Lake Murray Lake Monster Appears Again

In the above photo is a photo of Messie which is what the local people in and around Lake Murray South Carolina call the lake monster said to inhabit Lake Murray South Carolina.

Below Is A Video About Lake Murray South Carolina

Every now and then, Irmo has a sighting of some kind of water monster that inhabits Lake Murray. The monster [Messie] first 'surfaced' in 1933 when residents of Irmo and Ballentine (the famous Gilbert Little sighting) saw a cousin of the Loch Ness Monster.

Sightings have continued almost every year since then.It was described in The Independent News in 1980 as "a cross between a snake and something prehistoric." Many folks around Lake Murray claimed to have seen it and, to make matters worse, the Lake Murray Monster was said to be very aggressive.Buddy Browning, his wife Shirley and their friend Kord Brazell were enjoying themselves fishing on the lake back in one of the coves when the monster charged them.

They denied a South Carolina Wildlife Department claim that it could have been an alligator or a large fish, like a sturgeon. (Alligators are not native to the lake.)Buddy Browning: "We noticed something coming out of the water at us. It attacked our boat! It wasn't an illusion, it wasn't an eel or sturgeon. It was unlike anything I ever saw before, and I have been fishing Lake Murray for over 20 years. We never did ever figure out what it was. It was not an alligator. . No! I know a alligator when I see it!"It was very aggressive. It came towards the boat like it wanted us to leave.

Whenever we came up to near where it was nesting or doing whatever it was doing, it just came up to us. It could've been mating. It was basically on top of the water where you could see it quite well. And leave is exactly what we did."I'm not sure if it was a sturgeon, though. I've never seen it since. I did come back that day. Kord and I came on back over here to the house and got the shotgun. We was going to go back after it and claim it! But we never did see it again."Shirley Browning: "It tried to climb into the boat. Buddy beat it off with a paddle."

And an unidentified caller to radio station WNOK FM 104.7 in October 1996 reported: "I was fishing on Shell Island, off of a friends cove, and I saw a fin that was about two feet long come up. I thought it was a big bass, but I didn't know what it was, so I threw my line right out in front of it. It broke my rod in half and took it with it! All I had left was just the handle grip! That's all that was left. I didn't know what it was. . . all I know was it broke my rod in half! Just after that, I saw it roll, but that was it." Sightings of super-sized fish or unexplainable creatures continue today.

So much so, that in 1990, a file was opened by South Carolina's Fish Wildlife and Parks Department. Lake Murray Biologist Lance Harper was in charge of keeping track of incoming reports. "I've talked to ten or twelve people that have seen it. They were reputable, not on drugs or drinking," Harper said. During his 20-plus years working on Lake Murray, Harper said he never saw "the monster" but admits that he did find unexplainable large holes in nets he had set around the lake while studying habitat.

People Continue To See The Lake Murray Lake Monster

Above Is A Photo Taken In October 2013 Near The Dam On Lake Murray

Over the years people from all walks of life, military personnel, doctors, police, lawyers and regular folk have reported seeing something out there. The sightings appear to fall into two categories, large fish and serpent like creatures. In the large fish category, some believe it could be a sturgeon. According to Harper, the 41 mile long and 14 mile wide lake is large enough and deep enough, more than 380 feet, to sustain a super sized creature. "There's a lot of bio-mass in the lake as far as being able to maintain something," Harper said. But what exactly, is the lake home to? According to Fort Jackson U.S. Army General (retired) Marvin B. Corder, it's home to something far more sinister than a big fish. In a 1990 letter to the South Carolina Department of Fish, Wildlife & Parks, Corder said he and his son have seen something in the waters not once, but twice. "This serpent-like creature is 40-60 feet long with the head and body resembling a snake, with a tail of an eel."

Sightings similar to this have been reported in every decade since the original report in 1933.

While locals and experts disagree over whether the Lake Murray Monster is a serpent like creature or a supersized fish of some sort, Harper offers these words "There are people whose words I don't doubt. They've been startled by something. What it is, I don't know."

The Lake Murray Monster, "Messie", has been sighted recently. Maybe she'll just pop up in the right place. Maybe you'll be the next one to sight her.

Just what is the Lake Murray Lake Monster no one knows. But people do continue to see it and a few have snapped a photo of it. Maybe someday we will know what is in the lake.

Back in 1937 a 288 pound sturgeon was caught in Lake Murray. Could a giant sturgeon be the Lake Murray Lake Monster.

Lake Murray South Carolina RC Flight (Buffalo Creek Marina (Area)