AMERICA'S LOCH NESS

Discover Channel -- Original Air Date: 2003

A good survey of the Lake Champlain monster, often known as Champ.  This show features witnesses, lake experts, and skeptics in a good mix.  The skeptics recreate the most famous of the Champ photos, and revise the size estimate down from 6 feet tall to 3, which -- the skeptics point out -- does not mean it's not a monster; it just means the object in the photo isn't as large as the photographer thought.  The show also features a number of videos which, as always, are maddeningly fuzzy but claim to show the monster.  A sonar survey of the lake turns up no monsters, but plenty of places where a monster might hide.  Perhaps the most interesting result is the underwater sounds expert who finds what seems to be a sonar click - though no animals in the lake are known to use sonar for navigation or hunting.  The conclusion is summed up by a searcher who notes that unless you drain the whole lake, you can never prove that the monster doesn't exist.