Lake Ontario, one of the 5 Great Lakes, straddles Ontario, Canada and New York State. Of the Great Lakes, Ontario is the smallest but holds more volume than Lake Erie. The lake empties into the St. Lawrence which, in turn, empties into the Atlantic Ocean. The shoreline of Lake Ontario is 712 miles and the lake is the 14th largest in the world. The average depth of Lake Ontario is 280 feet and it has a maximum depth of 800 feet. Due to the depth of the lake it seldom freezes in the winter. In fact, it has only frozen over twice in recorded history.

There are some lovely beaches dotted around the lake on both sides of the border. Given the state of winters in that part of the country, beach areas are very popular. Also popular are water sports of various natures. Everyday, boats of all description can be seen crisscrossing the lake during the warm summer months. Swimming is another popular past time all around the lake. The problem with swimming is that the lake is polluted; there is sewage being poured into the lake and any number of chemicals can be found in the lake. Fish, although fun to catch for some, probably should not be eaten when caught in the lake.

Creatures have been recorded in the lake for at least the last couple of hundred years, although it's certainly possible that natives may have seen and passed oral accounts of the Lake Ontario Monster. Each time it is seen it is described as snake-like and is about a foot in diameter. It is said to have a length of between 16 and 60 feet. Some of these reports have to be questioned because they have been made by children and adults have a difficult enough time asserting their credibility when they witness something. Even if we throw out the reports from the children, we are left with information that is very consistent and from sources seemingly above reproach.

To my knowledge, there haven't been any recent sightings but apparently at one point in the 1970's someone from the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources saw a large creature dive into the water. This is the kind of report that seems like it could be believable because this person would, presumably, know by sight the critters of that lake. There are many reports from ships' captains seeing the monster and these should be given some weight as well because their opinions and thoughts recorded in their logs can be used in a court of law. So why should we accept only some of their reports but not all?

As with all Lake and Ocean monsters, the community at large will not accept any of these reports as genuine until a body is either caught or washes up on the shore. Given the nature of the descriptions one can make all sorts of guesses as to what the Lake Ontario Monster might be. Just as researchers, for decades, have been trying to determine what the Loch Ness Monster in Scotland might be, the same and new researchers have been throwing out ideas as to what this monster is.

The plesiosaur idea seems to have fallen out of favor with a lot of researchers as to the identity of these lake monsters. Lately, the researchers and others have begun regurgitating the same idea over and over again. The flavor of the month as a good candidate seems to be the Zeuglodon. The Zeuglodon is a kind of early whale with a serpentine body. Could this whale have survived the ice age and extinction? Mainstream science claims the Zeuglodon has been extinct for 37 million years but they have been wrong in these ideas before.

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