Type: Lake Monster
Location: Red Cedar Lake, Jefferson County
Source: The W-Files book by Jay Rath, page 31.
In 1890, a farmer claimed to have seen a serpent 40 feet long carrying off one of his hogs. In
1891, a serpent was seen by a fisherman tying up his boat. He looked up and saw an undulating
body, something like that of a snake. The head he could not see. Farmers and other fishermen
claimed to have also observed the serpent; one stated that the creature had a very large head
with "protuberances like saw teeth" on its 50-foot back. In 1892, the serpent was blamed for
partially devouring five sheep belonging to William Ward. If the reports had been invented to
attract tourists, the effort backfired. Fears were so severe that residents of nearby Lake
Ripley, joined to Red Cedar Lake by an underground stream, closed their summer cottages and
returned to their homes in the cities.