Idaho

1Sharlie of Payette Lake On the record

Water monster · Payette Lake, McCall, Valley County · first reported 1920 (log that moved); 1944 (first full report) · also called Slimy Slim

Payette Lake in the mountain town of McCall has a well-loved serpent. Around 1920 a railroad logging crew said a 'log' near the upper lake began to move on its own. The big year was 1944: on July 2, six people at Lakeview Camp described an undulating creature, and by late August about thirty people had reported it. TIME magazine and Stars and Stripes picked up the story. Witnesses described something 35 to 40 feet long, dark and shiny, with humps like a camel, a head held up like a periscope, and a dinosaur-like face. First nicknamed Slimy Slim, it was renamed Sharlie in a 1954 contest. The last reported sighting listed by Idaho Fish and Game was in 1996. No photo or film exists.

• Jul 2, 1944On the record Six people at Lakeview Camp reported a long, undulating animal in the lake; dozens more reports followed that summer and TIME covered it on Aug 21, 1944. Source: idfg.idaho.gov
• 1946On the record A group of about twenty people reported the creature; Dr. G.A. Taylor of Nampa judged it about forty feet long. Source: visitmccall.org
• 1954On the record LeIsle Hennefer Tury of Springfield, Virginia won a national naming contest run by Star-News editor A. Boone McCallum with 'Sharlie,' borrowed from a Jack Pearl radio catchphrase. Source: visitmccall.org
• 1996On the record Kate Wolf, on a pontoon boat, reported humps with peaks like a dinosaur's back. Source: idfg.idaho.gov

Visiting: The town of McCall on Payette Lake.

2Pend Oreille Paddler On the record

Water monster · Lake Pend Oreille, Bonner and Kootenai counties · first reported 1940s · also called Paddler

Lake Pend Oreille in the Idaho Panhandle has its own monster, the Paddler. Reports go back to the 1940s, including a 1944 report from the Farragut area, and mostly come from the south end of the lake. Descriptions vary: a gray-silver serpent-like back moving in waves, six to eight humps, a fin, anywhere from 15 to 40 feet long. In the 1980s three adults, two of them teachers, reported a sighting said to have been backed up by sonar. North Idaho College English teacher James McLeod collected accounts. The leading explanation is a large sturgeon; others suggest logs or Navy activity.

• 1980sInvestigated report Three adults including two teachers reported a long gray serpentine animal; McLeod said their separate accounts matched and that sonar confirmed something large. Source: sandpointonline.com

3Fish-Woman of Lake Coeur d'Alene Told story

Water monster · Lake Coeur d'Alene, Kootenai County · first reported traditional; 1997 in print · also called water mysteries

Lake Coeur d'Alene carries stories of what Native people called 'water mysteries.' Ethnographer James Teit recorded Coeur d'Alene beliefs in lake and river powers tied to specific places, some half-human and half-fish, which could be omens or dangers. A modern retelling, published in Dennis William Hauck's guidebook Haunted Places and covered by the Spokesman-Review in 1997, places a fish-woman figure and strange noises near a large pointed rock on the lake. The same account says a sudden wind sometimes churns the water and a huge horned creature lifts boats. The Indigenous tradition and the modern ghost-book version should be kept distinct; this entry stays with what is public.

• 1997Told story The Spokesman-Review retold the legend of noises and a fish-woman near a pointed rock, plus a horned creature that lifts boats, drawing on Hauck's Haunted Places. Source: spokesman.com

4Snake River Monster of Olds Ferry Told story

Water monster · Olds Ferry, Snake River near Weiser, Washington County · first reported Aug 22, 1868

Idaho Lore, a 1939 Federal Writers' Project book edited by Vardis Fisher, preserves one of the West's oddest river-monster stories. On August 22, 1868, an old traveler near Olds Ferry on the Snake River is said to have seen a huge creature climb out of the water. He described a horned head, long whiskers, sharp teeth, fins, scales, spines and many short legs. It crawled onto the bank, he fired twice, and it sprayed something poisonous. He fetched six men, a wagon and a cover to haul the body away, but when they returned they found only trampled plants and a trail leading back into the river. It reads like a frontier tall tale and is best enjoyed as one.

• Aug 22, 1868Told story An elderly traveler shot at a many-legged, horned river creature that sprayed poison; when he came back with help, it was gone into the river. Source: folkbestiary.com

5Seven Devils Giants Told story

Humanoid · Seven Devils Mountains above Hells Canyon, Idaho County · first reported traditional

The jagged Seven Devils peaks above Hells Canyon carry a Nez Perce (Nimiipuu) story. Seven giants came east from Oregon's Blue Mountains each year and preyed on children. The people asked Coyote for help. With Fox, Coyote had clawed animals dig seven pits and fill them with boiling liquid. The giants fell in, and Coyote turned them into mountains, then struck the earth to open Hells Canyon as a barrier against their kin. Reddish liquid splashed in the struggle is said to explain the copper in these mountains. It is a landscape story from a living tradition rather than a cryptid report.

6Water Babies of the Snake River Told story

Water monster · Snake River at Massacre Rocks, near American Falls, Power County · first reported traditional · also called water babies

Shoshone and Bannock people, like other Great Basin nations, tell of water babies: powerful beings in rivers and springs whose cries sound like a human infant and can lure people toward the water. In modern local lore they are placed in the Snake River beside Massacre Rocks, a spot on the Oregon Trail. Visitors sometimes say they hear baby-like crying near the river. The tradition belongs to the tribes; what is shared publicly works as a warning to respect dangerous water.

Visiting: Massacre Rocks State Park.

7Bear Lake Monster On the record

Water monster · Bear Lake, Bear Lake County (Idaho-Utah line), Fish Haven · first reported 1868

Charles C. Rich reported sightings of the Bear Lake serpents, including a group seen near Fish Haven on the Idaho side, in the Deseret News on Aug 5, 1868. See the main Bear Lake Monster dossier.

Full story: Bear Lake Monster →