Tahoe Tessie

Tahoe Tessie is a cryptozoological creature which supposedly resides in North America's largest alpine lake, Lake Tahoe, located in Nevada and California. Tales of the lake-dwelling creature can be traced to stories told by members of the Washoe and Paiute tribes in the mid-19th century, stating that the creature resides in an underwater tunnel beneath Cave Rock, and sightings have continued into modern day.

Description

Sightings describe Tessie as being between 10 and 80 feet long, having a large, serpentine body "as wide across as a barrel," and coloration ranging from jet black to turquoise. Its skin is usually described as smooth, despite having reptilian features.

Sightings

In the 1950s, two off-duty police officers out on the lake reported seeing a large, black hump rise from the water, and keep speed with the boat, going over 60 mph (97 km/h).

According to an anonymous witness on Weird California.com, "Myself, along with 3 others watched a large serpent-like creature feeding/hunting in a school of large trout. It was in the middle of winter of 1979 off the dock at Homewood. It was about as big around as a telephone pole and maybe 30'-60' in length from what we could see of it. It didn't swim like a snake (side to side). It was diving up and splashing down with its head/neck into the school of fish, which were leaping out of the water ahead of it. We were speechless for several minutes afterwards."