31 Days of Halloween - Day 15

Monster: The Thetis Lake Monster

Appearance: "Attack of the Lake Monster" Cartoon Network Action Pack #47. May, 2010.

Scott Jeralds: Penciller, Scott Awley: Inker, Rob Clark, Jr.: Letterer, Heroic Age: Colorist, Sean Ryan: Editor, The Secret Saturdays created by Jay Stephens. 

Thetis Lake lies within conservation land outside of Victoria, British Columbia, Canada. In August of 1972, two local teenagers claim that they were chased by a man-like creature covered in scales with a monstrous head. It was described as being about 5 feet tall with three webbed fingers on each hand and three webbed toes on each foot, and barbed fins on its head, arms and legs. The boys also said it had a point sticking out of its head and great big ears. It's color was a silverish blue. One of the boys even claimed that the creature slashed his hand. 

The Canadian Mounted Police felt the boys were sincere and took the investigation seriously, though they turned up nothing. Four days later two men reported spotting the creature rising from the water, looking around, and then returning to the water before they ran off. 

This is not the only man-fish reported throughout the world. Other cultures have their man-fish, too. I thought the Thetis Lake Monster would make a good cryptid to feature in a Secret Saturdays story that addressed the impact of human populations and global warming on ecosystems. The story wound up being about a pair of these creatures whose attempts at breeding have been thwarted due to a combination of factors; humans using their once secluded habitat as a recreational area, and rising temperatures in the lake. 

The difference between the Thetis Lake monsters in my story and the one reported in 1972, is that I treated mine as actual existing creatures. In real life, an attempt was made to connect the sightings with an escaped Tegu lizard (which in no way resembles what was described). The real explanation? "It was just a big lie." Russell Van Nice, one of the teen witnesses eventually came forward to say that the other boy, Mike Gold, just concocted the whole thing in an attempt to get attention. 

While general descriptions of the Thetis Lake monster suggest a similar appearance to the Creature from the Black Lagoon, it turns out the boys were inspired by a much different movie that they had recently seen...

...The Beach Girls and the Monster (1965)