STATE FILE · VT
Cryptids of Vermont
What cryptids are in Vermont? The best-known are Champ, Memphré, Bigfoot and Pigman of Northfield, among 5 on file.
Vermont shares Champ with New York and Quebec. Lake Champlain – long, deep and cold, stretching 120 miles between the Green Mountains and the Adirondacks – has produced reports of a long-necked, humped creature since the 19th century. The most famous piece of evidence is Sandra Mansi’s 1977 photograph of a dark neck and head rising from the water, generally said to have been taken near St. Albans; critics suggest a log or a hoax, while others point to sturgeon, otters or swimming deer. Burlington’s summer baseball team, the Vermont Lake Monsters, has a green Champ mascot, and in the early 1980s the Vermont House passed a resolution to protect the creature.
Cryptids reported in Vermont
LAKE & SEA MONSTER · 1819
Champ
Lake Champlain, New York–Vermont border
A long-necked monster said to live in Lake Champlain, made famous by Sandra Mansi’s 1977 photo and protected by local and state resolutions in the 1980s.
REGIONAL LEGEND LAKE & SEA MONSTER · 1816Memphré
Lake Memphremagog, Magog (Quebec) to Newport (Vermont)
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.
REGIONAL LEGEND
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 HUMANOID · 1971Pigman of Northfield
Devil’s Washbowl and Paine Mountain, Northfield, Vermont
A white-haired, pig-snouted figure that frightened teens at a 1971 high-school dance in Northfield, Vermont, said to lurk in the Devil’s Washbowl.
LOCAL LEGEND HOMINID · Early 1800sBennington Monster
Glastenbury Mountain and the Bennington Triangle, southern Vermont
A huge, hairy creature said to have overturned a stagecoach on a mountain road near Bennington, Vermont, and still blamed for the woods’ eerie reputation.
LOCAL LEGENDThe legends of Vermont
In the Northeast Kingdom, Lake Memphremagog – which crosses into Quebec at Newport – is home to Memphré, a lake serpent that a Canadian society has catalogued for decades. In the southwest, Glastenbury Mountain and the surrounding woods near Bennington are the setting of the “Bennington Triangle,” a name author Joseph Citro gave to a series of unexplained disappearances between 1945 and 1950, and of older stories about a hairy “Bennington Monster.”
Bigfoot reports come from the Green Mountain National Forest and the remote Northeast Kingdom. Skeptics note that black bears and moose are common in both, and that winter tracks in snow can melt and spread into giant, humanlike shapes.
Hotspots
The great lake on the New York border, home of Champ.
Northern part of the lake associated with Sandra Mansi’s 1977 Champ photograph.
Border lake reaching into Quebec, home of Memphré.
Wild peak near Bennington at the center of the “Bennington Triangle” legends.
Mountain forest running down the spine of the state with Bigfoot reports.
Sightings timeline
- Before about 1850The overturned stagecoach Bennington Monster
According to legend, a stage driver stopped by a washout found giant tracks before a huge beast knocked the coach on its side and fled into the night, its eyes glowing.
- 1883Sheriff Mooney’s sighting Champ
Clinton County sheriff Nathan Mooney reported seeing a large serpent-like animal, and his account was followed by a rush of further eyewitness reports. P. T. Barnum offered rewards for the creature in 1873 and again in 1887.
- August 22, 1955Billy Connor’s night swim Memphré
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.
- 1971Panic at the high-school dance Pigman of Northfield
Boys drinking in a sandpit behind the school came back terrified, describing a white-haired, humanlike creature bounding toward them. Only cloven marks were found.
- Early 1970sThe Turkey Hill garbage raider Pigman of Northfield
A resident checking a noise at his trash cans reported a white, hairy figure with a pig-like snout standing up to face him.
- July 5, 1977The Mansi photograph Champ
Sandra Mansi took a single Instamatic photo of what appears to be a long neck and head beside a hump about 150 feet offshore. It was published in the New York Times in 1981; the negative was never found.
- 1980–1983Safe-haven resolutions Champ
Port Henry declared its waters off-limits to anyone seeking to harm the creature around 1980–81, the Vermont House passed a protective resolution in 1982, and New York legislators adopted a similar measure in 1983.
- August 12, 1983Barbara Malloy’s sighting Memphré
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.
- Early 2000sA hairy biped on Route 7 Bennington Monster
Reports of a large hairy creature near Glastenbury Mountain were covered by the Bennington Banner and local TV, as Joseph Citro noted in a 2004 Vermont Public Radio commentary.
- 2005The fishermen’s video Champ
Two fishermen filmed something moving just below the surface. Reviewers disagreed sharply on what it showed, and one of two retired FBI image analysts who studied it said he could not see an animal.
- 2009<em>The Vermont Monster Guide</em> Pigman of Northfield
Joseph Citro and Stephen Bissette’s illustrated guide listed the Pigman as active from 1971 to the present, introducing it to a wide audience.
- May 31, 2009The Oakledge Park cellphone clip Champ
Eric Olsen filmed a long, low object moving through the water at about 5:30 a.m. and posted it online, where it drew tens of thousands of views in days.
Latest from Vermont
No recent cryptid headlines from Vermont. See all the latest cryptid news.
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).
ARCHIVE.ORG16:46
Cryptid Review Show Episode 1 – Champ
UVMtvA light student-TV overview of the Champ legend made in Burlington, on the lake’s shore.
ARCHIVE.ORG2:00
Champ Video Discussion
VCAMBurlington community-media participants discuss the 2009 Champ cellphone video.
ARCHIVE.ORG34:52
Life is Good – In Search of Memphre 2024
Northeast Kingdom Television (NEK-TV), VermontCommunity television from Newport, Vermont, on the 2024 search for Memphré and the lake’s local lore.