STATE FILE · ID
Cryptids of Idaho
What cryptids are in Idaho? The best-known are Bigfoot, Sharlie, Bear Lake Monster and Pend Oreille Paddler, among 5 on file.
Idaho is one of the most forested and least-roaded states in the lower 48, with the Frank Church–River of No Return Wilderness alone covering some 2.3 million acres. That makes it natural Bigfoot country, and researchers have long collected reports from the Clearwater and Nez Perce–Clearwater national forests, the Selway-Bitterroot and the Idaho Panhandle. The rugged canyons of the Salmon and Snake rivers add to the sense that something could stay hidden.
Cryptids reported in Idaho
HOMINID · 1958
Bigfoot
Pacific Northwest forests, reported across North America
North America’s most famous cryptid: a huge, hairy, upright ape-like being reported from the Pacific Northwest to Florida since the 1958 “Bigfoot” tracks.
WIDELY REPORTED
LAKE & SEA MONSTER · 1920
Sharlie
Payette Lake, McCall, Idaho
The humped “Twilight Dragon” of Payette Lake in McCall, Idaho – reported since 1920 and named Sharlie in a 1954 newspaper contest.
REGIONAL LEGEND
LAKE & SEA MONSTER · 1868
Bear Lake Monster
Bear Lake, on the Utah–Idaho border
A serpent-like monster said to swim Bear Lake on the Utah–Idaho line, born of an 1868 newspaper story its own author later called a lie.
REGIONAL LEGEND
LAKE & SEA MONSTER · 1944
Pend Oreille Paddler
Lake Pend Oreille, North Idaho
A dark, wake-making shape in Idaho’s deepest lake – a monster often blamed on giant fish, hoaxers, and the Navy’s secret submarine tests.
LOCAL LEGEND DOGMAN & CANINE · 1886Shunka Warak’in
Madison Valley, southwestern Montana
A hyena-like wolf shot in Montana’s Madison Valley in 1886, whose mounted body – the “Ringdocus” – now draws visitors to a small museum in Ennis.
REGIONAL LEGENDThe legends of Idaho
Idaho also has two famous lake monsters. In the far southeast, Bear Lake – shared with Utah – is said to hold a huge serpent; the story was publicized in 1868 by Mormon settler Joseph C. Rich in the Deseret News, and decades later he reportedly admitted it had been a “wonderful first-class lie.” In the mountain resort town of McCall, Payette Lake is home to “Sharlie,” a serpentine creature reported since the 1920s and named through a 1954 newspaper contest. McCall has adopted her warmly, with Sharlie-themed businesses and appearances in the town’s Winter Carnival ice sculptures.
Skeptics point to floating logs, otters, boat wakes and large fish such as sturgeon for the lake monsters, and to elk, moose and bears in the backcountry. But Idaho’s wilderness and its good-humored lake towns make it a rewarding trip for cryptid enthusiasts.
Hotspots
Mountain lake home to “Sharlie,” the monster named in a 1954 newspaper contest.
Turquoise lake on the Utah border, famous for a sea-serpent legend publicized in 1868.
Steep, remote north-central Idaho forests that produce many of the state’s Bigfoot reports.
One of the largest roadless areas in the lower 48, often cited as ideal habitat for an unknown animal.
Sightings timeline
- September 1946Twenty witnesses Sharlie
A group of about twenty people, including Dr. G. A. Taylor of Nampa, watched an animal estimated at 30 to 40 feet long that repeatedly dived and left a wake like a small motorboat.
- April 24, 1948“The Weird Wolf of Henry’s Lake” Shunka Warak’in
A feature on Sherwood’s mount called the animal a “Guyasticutus,” one of several joke names attached to the specimen in its roadside-museum years.
- 1954Naming Sharlie Sharlie
The Payette Lakes Star ran a contest to name the monster. Out of more than 200 entries, “Sharlie” won, earning Le Isle Hennefer Tury of Springfield, Virginia, a $40 prize.
- 1977The Paddler gets its name Pend Oreille Paddler
A young girl was reported to have been attacked by a lake monster, and a photo of the creature circulated, which journalists named the Pend Oreille Paddler.
- 1977The “Ringdocus” in print Shunka Warak’in
Hutchins’s grandson published a photo of the mount and the family story in a natural-history book, the only published image for many years after the specimen disappeared from view.
- Late 1984The papier-mâché catfish Pend Oreille Paddler
The 1977 photograph was revealed to show a 12-foot papier-mâché catfish made for a play performed in Sandpoint in October 1974.
- Memorial Day 1985Julie Green’s chase Pend Oreille Paddler
Coeur d’Alene teacher Julie Green reported a large, gunmetal-gray object surfacing a few hundred yards from her boat and gave chase before it disappeared.
- 1987McLeod’s study published Pend Oreille Paddler
James R. McLeod published the findings of North Idaho College’s cryptozoology club, suggesting a large deepwater fish and questioning what the Navy knew.
- 1997–2002Last documented reports Sharlie
Accounts differ on the date of the most recent documented sighting, giving either 1997 or 2002. Occasional unexplained disturbances in the water are still reported by visitors.
- June 2002Brian Hirschi’s sighting Bear Lake Monster
Local business owner Brian Hirschi said he saw a large creature rise near his boat. It is often cited as the most recent well-known sighting.
- 2007The mount comes home Shunka Warak’in
Jack Kirby found the specimen in the Idaho Museum of Natural History in Pocatello, which lent it to the Madison Valley History Museum, where it went on display.
- May 16, 2018The Denton “mystery canine” Shunka Warak’in
A rancher shot an odd-looking canine with short legs, large ears and short teeth, and social media linked it to the Shunka Warak’in. DNA tests by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, announced in June 2018, showed it was a two- or three-year-old female gray wolf.
Latest from Idaho
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Videos
ARCHIVE.ORG3:07
Patterson–Gimlin film (unedited)
Roger Patterson and Bob GimlinThe original 1967 Bluff Creek footage – the most famous and most debated minute in Bigfoot history. Marked public domain on archive.org.
ARCHIVE.ORG4:59
The Film That Made Bigfoot A Star
Oregon Public BroadcastingOPB’s short documentary on how the Patterson–Gimlin film turned a regional legend into a global icon – and the hoax claims around it.
▶ VIDEO
Sts’ailes Sasquatch Days in Harrison Hot Springs
Tourism Harrison River ValleyShows the festival celebrating the Sts’ailes people’s Sásq’ets, the being behind the word “Sasquatch” (no archive.org equivalent).