Encounter Atlas
Lake Van in eastern Turkey has two kinds of monster story. Old Armenian writers told of vishaps, water dragons living in the lake, and of the god Vahagn hauling them out. In 1889 the Ottoman newspaper Saadet reported a creature dragging a man into the lake, and a government team went to look but found nothing.
The modern legend began with sightings in the mid-1990s. In 1997 a local man, Ünal Kozak, released video he said showed the animal swimming, and a local academic wrote a book about it.
Critics noted the video seemed framed to hide a boat and that the 'breathing' looked like a steady release of air. Many locals saw the story as a tourism ploy. Lake Van is very salty and alkaline, and only one kind of fish, the pearl mullet, is common in it.
What witnesses report
- A dark animal swimming at the surface
- A spout or spray as it breathes
- Seen near the shore
Famous cases
- 1889Saadet newspaper says a creature dragged a man into the lake
Lake Van, Turkey - 1997Ünal Kozak films an alleged monster
Van, Turkey
Seen the Lake Van Monster?
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