FIELD FILE · SMETTYLAKE & SEA MONSTERLOCAL LEGEND

Smetty

Also known as Lake DeSmet Monster, Lake De Smet sea serpent

The serpent of Wyoming’s Lake DeSmet, seen by ranchers in 1910 “like a long telephone pole with lard buckets attached” and recorded by a railroad surveyor.

Smetty is the lake monster of Lake DeSmet, a sizeable reservoir lake below the Bighorn Mountains just north of Buffalo, Wyoming. The basin it fills is unusual: geologists and early travelers alike noted that it sits in a hollow formed when a thick seam of coal burned out underground long ago, leaving red, brick-like clinker on the surrounding hills. In the 19th century the lake was smaller and brackish – Bozeman Trail emigrants of the 1860s described a pretty but salty, sulphur-smelling lake – and it was named for the Jesuit missionary Pierre-Jean De Smet, who passed by in 1851.

The serpent’s story was written down by Edward Gillette, a railroad surveyor who visited in early 1910 while scouting a line from Sheridan to Casper and buying land to turn the lake into an irrigation reservoir. In his memoir Locating the Iron Trail (1925) he recalled that there had been rumors of sea serpents in the lake “from the time of the Indians,” including a tale of an alligator-like animal with long legs that seized a child from a camp on the shore, and that swimmers had vanished in its waters without their bodies being recovered.

Then came the sightings. Gillette reported that a rancher named Barkey, his wife and daughter came to him in great excitement after watching two serpents chase each other up and down the lake for about fifteen minutes, swimming “as fast as a horse could trot.” Mrs. Barkey said they “looked like a long telephone pole with lard buckets attached.” A skeptical neighbor, Arthur Senff, later told Gillette that a serpent had raised its head some six feet out of calm water and rushed down the lake, throwing up a wake big enough to swamp a small boat. Gillette, who had himself backed out of a swim after meeting large, toothy fish, said he saw no reason to doubt them.

The lake has since been dammed and greatly enlarged – most dramatically in 1974–75 – and is now a freshwater fishing and boating spot. The monster, nicknamed Smetty, remains a well-loved bit of Johnson County lore, retold by local radio, travel writers and historical groups such as the Fort Phil Kearny/Bozeman Trail Association.

Type

Lake & sea monster

Status

Local legend

First reported

1910

Best-known location

Lake DeSmet, near Buffalo, Johnson County, Wyoming

Also called

Lake DeSmet Monster, Lake De Smet sea serpent

Reported in

Wyoming

What witnesses describe

A long, dark, serpentine body – likened to a telephone pole – with rows of fin-like bumps or “lard buckets” along its sides and a head held several feet above the water. It moves fast, leaving a heavy wake.

Where and when it’s seen

Lake DeSmet, a deep reservoir lake in a burned-out coal basin between Buffalo and Sheridan, Wyoming; reported on calm days.

Notable sightings

1. 1910The Barkey family’s two serpents Lake DeSmet, Wyoming

   Rancher Barkey, his wife and daughter told surveyor Edward Gillette they had watched two large serpents race and chase each other on the lake for about a quarter of an hour.

2. 1910Arthur Senff’s rifle Lake DeSmet, Wyoming

   A rancher who had scoffed at the Barkeys said that weeks later a serpent lifted its head about six feet from calm water and sped away. He fetched a rifle but never got a shot.

3. 1925Locating the Iron Trail Published account

   Gillette’s memoir put the Lake DeSmet serpent stories into print, the source of nearly all later retellings.

What could explain it?

• Gillette himself mentioned that lines of ducks flying low over the water can resemble a long, humped body, though his witnesses rejected that idea.
• Large fish – including carp, which local fishermen were netting by 1910 – and swimming animals can create surprising wakes on calm water.
• Drownings in a cold, weedy lake, and older stories told about the lake, may have been reinterpreted as the work of a monster.
• All the classic accounts come second-hand through a single writer who was promoting the lake’s development, and there is no physical evidence.

Legend, culture and tourism

Smetty is a Johnson County favorite, featured by Wyoming radio, travel writers and a 2024 Lake DeSmet history program by the Jim Gatchell Memorial Museum and the Fort Phil Kearny/Bozeman Trail Association. Arapaho and Crow traditions also tie the lake to powerful water and mysterious events, which deserve to be understood on their own terms rather than as monster stories.

Places to visit

Where it’s reported

Wyoming

Smetty in the news

No recent headlines about the Smetty. Our news desk checks every day — see all cryptid news.

First published October 14, 2026 · Updated October 14, 2026