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HISTORY
The Great Serpent of Lake Ontario
Every lake needs a monster
In Toronto where I live summers can be hot and sticky, and it’s a pet peeve for residents that local beaches are sometimes off-limits to swimmers due to high levels of pollution. But what if it’s not just water quality that keeps us from frolicking in the waves? What if the powers-that-be don’t want us to know that the waters of Lake Ontario harbour something far more sinister than e coli --say, a gigantic monster with razor-sharp teeth and a taste for human flesh?
We can’t prove that this is what’s happening [Ed. note: This is not what’s happening], but we do know that there’s been a long history of creature sightings in the waters off Ontario shores.
Centuries ago, Seneca legend told of a huge beast called Gaasyendietha that inhabited the depths of the lake. The description of the creature as “serpent-like” is consistent with later accounts, although it was more of a full-service dragon, with the ability to fly and shoot fire from its mouth.
When European settlers arrived, they started seeing things in the water, too.
On August 14, 1829, the Kingston Gazette and Religious Advocate reported that children playing on the beach at Grantham (near present-day St. Catharines) had spotted a “hideous water…
