LINDSAY SELBY: Texas Lake monster?

Lindsay Selby sent us this by e-mail. As soon as I read it I thought that this is something we can investigate. We do, after all, have our specialist crypto SWAT team in Texas, although they are actually at Loch Ness at the moment; so I have emailed the details on to Naomi, and await developments with interest....

I came across a web page dedicated to a lake serpent in Lake Granbury in Texas.

http://www.geocities.com/legendary_spider_man/GRANBURY.HTM

Lake Granbury was created in 1969 and is only one of three lakes damming the Brazos river. It is a narrow lake, encompassed by 103 miles (221 km) of shore-line. The web page author states : "Sadly there is a strange side to this pleasant community. Slowly more people have come to realize this fact as local newspapers and Japanese television started to feature reports about a prehistoric water serpent living in Lake Granbury." The report continues: "Early Spanish traders use to whisper stories about a giant serpent, which roamed the depths of Lake Granbury." (However, as the lake is only a recent creation because of a dam they perhaps mean the river) and then : "At 180 kilometers in length and with depths of almost 1,200 feet, it is not unreasonable to believe that something large and very unusual may live in these waters."

Well, there are stories of giant fish from other man-made lakes. This creature goes by the name of “Old One Eye”. I have been unable to discover anymore about it but this one site. It is described alternately as a dinosaur or as a huge serpent and supposedly Old One-Eye has terrorised fishermen for decades. Strange, then, that I could find so little about it.

Texas has other sightings and stories of sea and lake monsters. One of the earliest recorded sightings comes from the Caddo Indians of east Texas. According to Caddo mythology, a boy sighted a water monster in the river and ran upriver for two miles before he got to its head. Also from Caddo mythology is the story of a monster in Caddo Lake that would attack anyone making loud noises on the water.

Then in 1872 the captain and crew of the Norwegian ship St. Olaf witnessed something strange off the Galveston coast. Below is the actual sworn statement from the captain:

"Report of Captain A. Hassel, of barque St. Olaf, from Newport to Galveston, Texas. Two days before arrival at Galveston, and about 4:30 P.M. on May 13, weather calm, smooth sea, lat.26 52", long. 91 20", I saw a shoal of sharks passing the ship. Five or six came under the vessel's stern, but before we could get out a line they went off with the rest. About two minutes after, one of the men sang out that he saw something on the weather bow, like a cask on its end. Presently another one called out that he saw something rising out of the water like a tall man. On a nearer approach we saw it was an immense serpent, with its head out of the water, about 200 ft. from the vessel. He lay still on the surface of the water, lifting his head up, and moving the body in a serpentine manner. Could not see all of it; but what we could see, from the after part of the head, was about 70 ft. long and of the same thickness all the way, excepting about the head and neck, which were smaller, and the former flat, like the head of a serpent. It had four fins on its back, and the body of a yellow greenish colour, with brown spots all over the upper part and underneath white. The whole crew were looking at it for fully ten minutes before it moved away. It was about six feet in diameter. One of the mates has drawn a slight sketch of the serpent, which will give some notion of its appearance. -- A. Hassel, master of Norwegian barque St. Olaf. --Witness to signature, J. Fredk. Walthew."

From: The Great Sea Serpent: An Historical and Critical Treatise. A.C. Oudemans 1892. (pages 64-65).

Does anyone out in the CFZ world know anything about this "Old One Eye" or is it just an urban myth? I had to include the sea serpent sighting; I love these historical accounts.