Lake Van Monster
Encyclopedia
The Lake Van Monster is a legendary creature that allegedly lives in Turkey
Turkey
Turkey , known officially as the Republic of Turkey , is a Eurasian country located in Western Asia and in East Thrace in Southeastern Europe...

.

History

The Lake Van Monster was not reported until 1995 in Lake Van
Lake Van
Lake Van is the largest lake in Turkey, located in the far east of the country in Van district. It is a saline and soda lake, receiving water from numerous small streams that descend from the surrounding mountains. Lake Van is one of the world's largest endorheic lakes . The original outlet from...

, a large alkaline lake in Eastern Turkey
Turkey
Turkey , known officially as the Republic of Turkey , is a Eurasian country located in Western Asia and in East Thrace in Southeastern Europe...

. There are now more than 1,000 people claiming to have witnessed the beast which is reported to measure around fifteen meters long with spikes on its back and appears similar to a Plesiosaur
Plesiosaur
Plesiosauroidea is an extinct clade of carnivorous plesiosaur marine reptiles. Plesiosauroids, are known from the Jurassic and Cretaceous Periods...

 or Ichthyosaurus
Ichthyosaurus
Ichthyosaurus is an extinct genus of ichthyosaur from the Early Jurassic of Europe . It is among the best known ichthyosaur genera, with the Order Ichthyosauria being named after it...

. Researches showed creature first mentioned on Saadet newspaper's (a newspaper published at Istanbul at the time) 29 April 1889 issue, says that the creature dragged a man into lake while he was doing wudu
Wudu
Wuḍhu is the Islamic procedure for washing parts of the body using water often in preparation for formal prayers...

. Following these reports the Turkish government sent an official scientific survey group to the lake who failed to spot the creature.

In 1997 a local man, Unal Kozak, a teaching assistant at Van University, captured the creature on video which was sent for analysis. He has written a book about the monster. Yet his video is under constant criticism, with questions like why it never pans left, possibly because of a boat that may have carried the creature. Or why the monster only goes straight, instead of curving through the water. Even criticism as to why the breathing is not in and out, but a continuous release, much like the effects of an air hose.

A 4-meter high statue based on reported sightings has been erected to its honor in Van, Turkey
Van, Turkey
Van is a city in southeastern Turkey and the seat of the Kurdish-majority Van Province, and is located on the eastern shore of Lake Van. The city's official population in 2010 was 367,419, but many estimates put this as much higher with a 1996 estimate stating 500,000 and former Mayor Burhan...

.

Skeptics point out that the region would benefit from tourist revenue and a hoax might attract visitors.

Popular culture

The Lake Van Monster appears in The Secret Saturdays
The Secret Saturdays
The Secret Saturdays is an American animated television series created by Canadian cartoonist Jay Stephens for Cartoon Network. It debuted on October 3, 2008, in the United States...

episode "The Unblinking Eye." This version resembles a Mosasaurus
Mosasaurus
Mosasaurus is a genus of mosasaur, carnivorous, aquatic lizards, somewhat resembling flippered crocodiles, with elongated heavy jaws. The genus existed during the Maastrichtian age of the Cretaceous period , around 70-65 millions years ago in the area of modern Western Europe and North America...

-like creature.

External links

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