UPS grad seeks lore of lake monsters
DAVID WICKERT; The News Tribune
Many people search for long-necked, humpbacked lizards at the bottom of Loch Ness. Buck DeFore looks elsewhere.
He's plumbing the murky geography of myth, commerce and community identity, searching for clues to the origins and cultural impact of lake monsters. And thanks to a foundation grant, he's being paid to do it.
DeFore, a 2003 University of Puget Sound graduate, has spent the last year circling the globe - from Argentina to Australia to Scotland - studying the Ogopogo, the bunyip, Nessie and other creatures of questionable authenticity.
What he's found says more about us than it does about the monsters. For DeFore, the question of whether prehistoric creatures swim among us is beside the point. The human animal, he's found, is much more interesting.
"In a way, these things may be complete hoaxes," DeFore said in a recent telephone interview from Inverness, Scotland. "But they do connect people to nature."
DeFore, 24, already knew something about monsters when he embarked on his journey. He grew up near Lake Champlain in New York, home to Champ, a U.S. lake monster. Though he never saw the beast, it captured his imagination. And he got his first taste of how "lake monster culture" can permeate a community.
"I have painted pictures of (Champ) in elementary school," DeFore wrote in an essay last year. "I have gone to baseball games and laughed at Champy mascots; I have dog-paddled back to the motorboat with great haste after falling off my water skis.
"To me and others from my town," he wrote, "Champy is real, regardless of whether or not he physically exists."
That conviction led DeFore to apply for a Thomas J. Watson Fellowship, which allows college graduates to spend a year traveling and studying abroad. He received the fellowship - which includes a ,000 grant - to study the impact of monsters on community tourism, identity and culture.
He had a lot of monsters to choose from. According to DeFore's research, monsters have been reported at more than 300 lakes worldwide. He narrowed his study to a handful, including the Ogopogo in British Columbia, the Nahuelito in Argentina, the bunyip in Australia, Nessie in Scotland and the Storsjoodjuret in Sweden.
In his year abroad, he's photographed tourists in British Columbia, surveyed Argentine lakes and toured Scottish shops loaded with Nessie key chains, Nessie shot glasses, Nessie bobbleheads and Nessie pencil sharpeners.
He's kept his observations - plus tirades about country singer Alan Jackson and assorted other tangents - in an Internet journal. Throw in snippets of bunyip poetry, bits of local history and maps of lake monster sites, and you've got a fascinating chronicle.
So why have these communities embraced their monsters? DeFore said he thinks there are many reasons. For children, there's the romance of monsters and dinosaurs. For adults, there's a chance to make money off trinkets and boat tours. For communities, there's the pride of having a unique story to tell.
For many, DeFore said, lake monsters represent a connection to the mystery of nature. But that link has become tenuous, and DeFore has found that in many communities the legends of lake monsters are fading.
"As these things become quaint, I do think there's a loss," DeFore said. "I think there's a value to these things."
So does DeFore believe?
"I believe there could actually be an unidentified species of fish or eel," he said. "Honestly, I think the statistical probability is very, very small.
"I guess," he said, "I'm fascinated by a lie."
David Wickert: 253-274-7341
[email protected]
You can follow Buck DeFore's travels and learn more at
http://www.lakemonsterculture.com.
). That book is going for £25 at Amazon although ABE have a number at around that price - in fact the postage would be more expensive 
