Searching for Bessie Letterbox Hybrid

Searching for Bessie:A letterbox hybrid celebrating the legend of “Bessie”, the Lake Erie Monster.

In the shadowy depths of Lake Erie, a monster lies in wait.

Since the first sighting in 1817 the Lake Erie Monster, also affectionately known as “Bessie”, has been the source of legend, rumor & speculation. She is described as a 30-50 foot snakelike creature much like the Loch Ness Monster. There were a few reported sightings of Bessie in the 1930s and 1960s but since the 1980s the encounters increased. Nearly all the reports have come from Northeast Ohio.

Cryptozoologists investigating the legend have had several theories about Bessie. One explanation is that the sightings have been of Lake Sturgeon, a rather large fish endemic to Lake Erie. Lake Sturgeon can live to be 100 years old, can exceed 6 ft in length and 200 pounds. Overharvesting from the 1800s to the 1970s reduced the population significantly. Loss of habitat also contributed to their decline. They were listed as Threatened species in the 1980s but appear to be slowly increasing in the Great Lakes.

Is Bessie a surviving prehistoric monster, a giant Lake Sturgeon, or something else?

Although Bessie has never been reported in this area perhaps she is just waiting for a geocacher to catch a rare glimpse of her.

To locate the cache, follow our story:

Walter came home after adding a new service panel to a home near the shore of Lake Erie. The homeowner was an old sea captain, Gus, who had a strange story and an even stranger proposal. Cap’n Gus had heard rumors of a strange creature lurking in the depths of Lake Erie, a gigantic sea serpent with huge flippers. In the past few weeks, several fishing boats had gone out on the Lake and had never returned. Was the creature to blame?

“I’m sure it’ll be Bessie,” the captain growled to my husband. “Likely as not I’ll have to be the one to go and catch the beast. I ain’t as young as I used to be and I could use a healthy lad such as yerself ta" help me out”.

Walter was amused by proposal and laughed it off, although he was slightly intrigued by the story of the monster. When he told me of the offer I said that there might be something behind all the rumors and that it may be worth checking out. “At least you’ll have an exciting boat ride” I laughed. “Maybe he’ll take us out too”. He called Captain Gus and a date was arranged.

We headed out early one morning, the three of us, Walter, Elizabeth & me. I was nervous as I looked at the crimson sky and thought “red sky in morning, sailors take warning”. We arrived at the above coordinates and then proceeded to drive about .1 miles until we reached a fork. We turned left and headed northeast until we reached a road on the left with a sign for the Marshlands Museum & Nature Center and boat launch. We turned left on the road. The Museum was not our destination so we passed it by and continued up the road. We passed a boardwalk on our right and arrived at the vehicle parking lot for our destination. There were several boat trailers in the lot but only one boat readied to launch. It was an old, decrepit rowboat and my apprehension increased when I noted several bailing buckets in the bow.

“You can’t go out on that thing!!” I cried to Walter.

“That thing,” boomed a voice from behind me “has taken me from the northern seas to the southern tropics; from the mystic east to Land’s End”. I turned and saw a crusty geezer; he had graying whiskers covering a weathered face, a pipe clenched between his teeth and was sporting a sou’wester. This ‘Gorton’s fisherman’ was Cap’n Gus.

Against my better judgment I prepared to board the old tub with Elizabeth but Gus roared out “No women or kiddies on me boat!” Walter was already preparing to launch so I stood there worried and indignant.

“Come on, Elizabeth”, I mumbled. “We’ll go down the shore and we’ll find Bessie!”

We were facing the water at the launch and turned right toward a gravel trail. We walked southeasterly on the trail and soon passed a bike rack; we continued on the trail following the shoreline on our left. We walked along enjoying glimpses of the Lake, the chatter of birds and the beautiful marshlands to our right. We soon crossed over a bridge and continued on our way. Weary, we took a seat on a bench courtesy of the Michigan Duck Hunters Tournament. There was a hole in the brush line where we could view the lake. I was scanning the waters for the captain’s boat when suddenly Elizabeth cried, “Mommy, Mommy, Snake!” I looked down at the ground and saw nothing. Then out of the corner of my eye I saw a giant serpent emerge from the waters of Lake Erie. She was humongous! She turned our way and roared at us like a foghorn, but the sound was not ferocious, just friendly. As we stood there watching she gave us a little smile and slowly disappeared under the water.

“That must be Bessie”, I thought, “but there’s no way she would harm anyone.” We prepared to leave but then I knew that we should place a cache to commemorate this awesome event. We got up from the bench, turned right and continued down the trail for about 65 feet. I spotted a large fallen tree about 25 feet off the trail on the right hand side and placed our letterbox cache there.

Epilog: My husband & Cap’n Gus returned, disappointed that they had not found Bessie. The missing fishermen were found alive on their capsized boat—they had been drinking. Cap,’ Gus moved to Scotland to search for Nessie. Elizabeth & I never told of our encounter with Bessie—until now.

The cache is a lock-n-lock container with logbook and assorted swag. The cache also contains 2 rubber stamps and an inkpad. The stamps reflect 2 choices in the legend. One of the stamps depicts Bessie and the other is a Lake Sturgeon. You make the choice!

Lake Erie Metropark is open daily from 6am to 10pm. Trails are open daily Daylight to Dusk.