A domestic tourist claims to have seen and videotaped the
Tianchi Lake "monster" at Changbai Mountain in northeast China's Jilin
Province, Xinhua reported Sunday.
On the morning of July 7, 52-year-old Zheng Changchun, his
daughter and son-in-law were walking around the lake on the western
side of the mountain.
Zheng claimed that, all of a sudden, a strange black object
emerged from the water, disturbing the calm surface.
"I was so excited and shouted to everyone that there was a
monster in the lake," Zheng said.
"All the tourists by the lake stared at the black thing," he
added.
A video buff, Zheng grabbed his family camcorder and managed to
catch the incident on film, until whatever it was disappeared back
into the water. His son-in-law also took some photographs.
"We were more than 1,000 meters away so it's difficult to tell,
but I would say what we saw sticking out of the water was about the
size of the head of an adult ox," Zheng was quoted as saying.
"But I did notice that every time it was above water, there were
huge ripples in the water, suggesting the rest of it was enormous,"
he added.
Changbai Mountain is the highest mountain in Northeast Asia
standing at 2,189 meters above sea level. Tianchi is the deepest
mountain lake and the largest crater lake in China.
Legend has it that a "monster" has been hiding in this
373-meter-deep lake. Stories about it go back more than?100
years.
There have been more than 30 reported sightings by domestic and
foreign tourists in the last 20 years.
There are quite a few pictures and videos of this creature, but
none is clear enough to give any clues as to what it might be.
"Some enthusiasts are coming up with computer images of it based
on interviews of people who've claimed to have seen it. I do hope
these will be helpful in solving this century-old mystery," said Wu
Guangxiao, a Tianchi Lake monster investigator.
(China Daily July 11, 2005)
