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Berkeley And Jefferson Intelligencer
Martinsburg, Berkeley County, Virginia
What is this article about?
In late June 1805, four respectable men from Watertown, New York, spotted a serpent-like monster while boating across Lake Ontario from Kingston. Frightened, they rowed to shore, where the creature pursued them into shallow water and was observed for two hours in a spiral form.
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Extraordinary Snake in Lake Ontario.
Extract of a letter from a young gentleman residing near the Black River in the state of New York to his correspondent in Castleton—dated Watertown, June 30th, 1805.
'SIR,
Four men of respectability, who belong to this place, were returning from Kingston last week, in a boat across Lake Ontario, when about half way home espied a distant object lying off in the Lake which they supposed to be a boat with her bottom up. They immediately steered towards it, with a design to make a prize of her; when, with the swiftness of an arrow, it darted towards them, and they discovered it to be a monster in the form of a serpent. They were dreadfully frightened, and pulled with all their might for the shore which they soon gained, it being no great distance. The Monster closely pursued them, till gaining shoal water, it played backward and forward before them two hours. This afforded them leisure to recover from their surprise, to approach and survey it. It contracted itself in a spiral form, which they judged to be nearly
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Where did it happen?
Domestic News Details
Primary Location
Lake Ontario
Event Date
Last Week From June 30th, 1805
Outcome
the men reached the shore safely; the monster was observed playing in shallow water for two hours without further incident.
Event Details
Four men from Watertown returning from Kingston in a boat across Lake Ontario mistook a distant object for an overturned boat and approached it. It proved to be a swift-moving serpent-like monster that pursued them to shallow water near shore, where it maneuvered in a spiral form for two hours as they observed it.