Is Tahoe Tessie Tahoe’s Own Monster?
Tahoe Tessie is Lake Tahoe’s version of the Loch Ness monster. Lake Tahoe is the second deepest lake in the United States. The lake is 1,645 feet deep at its greatest depth.
Lake Tahoe is famous for its crystal-clear waters. Its clarity is currently stated to be about 60 feet deep before you can no longer see a white plate and it’s still amazingly clear. I find it hard to believe how much clearer it was while I was a child.
At its deepest, the lake goes completely dark and this is where the mystery and intrigue begin.
The stories are still told of the hundreds of murdered Chinese railway workers down there. The Mafia, who ran the casinos, were known to send people to sleep with the “fishes”. Read more about this legend and Tahoe mafia background by clicking the link below.
To read more about the Mafia in Tahoe click here.
Tahoe Tessie?
My Sighting
Tahoe’s greatest myth or legend is Tahoe Tessie. Growing up on the North Shore of Lake Tahoe I heard at least 100 personal accounts of locals seeing Tessie. I figured I too would one day have the chance, and I wasn’t wrong.
It was evening down at the Kings Beach boat ramp, the sun was setting, and the lake was unusually calm. Generally in the afternoons, the lake will be choppy from the morning boaters and evening breezes.
Once I sat with a couple of my teenage friends smoking cigarettes and likely complaining about the unfairness of the world. I looked out over the water and saw…something and it was creating a “V” pattern in the water offshore.
I couldn’t believe it so I pointed it out to my friends. While we watched, it mostly surfaced and looked like a small submarine. We were pretty excited to have seen it. It would not be the only time I would see what I can only describe as Tahoe Tessie. This was back in the 80s and early 90s.
Dinosaur?
Some believe that Tessie is a dinosaur. Knowing that dinosaurs went extinct about 65 million years ago, it’s hard to imagine they have been breeding in Lake Tahoe this whole time.
Tahoe is some 3.5 million years old. I think that helps us deduce that Tessie is not a dinosaur.
Many believe the most likely explanation is that she is a giant sturgeon. Sturgeons can grow up to 22 feet long. They have large fins and a dinosaur-looking snout. Lake Tahoe could definitely support such a sturgeon.
In 1897 I.C. Coggin, a San Francisco socialite wrote about an encounter. He described the creature as having a 14-foot wide head and jet-black eyes.
He wrote about his sighting as a Sea Serpent. “I know many will doubt this story, but sooner or later this Snakeship will be seen by so many that all doubt will be removed1https://www.sfgate.com/renotahoe/article/050521-lake-tahoe-tessie-monster-myths-16150906.php.,” Coggin wrote.
Tessie has become a popular lake mascot depicted as a friendly green long-necked rubber ducky-type creature. Her image is easy to find on souvenir coffee mugs and t-shirts in gift shops around the lake.
In the 1980s Bob McCormick published a children’s book called Tahoe Tessie and the book was well received selling tens of thousands of copies. McCormick was known to wear a Tessie costume at local parades, parties, and children’s events.
Locals and Their Stories
While this has all become fun for the tourists and children, I remember a different attitude. Many of the old-time fishermen like my Father spoke of Tessie in respectful terms.
They had a kind of cautionary attitude about taking their boats too far out in the very early morning hours and would never venture out alone.
These weren’t the kind of men who believed in wives’ tales and children’s stories, but they had their own stories, many of which I heard.
One thing I knew was if they were out there and had a possible sighting…they didn’t move in closer for a better look. They left her alone and moved the boat away.
My husband and I love to fish at Lake Tahoe and Pyramid Lake, and we can often be found taking visiting friends and family on boat trips around the lakes.
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