FIELD FILE · MEMPHRELAKE & SEA MONSTERREGIONAL LEGEND

Memphré

Also known as Memphre, Lake Memphremagog Monster, Monstre du lac Memphrémagog

Lake Memphremagog, Magog (Quebec) to Newport (Vermont)FIRST REPORTED: 1816LAKE & SEA MONSTERS

The horse-headed serpent of Lake Memphremagog, a border lake shared by Quebec and Vermont, reported since 1816 and adopted as Magog’s friendly mascot.

Memphré is the lake creature of Lake Memphremagog, a long, glacier-carved lake that straddles the Canada–US border between Magog in Quebec’s Eastern Townships and Newport in Vermont’s Northeast Kingdom. Witnesses usually describe a dark, serpentine animal with a horse-like head on a long neck – a classic “plesiosaur” lake monster, and one of the best-documented in North America.

The oldest written reports date to 1816, when, according to a journal later kept by Ralph Merry IV of Magog, eight people made four separate sightings of a serpent about nine metres long with a horse-shaped head. The journal was reportedly hidden beneath the floorboards of the old Merry house and turned up during renovations, before being handed to the Stanstead Historical Society in 1969. Regional newspapers such as the Stanstead Journal carried further reports in the 1840s, and in 1917 a Newport pamphlet retold the tale of Uriah Jewett and the lake’s sea serpent.

Memphré’s modern fame owes much to Jacques Boisvert, a Magog historian and diver who made more than 6,000 dives in the lake. On June 19, 1986 he founded the International Dracontology Society of Lake Memphremagog (Société internationale de dracontologie du lac Memphrémagog) to collect sightings of “dragons” of the lake. Together with Newport’s Barbara Malloy, who described her own sighting from above Horseneck Island in 1983, the society gathered well over a hundred reports from both sides of the border.

Boisvert never set out to prove the creature existed. Historians at the Musée d’histoire de Sherbrooke note that he used Memphré to draw people’s attention to the lake itself – its depths, its history and, above all, its health as a source of drinking water. That spirit lives on: Memphré is presented in Magog as a gentle, protective guardian of the lake, and the creature’s name and logo are now a brand used to promote the region and environmental stewardship.

Type: Lake & sea monster
Status: Regional legend
First reported: 1816
Best-known location: Lake Memphremagog, Magog (Quebec) to Newport (Vermont)
Also called: Memphre, Lake Memphremagog Monster, Monstre du lac Memphrémagog
Reported in: Vermont Canada

What witnesses describe

A dark brown or black serpentine body, often estimated at 6–12 metres (some say “longer than a house”), with one or more humps, a long neck and a head compared to a horse’s. It is said to swim very fast, leaving a wake like a motorboat, and is almost always described as harmless or even friendly.

Where and when it’s seen

Lake Memphremagog, about 40 kilometres long and up to 107 metres deep, from Magog Bay in Quebec to Newport, Vermont. Many reports come from calm summer days near Horseneck Island, Owl’s Head and the lake’s deeper central basin.

Notable sightings

1816The Merry journal sightings Magog and Georgeville, Quebec
Eight witnesses, including Uriah Jewett of Georgeville, reportedly saw a serpent about 30 feet long with a horse-shaped head on four occasions. The accounts were recorded in Ralph Merry IV’s journal, rediscovered in the Merry house and given to the Stanstead Historical Society in 1969.
August 22, 1955Billy Connor’s night swim Lake Memphremagog, Vermont to Quebec
Billy Connor, said to be the first person to swim the length of the lake, later wrote that during a stormy night crossing a large head rose from the water ahead of him and seemed to guide him. He kept the story to himself until giving a written statement to Jacques Boisvert in 1990.
August 12, 1983Barbara Malloy’s sighting Above Horseneck Island, Vermont
Newport resident Barbara Malloy and three companions watched from a car as a dark brown animal with a horse-like head and long neck sped across the calm water for a minute or two. Malloy went on to become one of Memphré’s leading chroniclers.
June 19, 1986A society for lake dragons Magog, Quebec
Diver and historian Jacques Boisvert founded the International Dracontology Society of Lake Memphremagog, which collected sightings and used the legend to promote protection of the lake.
August 2011Memphré on a coin Canada
The Royal Canadian Mint issued a coloured 25-cent coin featuring an artist’s impression of Memphré, bringing the lake monster national attention.

What could explain it?

Large lake fish such as lake sturgeon, as well as otters, beavers, swimming deer and moose, can be misjudged at a distance on open water.
Boat wakes, wind slicks and standing waves on a long, narrow lake can produce moving “humps” on otherwise calm water.
Floating logs and debris, especially after spring runoff, are frequently mistaken for a dark body.
Early 19th-century serpent reports were widespread across New England and Quebec lakes, and later sightings may have been shaped by the famous Loch Ness and Champ stories.

Legend, culture and tourism

Memphré is woven into the identity of Magog and Newport: a large Memphré sculpture greets visitors at Magog’s Baie-de-Magog park, the creature has appeared on a 2011 Royal Canadian Mint coin, and cross-border events, swims and community television programmes continue to celebrate it. In 1917 Newport author George C. Merrill published a pamphlet titled Uriah Jewett and the Sea Serpent of Lake Memphremagog, showing how long the tale has been part of local storytelling.