‘Tianchi Monster’ Caught on Film
A television reporter claims to have filmed a 20-minute video of China’s answer to the Loch Ness monster. The “Tianchi Monster,” as it is known, might be as many as 20 massive reptiles thought to have human-like heads, 4-foot necks, wings and seal-like bodies living in China’s Tianchi Lake, near the North Korean border. Zhong Yongsheng, a local news reporter, told Xinhua that he went to the south side of the mountain over Tianchi Lake last Thursday to shoot the sunrise. At around 5:30am, one of Zhong’s guides pointed out a large figure surfacing from the center of the lake. According to a Xinhua story Monday:
Zhuo said he witnessed the six seal-like, finned creatures swimming and frolicking in the lake for an hour and a half, before they ducked out of sight at 7:00 AM. “They could swim as fast as yachts and at times they would disappear under the water. It was impressive to see them all swimming at exactly the same pace, as if someone was giving orders,” he said. “Their fins - or maybe wings were longer than their bodies.” Zhuo said he previously did not believe in legends about lake monsters. “But I believed what I saw with my own eyes.”
Zhuo sent his photographs and video to his local Xinhua office. The first sighting of the Tianchi Monster came in 1903, when a local claimed he saw a “buffalo-like” creature emerge from Lake Tianchi. According to the report, the monster attacked 3 people, was shot 6 times and then retreated to the water. In 1962, a scientist used a telescope to observe the creature swimming. Over a hundred witnesses verified this sighting. Modern scientists have dismissed the reports of a creature or many creatures living in Lake Tianchi, claiming that the water is too cold to sustain an animal of the Tianchi Monster’s purported size and speed. Xinhua has not yet released the new footage.
•Xinhua: ‘Tianchi Monster’ Caught on Film