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Nahuel Huapi Lake is located at the foot of the Patagonian Mountains in the Nahuel Huapi National Park between the provinces of Rio Negro and Neuquen in Argentina. The lake has a surface area of roughly 342 miles, is situated 2100 feet above sea level and has a maximum depth of about 1350 feet. On the shores of Nahuel Huapi exists one of South Americas most popular resorts, the Bariloche, which plays host to well over 100,000 tourists every year. Over the years many of these tourists have reported sightings of an unknown creature known to the locals as Nahuelito, which is thought to have dwelled in the lake for centuries.

Descriptions of Nahuelito, also sometimes referred to as the Patagonian Plesiosaur, tend to vary from sighting to sighting. Some have described Nahuelito as a giant water snake with humps and fish like fins others have described it to have more of a large, swan like appearance with a serpents head Then there is the always popular plesiosaur like description, to which the creature gets its nickname, that seems all to common in so called lake monster sightings. Estimates of the creature’s length range from 15 to an astounding 150 feet, and the surfacing of the creature is said to be preceded by a sudden swell of water and a shooting spray.

Though living in relative obscurity, shadowed by more famous names like the Loch Ness Monster, Ogopogo and Champ, Nahuelito has become some what of a media star in Argentina. The first films of the creature, showing little more than lines and ripples in the water, have been broadcasted many times on local television shows, however they provide little information as to the creatures appearance. Patagonia, with its mountainous and desolate regions, has been the home to many tales of monstrous creatures, and the notion of a Patagonia lake monster it not a new one.

The earliest known encounters with Nahuelito can be traced back to the Nahuel Huapi Lake’s native population, who for centuries told of gigantic creature living in the lake; these original native accounts vary from modern sightings as they describe the creature as being without head, legs or tail. One of the first modern sightings of Nahuelito can be traced back to 1897 when a Patagonian farmer reported witnessing a long necked creature swimming in the water. He also reported that on more than one occasion he had heard heavy dragging sounds coming from the stone covered lake shore during the night.

One of the most detailed encounters with Nahuelito was chronicled in the Toronto Globe on April 6, 1922, 11 years after the sighting originally occurred in 1910. The article retells the details of an encounter between the creature and a man named George Garrett, who at the time was managing a company based near Nahuel Huapi Lake. The states that Garrett and some other mean were making their way windward, up a 5 mile long inlet called Pass Coytrue, roughly a mile in width and having an unfathomable depth. Just as the men neared the rocky shore of the peninsula which created the inlet, Garret look astern, towards the centre of the inlet, to his surprise about a quarter of a mile to leeward he saw an object which appeared to be 15 to 20 feet in diameter and that came roughly 6 feet out of the water, after a few minutes the object submerged into the lake.

Also in 1922, Dr. Clementi Onelli, Director of the Buenos Aries Zoo, received a report of huge tracks and trampled bushes leading to an unnamed lake shore. The well regarded informant, an American gold prospector named Martin Sheffield, sent the report after witnessing an animal with a huge neck like a swan, the creature’s movement gave Sheffield the impression that the beast had a body like that of a crocodile.

Armed with Sheffield’s report and others he had collected since 1897, Dr. Clementi Onelli became determined to mount an expedition in search of the creature. It wasn’t long before a zoo sponsored expedition in search of Nahuelito was organized. The expedition, Led by Jose Cihagi, superintendent of the zoo, ran into opposition from the start as the President of the Society for the Protection of Animals, Dr. Albarrin, petitioned the Minister of the Interior to refuse permits for the expedition on the grounds that the creature in question came under law which prohibited the hunting of rare animals. Albarrin sited that the expedition was armed with both elephant rifles and dynamite, which clearly indicated that their plans did not fall under the spectrum of mere scientific observation.

While the expedition permits were not refused, there was some question as to whether the permits had been granted or not. Crossed signals caused the expedition, now far into the Patagonian lake region, to stop until the permit question was settled, this confusion and the press criticism surrounding it seriously damaged the image of the expedition which, in the end, failed to turn up any evidence of the creature. Due to the expedition’s lack of success, Leonard Matters, writing in the July 22, 1922 issue of Scientific America, remarked that the plesiosaur, if it ever existed, appears to have fled to parts unknown.

In 1994, two young women, Paula Jacarbe and Jessica Campbell, reported that while sunbathing on the shores of Nahuel Huapi Lake, in an area known as the Peninsula de San Pedro, witnessed what they described as a headless whale with a humped back and small fins along its side frolicking in the water. The women immediately began shouting to the other people on the beach, trying to find someone with a camera, but to avail. Both women claimed that the most striking aspect of the creature was the sound it made while breathing.

Shortly after the creature submerged back into the lake, Campbell sat down on a rocky outcropping overlooking the lake in order to collect her thoughts and calm her nerves. Approximately 45 minutes after the initial sighting the creature resurfaced and began surging through the water directly toward the outcropping of rocks Campbell was sitting upon. Fearing for her life the young girl quickly jumped to her feet and ran away.

On April 15, 2006 a man entered the newsroom of El Cordillerano Edicion and handed the receptionist an envelope with three photos and a note which, when translated by cryptozoologist Scott Corrales, who has since copyrighted the translation, reads: This is not a tree trunk with a capricious shape. This is not a wave. Nahuelito showed his face. Lake Nahuel Huapi, Saturday, April 15, 9 a.m. I’m not giving my personal information to avoid future headaches. We are presenting the images. Let each one reach his her own conclusions.

The pictures appeared to show a serpent like creature swimming through the water, however skeptics and even some believers quickly ripped into them pointing out several flaws which made the pictures seem suspect. Things that have been pointed out to discredit these photos, which can be found in our gallery, include the apparently static positions of the creatures head, neck and mouth and the lack of any discernable wake. Also, if you look closely at the water it would appear that you can see the lake bottom suggesting that the creature itself is very small and possibly a model or toy.

Though presumed hoaxes these pictures did spark more mainstream interest in Nahuelito, and as more people began to wonder just what the creature was, more theories as to its identity began to surface. As is the case with most like monsters, the most popular theory circles around the prehistoric, long necked reptile known as a plesiosaur, a creature whose smiling face adorns many of the area’s tourist posters. A second theory involving a long extinct prehistoric animal suggests that the creatures living in Nahuel Huapi Lake are descendents of an ancient snake like whale known as the Zeulodon, supporters of this theory often use the reported spray of water associated with the surfacing of Nahuelito as backing.

Another less popular theory making its rounds in Argentina is the local belief that an unknown submarine is prowling the lake’s depths. Patagonia is no stranger to mystery submarines, in February, 1960 the Argentine navy chased an unidentified undersea object for roughly 18 days, never locating the strange object. These happenings where not lost on the press and on February 22, 1960 Newsweek featured an article on the sub entitled The Wily Whatzit? To this day the object remains unidentified.

A less popular theory augments the growing body of strange lore surrounding nuclear power. Some Argentineans have wondered if Nahuelito could be the result of nuclear experimentations done by German scientists during the Peron regime in the 1950’s, though sightings of the creature began long before this date.

Regardless of which theory you may subscribe to, if any at all, Nahuelito seems to have a little something to entertain any aspect of lake monster study.

The Evidence
Despite some photographic evidence there is currently no physical evidence to support the existence of a creature like Nahuelito in Nahuel Huapi Lake.

The Sightings
In 1897, a Patagonian farmer reported witnessing a long necked creature swimming in the water.

In 1922, Martin Sheffield witnessed an animal with a huge neck like a swan, the creature’s movement gave him the impression that the beast had a body like that of a crocodile.

In 1994, two young women, Paula Jacarbe and Jessica Campbell, reported that while sunbathing on the shores of Nahuel Huapi Lake, in an area known as the Peninsula de San Pedro, they witnessed what they described as a headless whale with a humped back and small fins along its side frolicking in the water.

On April 15, 2006 a man entered the newsroom of El Cordillerano Edicion and handed the receptionist an envelope with three photos and a note which, when translated by cryptozoologist Scott Corrales, who has since copyrighted the translation, reads: This is not a tree trunk with a capricious shape. This is not a wave. Nahuelito showed his face. Lake Nahuel Huapi, Saturday, April 15, 9 a.m. I’m not giving my personal information to avoid future headaches. We are presenting the images. Let each one reach his her own conclusions.

The Stats – (Where applicable)

• Classification: Lake Monster
• Size: Ranges from 15 to 150 feet in length
• Weight: Unknown
• Diet: Unknown
• Location: Nahuel Huapi Lake, Argentina, South America
• Movement: Swimming
• Environment: Lake