Cressie is the nickname for a long, dark, eel-like animal that people in Robert's Arm, on Newfoundland's north coast, say lives in Crescent Lake on the edge of town. The name joins Crescent Lake and Nessie. Witnesses describe a shiny dark brown body about 15 feet long, with a small fish-like head and no fin.
Sightings go back to the 1950s, when two woodsmen ran to help the people in what they took for an upturned boat, only for it to slide under the water. Reports came again in the 1990s and 2000s. There are no photographs, and everything rests on local accounts.
Some writers link Cressie to Indigenous stories of a pond devil, but others point out that the link has been copied from book to book without anyone checking it. Large eels, which do live in Newfoundland lakes, are the usual explanation.
What witnesses report
- A long, dark, shiny back rolling at the surface like a whale's
- A small, fish-like head and no fin
- Churning water with nothing visible beneath it
Famous cases
- 1991The Parsons sighting
Crescent Lake, Robert's Arm, Newfoundland and LabradorOn July 9, 1991, Fred Parsons and his wife reported a large, snake-like animal swimming in Crescent Lake. He said it had a long, sleek body without a noticeably large head, lying level with the water.
- 1991A rolling black shape
Crescent Lake, Robert's Arm, Newfoundland and LabradorIn September 1991 a Robert's Arm man driving back into town saw the lake's surface churn. A black shape about 15 feet long rose and pitched forward in a rolling motion, like a whale but with no fin, then sank and did not come back.
- 2003Summer of sightings
Crescent Lake, Robert's Arm, Newfoundland and LabradorIn summer 2003, after a year or more with no reports, several residents said they saw the creature again: a snake-like animal with a fish-like head, its skin shiny in the sun. One passenger said she watched water pour from its open mouth as it crossed the lake.
Seen the Cressie?
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