had been separated from her herd. The cow had been swimming back and forth trying to get back to shore.
August 13, 1929: Ludwig Berg, Jr. organizes a group of people after he sees a huge creature in the lake with a large head and protruding horns. They left the bank around Kashong and shot at the creature to no avail. When they got the the creature, they found it was an oil drum with a ferociously painted face and two wooden horns.
July 21, 1939: Dan Lewis, Bob Maloney, and Charlie Sholz of Elmira construct a diving helmet to dive the depths of Seneca Lake and solve the mystery of the sea-serpent. They made it out of a hot water heater tank, window glass, garden hose, a bicycle pump, and 35 feet of tubing. It weighed a little over 70 lbs. The young men planned to take pictures of the fish they saw underwater with their camera sealed in a rubber bag. There was talk of forming the “Peek-A-Boo” Corporation to make more of these.
May 10, 2008: The Elmira StarGazette runs a feature on Eldridge Park. Included in the news story was the ancient lore that Eldridge Lake (Lake Minnetonka) had a creature named Gaspara that guarded a secret underground channel to Seneca Lake. There’s much more to this tale, but that’s a story for another day.
August 15, 2015: It is now illegal to hunt, trap, or hurt the Seneca Lake Monster from the shores of Geneva, NY.
From “Seneca Lake Monster” facebook page: Tonight, August 5 2015, by a 6-1 vote, the Geneva City Council approved a motion amending Chapter 206 of the Geneva Municipal Code – Hunting and Trapping.”Section 206-2. Hunting or Trapping of Seneca Lake Monster Prohibited.The hunting, trapping, or cause of harm to the serpent termed the Seneca Lake Monster or any of its descendants is prohibited. No person shall use any City facility, including access points to Seneca Lake on City shorelines, to launch a hunting or trapping party aimed at killing, trapping, or injuring the Seneca Lake Monster or any of its descendants. Possession of the carcass of said creatures, or of any live creature meeting this description will be considered presumptive evidence of a violation of this Section.”Thank you, City of Geneva, NY!
Thank you for reading about the Seneca Lake Monster! I had a lot of fun with this story, and visited many sites to get the newspaper articles. I used the pay site newspapers.com, but I also found great articles on free sites such as The Library of Congress’s Chronicling America site and on NY Historic newspapers!
https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/
https://nyshistoricnewspapers.org/
Other resources consulted: