It’s a Tree Stump, Optical Illusion--or Argentine Cousin of the Loch Ness Monster

Scotland’s legendary Loch Ness monster may have a cousin in Argentina, if reports of sightings of a strange lake creature are to be believed.

Residents and tourists at the Andes winter sport resort of Bariloche are convinced there is a Nessie-like beast living in the deep blue waters of Nahuel Huapi Lake at the foot of the Patagonian mountains.

The monster has been nicknamed Nahuelito, a diminutive of the lake’s name, chosen the way the Scots arrived at Nessie for their phenomenon.

The Argentine version reportedly has been seen for several minutes at a time, bobbing along the surface of the 318-square-mile mountain lake.

It has been described as a sort of giant water snake complete with humps and fish-like fins. Others say it looks like a swan with a snake’s head, or like the hull of an overturned boat or the stump of a tree.

Reports of its length vary from 15 feet to 150 feet.

Many people are convinced that this could be the world’s last remaining dinosaur. A spate of sightings were reported early in February, by visitors to resorts in mountainous southern Argentina.

Coming as it did toward the end of summer vacation, the monster story seemed made to order for that time of year journalists everywhere call “silly season,” when real news is hard to come by. As a result, Nahuelito has been hogging the front pages here.

Television news programs repeatedly have shown the first “film recordings” of the monster. Yet apart from a few unclear lines on the calm surface of the lake, the films confirm very little.

There has been speculation as to the age of the monster. In the centuries-old history of Patagonia’s native Indians, there is mention of an awesome creature that had no head, legs or tail.

Bariloche, one of the country’s best-loved vacation spots, has absolutely nothing against Nahuelito. In fact, the townspeople have taken to the idea of having a monster in their midst.

Not surprisingly, tourist officials have seen the commercial possibilities behind the “discovery.” Friendly-looking Nahuelitos can already be seen smiling from advertising posters and on T-shirts around the resort, which draws more than 100,000 guests in winter as well as summer seasons.

Self-styled monster experts have emerged to deliver their considered opinions on the habits of the creature. Apparently it is rather moody and only surfaces in the summer when the wind is still.

Witnesses say a sudden swell of water and a shooting spray signal that the creature is coming to the lake’s surface.

Anyone wishing to find out more from the locals about their unusual visitor soon finds himself in a confusing whirl of half-truths, myths and ghost stories.

The dinosaur theory is a favorite, but suspicion that a secret, submarine-type vessel may be patrolling the deep is running a close second.

Also going the rounds is speculation that the thing could be a result of nuclear experiments carried out by German scientists when Gen. Juan Peron was in power in the 1950s.

The few researchers who have seriously looked at the phenomenon have given Argentina’s Nessie the thumbs-down.

They say the Nahuel Huapi “sightings” are probably optical illusions, perhaps caused by some physical disturbance of the lake’s surface.

Yet this has done nothing to dispel the monster myth.

“Leave the creature in peace, don’t use it for profit and don’t hunt it down and put it in a museum,” advised Luis Gazen, one of the many tourists who claim to have spotted the beast.