This article was originally published in the defunct eSkeptic newsletter at Skeptic.com on June 13, 2007. An archived version is available here.

Opening Ben Radford and Joe Nickell’s newest book, Lake Monster Mysteries, I was already pretty sure I’d like it. I admire other work by these authors, and I adore the notion of antediluvian leviathans sliding undetected through the world’s lakes, ponds, and swimming holes. (My role at Skeptic is similar to Radford’s role at the Skeptical Inquirer: go-to cryptozoology guy.)

A tremendous number of lakes are reputedly haunted by a wild proliferation of monsters. “According to surveys and research I and other cryptozoologists have conducted,” notes Loren Coleman in his Foreword to this book, “more than a thousand lakes around the world harbor large, unknown animals unrecognized by conventional zoology.”

Lake Monster Mysteries is a solid survey of this topic, and every bit as good as I expected. All your superstar favorites are here, from Nessie to Ogopogo, plus a satisfying sample of lesser-known creatures such as Memphré, Cressie, and the Silver Lake monster. Each receives its own snappy little one-chapter treatment, written in an engagingly warm and straightforward style.

The emphasis is on North American monsters. Chapter two, for example, is devoted to “Champ,” a cryptid said to inhabit the waters of Lake Champlain (a 125-mile-long lake straddling New York State, Vermont, and Quebec). Lake Monster Mysteries immediately reveals its edge over the usual recounting of cryptozoological legends — fieldwork. Nickell and Radford carry us briskly along as their visit Lake Champlain in person, interview Champ witnesses themselves, meet with cryptozoologists, and conduct a rough sonar survey of the lake with a local fishing guide.

Most uniquely, the authors conduct experimental recreations of the famous “Mansi photograph” (which depicts a convincing monster with its neck arching out of the water and looking away from the camera). Radford bravely wades into the lake holding a three-foot scale marker at 50, 100, and then 150 feet increments from shore, while Nickell photographs him (using the same type of camera used for the original Mansi photograph). Then, in a second recreation testing the witness’ estimates of monster size and distance from shore, a model Champ neck extending six feet above the water is photographed at a distance of 150 feet. Together, these experiments sweep aside previous armchair theorizing about the size of the Mansi “creature,” revealing that the “neck” extends only three feet above the water.

Radford and Nickell also review the history of Champ sightings, showing that descriptions are all over the map, as we’d expect from witnesses interpreting a wide range of ordinary phenomena in terms of the Champ legend. Sources for mistaken sightings include the lake’s endangered sturgeon (which are commonly five or six feet long “but can grow to twice that size”), otters, boat wakes, and logs.

The other chapters proceed in much the same fashion, combining literature review, personal experiences on-site, and experimental results. For a casual monster fan, it’s a one-stop shop. For a died-in-the-wool crypto enthusiast, it is as concise and informative a review treatment as you’ll find, spiced with original research that makes it a must-have volume.

Of special interest to skeptics are chapters about two hoaxed lake monsters. In the 1855 Silver Lake monster case, a sighting by several witnesses triggered a regional monster craze. Just five years later, a claim appeared in a newspaper that a fake monster had been discovered in a local hotel during a fire. It was all a hoax to drum up business. (I’m reminded here of both Loch Ness and Scooby Doo.) However, this “hoax” claim itself may be bogus. Could this be a rare example of the sort of meta-hoax crypto fans so often allege? In another intriguing hoax case, that of a monster first sighted at New York’s Lake George in 1904, the hoax is a fact of history. (Photos of the original prop monster are included in the book.) Interestingly, both of these hoax stories predate the Loch Ness Monster by decades at least.

If the book has a flaw, it might be an excessive bounty of otters. In every chapter, otters are held up as an explanation for sightings — time and again, otters, otters, otters. If a witness says she saw a multi-humped serpent in the water, Lake Monster Mysteries is quick to suggest that she may have seen a group of otters following each other. I’m prepared to bet that to some readers this explanation will sound like that UFO cliché, “It must have been swamp gas.”

There’s more to it than that, however. In fact, otters are a good explanation for many lake monster reports. Indeed, many monster descriptions positively scream “otter” (or beaver, or muskrat). For example, the authors quote one 1976 sighting of “a seal with a long neck … it was black and well above the water” of Lake Memphremagog. Sounds like an otter to me.

Likewise, many monster photos and videos have proven to record one or another of these small semi-aquatic mammals. The authors note that one especially weak film of Ogopogo “was obviously a beaver swimming with its head raised — the tail slapping the water was a telltale sign.” Indeed, “many locals were embarrassed when the film was broadcast because it made them look like they didn’t know a beaver when they saw one.”

So, yes, otters are a highly probable explanation for many specific lake monster sightings, and a fine general hypothesis for many additional “unsolved” sightings. Readers may be forgiven for finding the book’s otter hypothesis repetitive, but this is inevitable: wherever people look at water, the same illusions, mistakes, and outright boners are liable to occur. Of these, misidentification of known animals is especially common.

There are vanishingly few true, critical investigators of the paranormal, in or out of the skeptical movement. “Although library and archival research is important (and we’ve both spent plenty of time in the book stacks),” write Nickell and Radford, “it is also important, when possible, to go to the lake, interview eyewitnesses, and conduct original fieldwork.” Throughout their careers, whether dealing with haunted houses, lake monsters, or ancient artifacts, Nickell and Radford have always stood out for their commitment to hands-on, solution-oriented, practical on-site investigation.

Lake Monster Mysteries is a fine book, but its authors are a treasure. When I think of everything we skeptics still have to do, I can only wish we had a hundred like them.