Cryptid Series #2: Champ Traditional Cache
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This is the second in the cryptid series. This series highights mysterious animals that suposedly live all over the world. This cache is dedicated to Champ, the legendary monnster of Lake Champlain.You are looking for a small lock and lock container with kid frinedly swag. But bring your own pen! Please rehide it well so it doesn't get muggled!
Lake Champlain is a 125-mile (201 km)-long body of fresh water that is shared by New York and Vermont and just a few miles into Quebec, Canada.
Two Native American tribes living in the area near Lake Champlain, the Iroquois and the Abenaki, had legends about such a creature. The Abenaki called the creature "Tatoskok".
An account of a creature in Lake Champlain was ostensibly given in 1609 by French explorer Samuel de Champlain, the founder of Québec and the lake's namesake, who is supposed to have spotted the creature as he was fighting the Iroquois on the bank of the lake. However, in actuality no such sighting was recorded, and it has since been traced back to a 1970 article. A report in the Plattsburgh Republican dated July 24, 1819, titled "Cape Ann Serpent on Lake Champlain", gives the account of a "Capt. Crum" sighting an enormous serpentine monster.
The first reported sighting actually came in 1883 when Sheriff Nathan H. Mooney claimed that he had seen a “…gigantic water serpent about 50 yards away” from where he was on the shore. He claimed that he was so close that he could see “round white spots inside its mouth” and that “the creature appeared to be about 25 to 30 feet in length”. Mooney’s sighting led to many eyewitnesses coming forward with their own accounts of Champ sightings. Mooney’s story predated the public Loch Ness controversy by 50 years.
Champ became so popular that P. T. Barnum, in the late 19th century, put a reward of $50,000 up for a carcass of Champ. Barnum wanted the carcass of Champ so that he could include it in his epic World’s Fair Show
Some believe that Champ may be a similar to “Nessie”, claiming the two lakes have much in common. Like Loch Ness, Lake Champlain is over 400 feet (120 m) deep, and both lakes were formed from retreating glaciers. Believers also claim both lakes support fish populations large enough to feed a supposed sea or lake monster. This legend would require either a single animal, or a sizable breeding population.
The Champ legend has become a revenue-generating attraction. For example, the village of Port Henry, New York, has erected a giant model of Champ and holds "Champ Day" on the first Saturday of every August. As the mascot of Vermont's lone Minor League Baseball affiliate, the Vermont Lake Monsters, Champ became more prominent after the team was renamed from the Vermont Expos to the Vermont Lake Monsters. Champ has been the primary attraction of the New York - Penn League affiliate since their inception. Several nearby establishments, including a car wash, use "Champ" as a logo.
Additional Hints
(Decrypt)
Urnq sbe gur urneg bs gur znggre.
Treasures
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