Storsjöodjuret
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Storsjöodjuret (pron. /ˈstuːˌʂøːuˈjʉːrɛt/) is a lake monster (odjur is a Swedish word for "monster") said to live in the 300-foot deep Lake Storsjön in the northwestern province of Jämtland, Sweden.
The first description of a sea creature in Storsjön was made in a folk-lore tale by a vicar in 1635. A common interest was not sparked until the 1890s however. After several reports, an enterprise of locals was founded to catch the monster, even drawing the support from king Oscar II. Since then hundreds of monster sightings have been made. No scientific results have been made, but the supporters have never lost faith.
It is described as a serpentine or at least reptilian creature with a dog's head, and it is said to be about 6 meters long. Some say it has humps. Some people describe the creature as a snakelike animal with a dog's head and fins on its neck.
The ruthless attempts to capture the animal had upset many people, and in 1986 the Jemtia county administrative board declared the still unverified animal (having become something of a tourist attraction) to be an endangered species and granted it protected status. However, it was removed from the list in November 2005. [1]
Several other Swedish lakes are also rumoured to have lake monsters: List of Swedish lake-monsters. One of the lake cryptids that looks like Storsjöodjuret is the Ogopogo of Lake Okanagan.
[edit] External links
- Official page of Storsjöodjuret In Swedish, English, German
- GUST Global Underwater Search Team In Swedish and English
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