Hi, I'm Holly and I'm Haley. Welcome to Mountain Mysteries Tales from Appalachia. Well hello. Welcome back friends.
Hi. You've joined us, we're very excited. We're still on Zoom. We're still on Zoom.
Haley, we actually look at each other that often. So it's like really face-to-face here. It feels strange. A little bit.
It does look strange. It does. But you know, hey. We got to watch me blow my nose.
You've got to see tips while you blew your nose. Yeah. That also means that not a lot of people stop me from eating. So, you know, I just keep on keeping on.
Oh my gosh. What have we got today? I hear that you've got an exciting monster story. I do.
So I recently have been, so this all started. Let's take a dirty to the past. Okay, let's do that. It all started several weeks ago.
When I was trying to get my life together to start back to school, because our school year starts here pretty quick. So I was getting like all of my supplies and things together and I have this plain black planter that somebody gave me. It's like a five-year, three-year plan or something like that. And it's just like the monthly like grids.
There's no daily, which is great for me because I never use the daily pages. So I was like, okay, I'm going to use this, but I wanted to make it fun because it's just like black with a company name on the front of it. And I was like, forget that. So I wanted to find some fun stickers and things to put on there.
So I got like these cute like social work ones and I got like some mental health awareness ones and things like that. And I was like, you know what? I really just need some like craziness on here that just really screams me. So I looked up cryptids.
So I got me some Bigfoot on there. I got the Loch Ness monster on there. Obviously. I got a Yeti.
Of course. And I've got at least three stickers of my homeboy, the Mothman. Well, obviously. Because he is my hoe group and I did dress up as in for Halloween.
Wait a minute. Wait a minute. You just said right here, you have dedicated your life to Bigfoot, but now you say that Mothman is your favorite. You're betraying Bigfoot.
Yeah, I think so. Gosh. I mean, I didn't know you were like that. Hey, but it's all right.
I mean, he'll find someone else. Maybe. Maybe like I think Mothman's just like, I think I just want to be friends with Mothman. But in a relationship with Bigfoot.
Yeah. I hear that. I think Mothman and I could be like buddies. I could see that.
Like when Bigfoot's out, you know, Bigfooting. We're like, grab a drink. Of course. Scary people in cars.
Give me Drake. Yeah. I mean, here's the question. On their planners, do they have stickers of you?
I hope so. That would be great. That would be pretty awesome. Yeah.
So you have a version of you? Look, it's a hot mess. My hair is slowly started falling out of this bun. I would say your hair looked real different when we started.
It's insane. It's like melling out in the back of this bun that I've thrown on top of my head. It's like frizzed out. I'm in a like two big t-shirt.
I'm in a cardigan that's a size three X that I found at the Goodwill. I mean, you look cozy. I'm very cozy. I got my cozy socks on surrounded by tissues.
That's sexy. I'm just swirling away. Listen, I still have a bra on. So, I mean, like, I feel like I am like, Pete, Holly.
This is probably as good as you're going to get. I have on leggings. I'm wearing a denim shirt. This is an old Navy like denim.
Like, yeah. I mean, this is your hair's up. Like, you look professional. I do.
I do. And this is about straight off the COVID ward. I think you are. I mean, I am.
You are. It's all right. The good news is we're not together in person. That's true.
You're not infecting me. So I'm very grateful. But in the end, I mean, if you want me to, like, you know, just like screenshot a photo of you here, I will make a sticker out of it and put it on my calendar. I think you should.
I will. Don't worry. You'll be like, who's that sickly young woman on your hot new planet? Well, I also have like, I put, I can put makeup on in days, which is a plus for me.
So I don't have any mascara on. So you cannot see my eyelashes. And I think it looks so haunting because I also, you cannot see my eyebrows. It is true.
They sort of kind of blend in. Yeah. They're so light that they just blend it. Like, if I were to go put on, like, just a little bit of color in my eyebrows and still a bit of mascara on, I would look like a different person.
I love that when people, you know, because you and I are both bare, but I love when people make the comment like, you're so pale and I'm like, I'm always pale. Like, what's the difference? I know. Is this very, this is not revolutionary information.
No, but there is a, like an element of it that is not pale, but like kind of a sickly bird. You know, like, I mean, I didn't turn on the computer and like, I know, you know, like, I didn't want to heat, but like, you know, you're not a walk-ness monster. But certainly you can tell that you're ill. You don't have the, like, blow about you that you know, you know, this harsh lighting isn't doing a lot for me either.
What's behind you? It was plant propagation. Okay. I've murdered all but two.
Okay. Yeah, I see them. I see them there. I don't know if they look so great.
There's two that are alive. Also, we have to pause because my mother just pulled into my driver with my dog. But so I will return. I'm gonna go pee.
Okay. All right. So let's talk about a lake monster. Is this one on your planner as well?
It's not. I don't think. I have several stickers of them. Hang on.
Let me find my stickers. I'll show you. We'll just explain to the audience and say, can't see, but they can hear us. No.
Oh, I think these are 30s. These may be all moffman. These are all the moffman. Oh my gosh.
These are a lot. I know. Okay. We're the expensive.
No, a couple dollars. Okay. These are the cryptids. You're the rattling.
I'm sure that's pleasing to the ear. I don't think so. Oh my gosh. Okay.
Well, but this was the catalyst for this episode. Okay. Thank you. Sorry to sneeze out the COVID.
You know what? Your friend mocked me and can handle it. I hope so. Well, so we were my friend Elizabeth and I were together and my, it was weird to call him a boyfriend, but that is what he is.
He was with us as well. And he has not felt bad at all. So he is supposed to come and get a COVID test for me tomorrow to test and make sure he doesn't have COVID. Are you putting on your front porch with gloves on?
Yeah. Good job. Yeah. I'm going to put it out there because he's also getting, you know, picking up like a meal from my mom.
And so I think we're going to eat on the porch, like, not either end of the porch. Olded days. Yes. Yes.
Six feet apart. At least. Yeah. Yeah.
Let him take his COVID test. Oh my gosh. Let's hope he doesn't have it. I know.
I feel so bad. No sad. What is the new thing now? Is it like five days?
You can kind of go back around people. Yeah. So I should be, if I was trying symptoms on, we'll say Friday. That should be good by Tuesday.
Well, that's good. Cause you leave on vacation soon. Like next Saturday, I think. So by the time this comes out, I'm.
I'm going to be. I'll be, I'll be beach in it. Yeah. Are you going to your usual destination?
Yup. Exciting. Be there. Yeah.
Well, now that I have a sneezed emblem on those. It's very exciting. I'm enjoying it. I'm sure it looks her as well.
They're like, I freaking hate you so much. Please move on. Listen, it's either this or you don't get an episode. So, you know, you get COVID me or no me.
She just opened up her sweater like I'm looking inside like, Oh, I take a look at this. Okay. So let's talk about a Lake Monster, shall we? No.
Okay. Oh, I didn't hear you. I said you. Oh, yes.
I currently look like a lake monster. Okay. All right. So back in 1925, the Kentucky utility set out to build a dam by flooding the Dix River, which is a tributary of the Kentucky River.
The resulting dam was known as Dix Dam. And this soon to be created, Lake would be known as Lake Harrington. Oh, that sounds so nice. I know.
Dix Dam. Yeah. Dam. Those dicks.
Sorry. At the time, the dam was regarded as a major engineering accomplishment. And it was the largest earth filled dam at the time. Interesting.
I never even heard of this. I have either. Upon completion of the dam, Lake Harrington filled up and took on a maximum depth of 249 feet deep. Wow.
Yeah. Making it the deepest lake in Kentucky. And it covered 2,335 acres, which is about four miles. So big old lake.
Yeah. So like every lake that's man-made in North America, Lake Harrington is an excellent spot for fishing. The lake contains a high number of different species of fish, including catfish, hybrid striped bass, crappie, and blue veal. However, there is one aquatic creature in the lake that many fishermen hope to never encounter.
And it is a creature known as the eel pig. The eel pig. That doesn't sound like something I would put in my sushi. The eel pig.
So almost immediately after the lake was created, people from the area claimed to see the eel pig swimming in the lake. The creature is most often described as being roughly 15 feet long, with a body like an eel and a skin tone and pattern, kind of like a speckled fish, to be as fast as a boat, and also possesses a stubby pig like snout and a somewhat curly tail, which are both seen poking out above the water when the creature is in the area. It's an interesting thought. You know, like when you're having a baby, you think like, well, he's got brown eyes and I have green eyes.
Like what, you know, and that kind of thing. But never do you think like if a pig made it with an eel or vice versa, what would their baby look like? That's just something that I just, you know, just don't really ever think about and who would really since there's like a land versus a aquatic creature, you know, but I mean, obviously it's really do attract. Now, you know, and now we know, I mean, and the question is who birthed it?
Did the pig birthed? Did the seal not seal eel? Birthed? What's happening here?
I don't know, man. I mean, what does it eat? Yeah. Yeah.
Yeah, that is right. Yeah, that is right. Because like your kid looks exactly like his dad. He looks exactly like his dad.
Yeah. He just acts like me. Yeah. Yeah.
He said he has green eyes. Yeah. Yeah. And his dad has brown eyes and I have great.
Well, bluish green eyes. Yeah. Yeah. So I mean, it makes sense he has green eyes.
But still, yeah, I mean, that's but that we're both human. Right. So that makes sense that we would have made it. That you might have a human child.
That we would have had a human child like that makes sense. It makes it that a land farm animal such as a pig who's eating out of trough would say like, Hey, sexy thing. I saw you slither out of the lake and thought, I want to hit that. So, you know, I mean, I understand, you know, in that poor little seal, or eel eel, not seal eel, which is a slimy, like I mean, like that's like I said, sushi, like, you know, an eel roll like that's their yard.
So I don't see how those two like I don't think of like my sushi and my bacon. Like those just two just kind of don't go together. But I mean, really, and that's huge. 15 feet long.
Yeah. That's a big, it's a big thing. So, I said, who birth that my kid was six now. I can't even man.
It's Colly. I keep telling. They're significant other like God, we ever have kids are going to be giants. He's pretty tall, right?
Yeah. He's six, one, six, two, and I'm five, eight. Yeah. Yeah.
So you know, you know, you have some big old kids, you know, little redheaded children who will without eyebrows, we'll just pop right out. A lot of things. I don't think I don't think they're going to look anything like me. Well, I think he has like all the dominant traits.
Yes, but in like, well, I mean, this is what they like, look at my son, but you know, except for having green eyes. Yeah, he tans all those things. So yeah, I don't. Yeah.
I mean, like we looked vastly different. Like I'm pale red hair very frequently and he is a very tall, muscular black man. With very like kinky curly hair and like dark eyes. But I'm just saying genetics is so funky that you just never know.
I mean, I feel like y'all could like work on like a hairy and meckin kind of situation. Like you could have like a child who looks African American, but essentially has red hair and it's like, what the heck? Right. You know, you just don't know.
Don't know. But we do know about this eel pig. No, because I don't even think this is real. We're talking about it.
Okay. So while there have been many claims that people have seen the eel pigs since the 1920s, the creatures existence wasn't really thought of as like a possible. Thing until a sighting was made in 1972 by University of Kentucky professor Lawrence S Thompson who owned a lake house on Harrington. And he said that he had seen the eel pigs swimming around the area on multiple occasions, and that after his many sightings, the species of the creature remained unknown.
So upon hearing the news that a universe professor had witnessed a monster in the lake, the newspaper, the Louisville Courier made quick work of setting up an interview asking the professor if he truly believed that what he had seen was a real monster. Tom's responded by saying it's only a monster in a sense that one would call an alligator and monster if they had never seen one before. And I actually need some notoriety for some of the things I'm working on at the university. So I thought it would be great to maybe get some publicity out there for myself.
So I love like tell your friends, I would love to be interviewed more. Oh my gosh. Okay, so let's talk a little bit about this guy. So he was a professor for 25 years.
Okay. And he has like almost like the way that I read it, it almost sounds like he's a bit of a hoarder. So he's collected a basement den and garage full of books and has developed a library type card catalog system to keep all of his prized possessions in order. I feel like that's something you would do.
Absolutely it is. So like I mean I am a hoarder of books. You are and I say get rid of that shit. Right.
I am not a hoarder in any sense of the word. Right. And I'm like, I will never part with my books. I love all of them.
I am like if I can sell it on Facebook marketplace, let's do it. So yeah, he's got all this stuff. He also claims that he has the oldest manmade thing in Lexington, which is an Egyptian. Right.
He's in the mid Cancer phosphorus, dated to be about 1500 BC. He has a very like wild curiosity, concerning both historical and psychological aspects of man's dealings with monsters. And there was an extensive while on unusual beasts, so called monsters and mythological beasts. This like piggy elh pick, whatever.
guy who gets me lives in the neighborhood. So I'm just going to show my, nobody's really seeing me in like, you know, 50 years, but I'm going to show myself to this guy because like he understands me. He knows where I come from. He gets that I'm like half big, half eel.
And so, you know, but also, this sounds like bullshit. I'm sorry. I will let you continue and I will drink out of my fake family. Okay.
So he has a few theories though, about the creature's heritage. So he says he might be a creature type that escaped man's observation when its prehistoric ancestors swam up the Mississippi and Ohio rivers thousands of years ago. Now how it got in a man made like, I don't know. He explained this as he's being interviewed during all of this.
He's puffing on a roach sized cigar tip. He said in the same interview, he said, you know, the thing could have been an alligator. His memory prompted by a story about European man's discovery of what they called a monster, which turned out to be ordinary alligators and crocodiles. Apparently, there was a circus train that also wrecked near there about three years before this guy was being interviewed.
And there's a possibility an alligator could survive that are cold weather in the caves along the side of the gorge. They said, but it surely be too cold for you and me, but the alligator knows might be able to survive. Crazy. I was out there in my basement looking at my BC artifacts when all of a sudden the circus train, the elephants lighted out and crazy things.
And suddenly I saw them, but it's not about to turn down. Like, I mean, this guy, what, like, pick a lane, like, just pick something, you know, it's either a monster, such a rationalize it, like, you know, did people start saying like, man, this guy's crazy. He's like, shit, I'm gonna lose my jobs. And then see when he's like, I'm just kidding.
I wonder. Well, he keeps talking about it. He says, in the same article, he says, then again, it could have been a giant catfish, us all. They would have grown up to 12 feet.
The cat could have gone up the Mississippi, Ohio, Kentucky, and Dix Rivers, and gotten trapped when they built the dam. Did you know they found cats 10 feet long, just out here in the Green River? Here's what I'm gonna say. Keep your cats away from Dix.
I'm just gonna say that. I'm gonna throw this out here. All right. And besides that, PSA.
This guy is on something. Clearly. Yes, what? I'm kind of obsessed with them, though.
I wonder if he's still alive. You know, maybe appropriate with him. I don't want to procreate with him, but I would like to, you know, maybe have a chat. He does it as basement.
I bet he's dead. Yeah, probably. I mean, if he was a professor in the 70s, he's probably dead. He's probably dead.
He's not like looking up. He's probably still smoking and looking for something in the water. That's true. So he apparently admitted that appearances may be deceptive when one cites an unfamiliar animal.
He cited an incident in the 1850s with several people aboard steamships cited a serpent-like creature in the ocean. The creature turned out to be a log caught on the strip's cable and dragged along this is behind it. So some of the Harrington Lake regulars believe, sorry, that was the charger of my computer. All is well.
So some of the Harrington Lake regulars believe that Thompson was also deceived. The owner of the Camp Kennedy Dock, Roy Riley said, it's just a big hoax. He says, some man was up there drinking the wrong kind of whiskey and he claimed he saw this thing. I mean, that sounds right.
Yeah. He said, yeah, that man should have gone back up the hill and had another drinker else changed his brand. I like this guy. He's hilarious.
So that's appropriate. Thompson, though, is not joking around. He said, you know, I've always been interested in monsters and I'm convinced they do exist, some since a dawn of time. He said, well, we found crew of rock drawings of monsters by a prehistoric man, some dated 1500 to 2500 years ago.
So he cited the existence of some creatures today. The call camp, a survivor or half land, half marine creatures 60 million years ago. The possum who's descended 100,000 years back, looked exactly like modern possums and the reports of Sotland's Loch Ness monster. This is also the man who brought up the log.
So, I mean, you know, true. So apparently, Thompson hasn't seen the creature since 1972. He hasn't because the drubs wore off. No, he said it's because the creature is quite shy and introverted and likes to live on the lake bottom.
I mean, that sounds more like you, but you know, you want to be shy and you just want to live your life. I just love to live on the bottom of the lake. And, you know, after like you reach this point of the notoriety, I mean, you just want the media to live you, leave you alone. You know, you can break down.
You just, you're like, listen, I want to spend my retirement on the bottom of the lake, you know, just hanging out, you know, grabbing whatever fish I need to to sustain life and, and, you know, wiggling my curly tail. I mean, that's how you want. Yeah. Well, while sightings are said to continue, there have been no sightings as prominent as Professor Thompson's in 1972.
So this means for over 92 years, nobody has figured out what the monster is or was. There are, you know, theories about what it could be. Obviously, they range from, you know, outrageous to some slightly believable. Some people claim that during the flooding of the Dix River, Kentucky utilities, inadvertently opened up passage to a series of underground limestone caves in which this species of eel pig already existed.
Others think that the monster is actually a prehistoric relic that originally lived in the Mississippi River, but made its way down the Kentucky River following the food source. The monster then became trapped in like Harrington after the dam was built. Well, they're very interesting and entertaining, but your head is released the eel pig and then suddenly, you know, they all come out. Oh my gosh.
Yeah. So other more like down to earth theories include possibly a misidentified alligator, gar or other fish species, a real pig that was seen swimming in the lake and misidentified as a monster. Possibly a simple prank that took on life of its own or an out of place alligator. Nobody likes water, love bacon.
I'm just going to say it. So if that pig was in the water, land sakes get little bathe out. Pigs like to swim. Do they?
Well, I don't know a lot about farm creatures. I just like to eat them, but you know, I did not realize they like to swim. Yeah, there's a whole like island in the swim with the pigs. That's alright.
I mean, they're kind of rose little creatures. I don't know. They're very clean. Are they?
Hmm. Whenever I like, whenever I've seen them, they're filthy. Yeah. They're pretty clean.
Guys, they're pretty smart. They saw puzzles. Yeah. I mean, I've read Charlotte's web.
Yeah, based on true story. The spider was a little smarter in that, but you know, I'm going to give it to Wilbur. I'm going to throw it out to him. I'm going to throw a bone or an eel, whatever.
Oh gosh, here comes a dog. What an amazing tail this has been. Yeah. So yeah, while it seems like it's, you know, probably just a local legend, funny story, that kind of thing.
You know, nobody really knows. You know, it could be out there. And if it is, it doesn't seem to be bothering anybody. And it's simply enjoying its life unbothered at the bottom of the lake.
You have to ask yourself, how long does this thing live? And if it doesn't, then it's procreating? Right. Who's it procreating with other eel pigs or?
I mean, this lakes like four miles, you know, so it could be lots of them there. Yeah. So you don't even have to look for your own family. Now, you know, they're from different families.
So yeah, it's amazing. Pretty great. And I mean, we don't know if it's true until we see it ourselves. So I guess this means we need to buy a cabin on the lake.
I guess so. We'll be living with a professor. Yeah, probably in his basement. Probably in the basement.
Yeah. Yeah. Well, if y'all had ever seen this monster yourself or you want to email us and let us know or just your thoughts that would be phenomenal, you can do so by sending Haley an email to mountain mysteries.appleletchen.gmail.com. You can find us on Facebook at mountain mysteries tales from Appalachia.
Find us on Instagram at mountain mysteries.appleletchen and the ever favorite patreon where we get a little while in crazy at patreon.com slash mountain mystery. Got your shout out ready? I'm working on it. All right.
Well, I will just continue to look cute because, you know, rocking my denim. Totally. How much more my hair has fallen out of this one. And I have.
I can't wait for your redheaded child. Yeah. Oh, yeah. And my child who is.
Yeah. Yeah. Well, I mean, it's going to be a while. I'm definitely not pregnant.
So. I have advised Haley just based on her saying my son run in and outside mom mom. I think she can hold up on that. I think that, you know, this my son is the poster for, you know, contraceptives.
So just, you know, wait a while. He's wonderful. He is. He's just hard to get to go to bed.
Yeah. Well, let's go with Krit and then good. Yeah. All right.
Thank you so much for listening. And we'll see you next week with a little creepy Alabama story. Okay. Wait.
All right. Bye.