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Lake monster traditions: A cross-cultural analysis
English (translation)Original French
320 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1989
78 people want to read
About the author
Michel Meurger
14 booksMichel Meurger est un critique et essayiste français. Spécialiste de la littérature de science-fiction, il a notamment consacré plusieurs ouvrages et articles à l'imaginaire scientifique. Directeur de la collection « Scientifictions » aux éditions Encrage, il reçoit en novembre 2007 le grand prix de l'Imaginaire « pour les passerelles créées par son œuvre entre la France, l’Allemagne et l’Angleterre. »
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
September 3, 2015
This is an extremely digressive book.
The point is relatively simple, though, and a good reminder: That contemporary stories about Lake Monsters--cryptozoological, but also the legends and tales that comprise modern folklore--are not extensions of previous folklore. There are obvious implications in this conclusion for cryptozoologists and those who would claim that the animals are real. They cannot point to older stories as proof of a continuing tradition, for, Meurger argues, there was a radical break in the nineteenth century. What is collected now is something different. He doesn't really go into why this this era is different, but the obvious candidates are technological change, the end of folklore as individual communities are knitted together by the media, and the rise of science, against which these stories are all necessarily measured.
There are also implications for the folklorist. this portion is harder for me to evaluate, since I am ever more confused by what folklore is--the definitions multiply, and sometimes it seems something that no longer exists, and sometimes it seems that everything could be folklore. So, set that aside for a moment and concentrate on what Meurger says: That skeptical arguments against lake monsters and other such traditions are really döppelgangers of cryptozoological argument, relying on rational attempts to explain away the old stories--it wasn't a sea serpent, but a log.
In both cases, those who want to accept the existence of lake monsters--and other such things--and those who want to deny it are relying on the same kind of rationality, and refusing to come to terms with the fact that the past was another country, and that legends and folklore--even today--are more multifarious than is admitted (by anyone except folklorists).
For Meurger, it is a mistake to try to explain away these old stories in any way--either as mythification of real animals (turning eels into dragons) or dismissing the stories as mistaken identities (sea serpents are just misidentified oar fish, for example.) The stories have to be given their own due--Meurger doesn't say exactly how, though he sidles up against Freudian theories and also implies that they might be visionary experiences--altered mental states--but that is only a suggestion.
As a historian, I like the intent of the book because I think that these older stories were serving their own purposes and entrenched in their own cultures, and that it is true skeptics and cryptozoologists both due mistreat the tales by looking for factual basis, when the stories might be interested in something other than fact.
Much (or all?) of this was written in 1982, and then finally published in 1988. It is mostly an intervention in cryptozoological discussions aimed at Bernard Heuvelmans. The first chapter gives a fine resume of the article, and is probably all that needs to be read by the casually interested reader. The bulk of the book contains Meurger's investigation of Lake Monster stories, especially fieldwork he did in Quebec and surrounding areas. He has obviously read widely and incorporates a lot of research into the book, both from the library and the field. Still, the book never quite coheres.
The point is relatively simple, though, and a good reminder: That contemporary stories about Lake Monsters--cryptozoological, but also the legends and tales that comprise modern folklore--are not extensions of previous folklore. There are obvious implications in this conclusion for cryptozoologists and those who would claim that the animals are real. They cannot point to older stories as proof of a continuing tradition, for, Meurger argues, there was a radical break in the nineteenth century. What is collected now is something different. He doesn't really go into why this this era is different, but the obvious candidates are technological change, the end of folklore as individual communities are knitted together by the media, and the rise of science, against which these stories are all necessarily measured.
There are also implications for the folklorist. this portion is harder for me to evaluate, since I am ever more confused by what folklore is--the definitions multiply, and sometimes it seems something that no longer exists, and sometimes it seems that everything could be folklore. So, set that aside for a moment and concentrate on what Meurger says: That skeptical arguments against lake monsters and other such traditions are really döppelgangers of cryptozoological argument, relying on rational attempts to explain away the old stories--it wasn't a sea serpent, but a log.
In both cases, those who want to accept the existence of lake monsters--and other such things--and those who want to deny it are relying on the same kind of rationality, and refusing to come to terms with the fact that the past was another country, and that legends and folklore--even today--are more multifarious than is admitted (by anyone except folklorists).
For Meurger, it is a mistake to try to explain away these old stories in any way--either as mythification of real animals (turning eels into dragons) or dismissing the stories as mistaken identities (sea serpents are just misidentified oar fish, for example.) The stories have to be given their own due--Meurger doesn't say exactly how, though he sidles up against Freudian theories and also implies that they might be visionary experiences--altered mental states--but that is only a suggestion.
As a historian, I like the intent of the book because I think that these older stories were serving their own purposes and entrenched in their own cultures, and that it is true skeptics and cryptozoologists both due mistreat the tales by looking for factual basis, when the stories might be interested in something other than fact.
Much (or all?) of this was written in 1982, and then finally published in 1988. It is mostly an intervention in cryptozoological discussions aimed at Bernard Heuvelmans. The first chapter gives a fine resume of the article, and is probably all that needs to be read by the casually interested reader. The bulk of the book contains Meurger's investigation of Lake Monster stories, especially fieldwork he did in Quebec and surrounding areas. He has obviously read widely and incorporates a lot of research into the book, both from the library and the field. Still, the book never quite coheres.
February 7, 2026
PDF of full text can be read here: https://archive.org/details/lakemonst...
The best work on cryptozoology, period. Remarkably thorough analysis with a focus on the cultural-historical production of monsterlore, with a refreshing anti-Jungian anti-mysticism slant. Meurgers study of how supernatural and visionary understandings of nature have become historically flattened into the pop-scientific figure of the plesiosaurian lake monster has broader application in the fields of folkloristics and sociology of science. Sadly this major work has been largely neglected, vanishing on publication into the ghetto of Forteana research and with an imperfect, often confusing, English translation further hindering its full impact from being felt.
The best work on cryptozoology, period. Remarkably thorough analysis with a focus on the cultural-historical production of monsterlore, with a refreshing anti-Jungian anti-mysticism slant. Meurgers study of how supernatural and visionary understandings of nature have become historically flattened into the pop-scientific figure of the plesiosaurian lake monster has broader application in the fields of folkloristics and sociology of science. Sadly this major work has been largely neglected, vanishing on publication into the ghetto of Forteana research and with an imperfect, often confusing, English translation further hindering its full impact from being felt.
September 27, 2015
Chock full of important, unique ideas, interpretation, and details. However, disjointed, repetitive and difficult to follow. Still, worth having for the key cryptozoological and folklore insights.
March 1, 2026
A great read and deserving of its spot in the Fortean literature hall of fame. So many fun stories and lots of fascinating insights into the symbolism behind them. I do wish it had tied things together better in a final thesis, and I'm not convinced by the assertion that the common elements of the lake monster myth were transmitted to the indigenous Americans by Europeans. Here in NZ, the cultural traditions surrounding taniwha are almost identical (shape shifting, appearing as logs, associated with specific features of waterways, associated with freakishly large known fish species, etc etc) and hail back to before European contact. The Jungian idea of a continuity in mythic mental contents that the author dismisses is much more convincing to me. I wish the authors had been aware of some Māori stories, because there is so much common ground and it would've really strengthened some of the arguments. My favourite part was about the common water lynx and horned snake beliefs among the indigenous Americans, and the rock art depictions.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews