Ponik

 

Ponik is an aquatic reptile that allegedly lives in Lake Pohenagamook, in eastern Quebec, near the border with Maine. It’s a very active Active cryptid with over 1000 sightings since the 1800’s. Although its activity comes in waves, with some decades having many more sightings than others. The 50s where the peak of Ponik sightings.

The monster’s appearance varies quite a bit from different reports. The most consistent thing is that it has two or three humps on its back and a saw tooth ridge down its back. It’s said to be anywhere from 35 to 60 feet long.

Some people have reported that Ponik is a giant fish, the saw tooth ridge on its back being the diamond shaped scales of a sturgeon. However sturgeons don’t live in Lake Pohenagamook, and even if they did this would be a record breaking size for a sturgeon.

Other people report a serpentine shaped monster, while others still a more reptilian body with either four legs or four flippers. Those who’ve seen its head describe it as horse like, atop a long neck as thick around as a barrel. Which is a fairly common description for lake monsters. Some people have described Ponik having a back fin instead of humps.

Ponik also occasionally comes onto land. This happens often enough that people theorized Ponik has legs instead of flippers. Not many people know this, but coming onto land is actually fairly common for lake monster sightings, even the Loch Ness monster has been seen doing this.

The typical theories have been put forward as to what Ponik really is. Skeptics have said it’s either a floating log, a moose swimming across the lake, or over exaggerated stories of a large but still reasonable sized fish. Cryptozoologists has suggested it’s a plesiosaurus, or a nothosaurus considering Ponik is believed to have legs. Considering Ponik’s size, and ambiguous hump or fin I think spinosaurus is a better fit. However I doubt there’s any prehistoric reptiles living in lake Pohenagamook since it freezes over completely in the winter. The cryptozoologist’s explanation fails to take the lake’s environment into account, while the skeptic’s answer fails to explain why monsters aren’t being seen in other nearby lakes when they have just as many moose and floating logs.

In spite of the freezing conditions, Lake Pohenagamook has a lot of characteristics in common with other lakes home to monsters. It’s long and skinny, surrounded by tall hills and incredibly deep. Native American legend states the lake is literally bottomless. In actuality, it’s 41 metres or 135 feet deep, which is quite deep for its overall size. The lake’s waters are darkened with rust run off, making it hard to see more than a few feet into the water. I don’t know why those qualities matter, but they show up over and over again with lake monster sightings.

Sightings:

Native American legends speak of a serpentine beast living in Lake Pohenagamook.

The first sighting by white settlers was in 1873. Louis Berube, a lumberjack, saw what he described as a huge fish that was 20-30 feet long. Around the same time Benoit Levasseur, who created the first settlement in the area, also saw Ponik. He described it as a serpent, which rose out of the water in an arching motion.

In 1944 a farm boy came face to face with Ponik while he was bathing in the lake. The monster damaged some horse drawn farm equipment as it re-entered the lake and then stared the boy down until he ran away from the water in a panic. He told his father about what happened. The older farmer didn’t believe the boy. Yet he couldn’t explain what would have had enough strength to crush the horse drawn hay rake that was left near the lake shore. Here Ponik received its most common description, a giant reptile with a double humped back, long neck and horse like head.

There were many sightings in the 50’s when the highway was built in the area. While there were sightings by the pioneers before this, the legend of Ponik really took shape during this time.

In 1957, Father Leopold Plante was in a small boat, fishing on the lake. He said the lake was as smooth as glass that morning. Then something large and black rose out of the water. It had two humps, topped with saw tooth spikes. It snagged his fishing line, which the creature dragged out and then broke.

A few years later Father Calixe Berube and fifteen other people saw Ponik from the short of the lake. They saw its saw toothed back rise out of the water. This time it was described as having a fin rather than a hump. Ponik was seen rising out of the water and sinking back down, only to rise again a few feet away as it swam the length of the lake. It would occasionally role at the surface of the water. Father Berube described Ponik’s behaviour as playful. This took place for quite a while. Motorist lined the side of the highway watching Ponik’s antics.

In 1981, Mrs Sylvie Theriault-Lavoie took a photo of Ponik. She was travelling along the highway when she saw something in the water. She said the back of it rose out of the water and the creature was travelling at good speed. You can see the photo here https://expeditionponik.com/pages/a-propos?srsltid=AfmBOooyR4a7dz-DDjfg9Fk1kC_yzZb4d9_MiaHnozhW_zs4LNPMObol It’s the first slide show, starting with a sunset over the lake and something in the water at the lower right. Then the slide show shows increasingly zoomed in images of the thing in the water.

Since 1974 a yearly festival has been held in Pohenamook village to celebrate the monster.

Sources

https://expeditionponik.com/pages/a-propos?srsltid=AfmBOooyR4a7dz-DDjfg9Fk1kC_yzZb4d9_MiaHnozhW_zs4LNPMObol

https://cryptozoo-oscity.blogspot.com/2009/07/ponik-monster-of-lake-pohenegamook.html

http://maineghosthunters.org/ponik-la-bete-du-lac-pohenegamook/

https://cryptidz.fandom.com/wiki/Ponik