Encounter Atlas
Lake Tahoe is over 1,600 feet deep and famously clear, and since the 1800s some visitors have claimed something big swims in it. Tessie is usually described as a dark, humped, serpent-like animal leaving a wake, or a shape moving under the surface.
A San Francisco visitor named I.C. Coggin reported a vast serpent in 1865. In the 1980s hikers, an optician and local police described a dark creature as big as a rowboat. A TV station owner, Mike Conway, said children shouted 'It's Tessie!' during a commercial shoot at Zephyr Cove, though his footage was lost. In 2005 a former sheriff's officer described a big V-shaped wake on calm water.
Stories of water spirits around Cave Rock belong to the Washoe people, who have lived at the lake for thousands of years, but the Tessie legend itself is modern. Large lake trout and sturgeon are the usual suspects.
What witnesses report
- A V-shaped wake on calm water
- A dark humped back
- A large shape moving beneath the clear surface
Famous cases
- 1865Coggin serpent report
Lake Tahoe - 2005V-shaped wake report
Lake Tahoe
Seen the Tahoe Tessie?
Tell us what happened. Every report is read by a person before it goes on the map, and you can stay anonymous.
