From now on, you'll never look at our lake in the same way again. It's not just Loch Ness that's home to the mystical and frightening legends surrounding its monster, there's also a creature hiding in Lake Geneva.
You're not fooled? So here's the story: a long time ago, some fishermen, traumatised by their encounter on the lake, recounted how they had escaped from the biggest and most terrifying creature on the lake. Any doubts about the quality of the story? To tell the truth, so do we. It's possible that a few bottles of Chasselas were lying around in the boats or that the stories were told after a few glasses of Fendant. The description of the monster was not very precise either, sometimes it was described as a gigantic undulating snake and other times more like a dragon, with phosphorescent eyes and gigantic teeth.
From Thonon to Villeneuve, the stories were spine-chilling: one fisherman recounted feeling a powerful eddy, then, unable to regain his balance, a huge head sprang up from the depths of the lake. The poor fisherman felt his soul leave him at the sight of the fierce, fiery-eyed head. Fortunately for him, however, the creature sank back to the bottom of the lake. Another witness said that, after being alerted by a long wake, a gigantic creature lifted his boat 3 metres, knocking over all his crates of fish. The poor man rolled and pitched and after a few bumps on the head, all was calm again. The monster had disappeared, leaving behind the empty crates of fish. The fisherman was convinced that this was what had saved him.
The end of the story is that, despite its appearance being described as terrifying and appalling, the monster of Lake Geneva seems to be rather harmless and uninterested in human flesh. Who knows, perhaps this creature still lives in the deepest parts of the lake, such as between Lausanne and Evian, where it can reach depths of up to 300 metres. In fact, it is in this same area that a 5-metre thick mass of mud and silt stretches for more than 10 kilometres. Perfect cosy nest for our shy monster, isn't it? In any case, if you come across it while out on a boat or pedalo, don't hesitate to let us know, and also to take a photo, as we don't have much to offer in the way of illustrations... But thanks to the work of sculptor Alain Guichardot, on display in the port of Nyon, we can imagine the astonishment of the fishermen who came across the gigantic, monstrous, frightening creature of Lake Geneva.
Information taken from the book "Légendes et histoires du Léman" by Christian Vellas, Slatkine 2016.
Photo credit: ©Ebinger
