Lake Seljordsvatnet Monster
You’ve probably heard of Nessie the Lake Monster, maybe you’ve heard of Champ the Lake Monster…but what about the underwater cryptid said to stalk Norway’s Lake Seljordsvatnet? In tonight’s blog, you’ll meet Selma whose sightings have been reported for over 250 years.
One of the earliest reports dates back to 1750, when Selma was described as a “sea horse” (not to be confused with a seahorse). It was spotted by Gunleid Andesson-Verpe, who said he came into contact with his boat, which it attacked and eventually overturned. There have been dozens of reported sightings since. Over a century later, an even more detailed description of Selma was reported by Captain Hans Kolkkarstogo.
Captain Kolkkarstogo, along with several passengers, spotted it while taking his paddle-steamer across the lake. He reported, according to the Chambers Dictionary of the Unexplained: “It had the head and mane of a horse, and a fish-like tail, with a very elongate serpentine body.” I find this to be a bit of a departure from our typical lake monster descriptions. While many report that the bodies of the animals are serpent-like, very few claim these creatures resemble horses. In fact, a water monster with the mane of a horse sounds very haunting indeed.
However, reports over the last few hundred years give various descriptions, including: crocodile-like, deer-headed, black, having flippers, and ranging in length anywhere from 13 feet to 17 feet.
Although Selma seems to be largely harmless, if she comes into close contact with ships or people it appears she gets territorial or even violent. It also seems to appear more during the summer months and, after big storms, there are some reports of it silking off the shoreline.
Until the 1970s, Selma did not have a lot of international fame. However, that changed in the 1970s when the Global Underwater Search Team (GUST) headed by cryptozoologist Jan-Ove Sundberg. GUST’s equipment detected three unusually large submerged objects actively moving in parallel courses. Just two days after that sighting, one such object moved ot just 30 feet from the boat. In 2000, another investigation by GUST reported two animate objects swimming just above the bottom of the lake. GUST also claims to have dim, hard-to-see above-the-water footage of an animal swimming just above the surface towards the shore.
Because of the reports by GUST and others, many believe that there is some sort of animal species haunting the lake, but its origin (and status as a cryptid) remains to be discovered.
However, it should be noted that the size of Seljordsvatnet suggests that it would be hard pressed to support an animal (or animals) of the reported size of Selma.
The blog image is of the Seljord's lake, in Norway. It was taken by Yodaspirine and is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License.