Lake Van Monster

Lake Van Monster
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Background
Type	Lake Monster
First Sighting	1889
Last Sighting	2015
Country	Turkey
Habitat	Lake Van
Possible Population	Unknown

The Lake Van Monster is a cryptid seen in Lake Van, south of Mount Ararat, in eastern Turkey. Some of the best known documented sightings of the creature appeared between 1995 and 1997 but the first sighting is documented in 1889 at Lake Van, the largest lake in Turkey. Its Turkish name is Van Gölü Canavarı.

The Lake Van Monster has allegedly been sighted by over a thousand eyewitnesses. The monster is said to resemble ancient marine reptiles such as a plesiosaur, which also shares characteristics with the famous Loch Ness Monster. Sightings have been reported internationally since November 2, 1995 in a Daily Telegraph article, but some research suggests that the creature had been seen prior to that time. A supposed short video of the Lake Van Monster was filmed in 1997 by 26 year old Van University teaching assistant Unal Kozak. This controversial video has baffled researchers as to the identification of the creature in the film. Some claim to have seen a beak; others seem positive it is nothing more than a swimming elephant (even though there are no elephants living near the lake), whereas skeptics refuse to see anything other than a pile of garbage bags being dragged through the deep waters of the lake. In late 1997 the film was aired on CNN and since then it has become the center of a firestorm of cryptozoological controversy. The Turkish scientific community is at a loss to explain the identity and origin of the animal and Orhan Erman, biology professor at Ataturk University in Erzurum, claims that there is nothing that even remotely resembles the Van Lake Monster capable of living in the lake, stating "It is simply not possible for a creature of the size claimed by witnesses to live in a closed lake like Van." Also Lake Van is a soda lake so nothing can live there.

Possible explanations for the sightings are ancient creatures such as a plesiosaur or a mosasaur, and even a squid as some suggest, none of these has ever been confirmed.

Habitat[]

Lake Van is the largest lake in Turkey with a surface area of 3,775 km². It is a saline soda lake, receiving water from numerous small streams that descend from the surrounding mountains. Lake Van is one of the world's largest endorheic lakes. Lake Van is 119 kilometers across at its widest point, averaging a depth of 171 meters with a maximum recorded depth of 451 meters. The lake water is strongly alkaline and rich in sodium carbonate and other salts.

The only fish known to live in the brackish water of Lake Van is Chalcalburnus tarichi, the Pearl Mullet, a Cyprinid fish related to chub and dace. 103 species of phytoplankton and 36 species of zooplankton have been recorded in the lake. Also an endemic Enchytraeus variety worm discovered in 2012.

History[]

Van-golu-canavari-422x600 — An illustration of the scene

In 2010 a 121 year old newspaper article was found about a big creature sighting in Lake Van. The article was published in a newspaper named Saadet News in the Ottoman period, year 1889. The article tells about a sighting report of 3 men traveling from Tatvan to Ahlat. One of the travelers says that they were camping near the lake and they wanted to wash their hands with the water of the lake. While they were washing, a big creature appeared in the water quickly and attacked them. It captured one of the three by his leg and tried to pull him into the lake. The other two tried to save their friend but their strength wasn't enough to rescue him because the creature was too strong. So they picked up some burning wood from their campfire and attacked the creature. When the fire touched the creature, it screamed in extreme pain and fled to the depths of the lake and took the man with it. The man who was captured was never to be found.

114020101006054424187-429x600 — Saadet News April 29 1889

In 1890, the newspaper again mentioned the Lake Van Monster. According to this report, the monster was a cream-colored, winged, dragon-like creature.

LVM — The Manitowoc pilot. January 23, 1890

These are among the oldest sighting reports of the Lake Van Monster that are documented but there are some thoughts about earlier references. On Akdamar Island, which is the biggest island in Lake Van, there is an Armenian church named Akdamar Church made in AD 915. The church's outer walls are covered with stone carving pictures. In one picture a sea monster-like creature can clearly be seen underneath a ship. The majority think this picture is a reference to the Lake Van Monster. If this picture is really a reference to the Lake Van Monster, that means it has been known for more than a thousand years.

A351561150b66ed2c407a8b882333010 — Wall carvings from Akdamar Church, illustration of a sea monster-like creature.

Possible explanation[]

This species is likely a member of what I call the "lake lizard family," a related family of reptiles that are large, semi or fully aquatic, and found in freshwater lakes and rivers, with each species usually endemic to one particularly large body of fresh water.

In Popular Media[]

The Lake Van Monster dominated the whole Turkish media and news in the years 1995-1997 because of sighting reports and rumors around the country. Even the Prime Minister Bülent Ecevit wrote a poem titled Van Gölü Canavarı which means Lake Van Monster.
An Australian TV show named Animal X featured the Lake Van Monster in Season 1, Episode 3.
Josh Gates and his team search for the Lake Van monster on Destination Truth. Season 3, episode 305, Alien Mummies/Van Lake Monster.
The Lake Van Monster appears in an episode of The Secret Saturdays, The Unblinking Eye, as a mosasaurus-like creature.
The Lake Van Monster is a semi-aquatic apex predator in the ARK: Survival Evolved mod Paranoia.