The Lake George Monster was a hoax

Hoax

A hoax is a deliberately fabricated falsehood made to masquerade as truth. It is distinguishable from errors in observation or judgment, or rumors, urban legends, pseudosciences or April Fools' Day events that are passed along in good faith by believers or as jokes.-Definition:The British...

 invented by painter Harry Watrous in 1904. The monster was purportedly sighted at Hague Bay in Lake George

Lake George (New York)

Lake George, nicknamed the Queen of American Lakes, is a long, narrow oligotrophic lake draining northwards into Lake Champlain and the St. Lawrence River Drainage basin located at the southeast base of the Adirondack Mountains in northern New York, U.S.A.. It lies within the upper region of the...

 in New York

New York

New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...

, United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

. This was a reported solution to an ongoing rivalry that Watrous had with another resident. After word had spread about, Mr. Watrous began to move the monster around the lake for more publicity.

The monster was also sighted at The View restaurant, near Hague

Hague, New York

Hague is a town in northeastern Warren County, New York, United States located on the scenic Lake George. It is part of the Glens Falls Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population was 854 at the 2000 census...

. The monster is now on display in the Lake George Chamber of Commerce.

The Lake George monster is on display at the Hague Museum in the Hague Town Hall in Hague.