According to local legend, there is said to be a large sea monster living in the Chesapeake Bay, hence the name “Chessie”. Throughout the years, many people claim to have spotted this great beast swimming about in the bay. It is said to swim in a twisting, wave-like fashion similar to a snake. Many people describe Chessie as a long serpentine creature with flippers as part of its body. Most sightings also acknowledge the rather large size of this creature, “from 25 feet (7.6 m) to 40 feet (12 m) long”. There were numerous sightings in 1977 and more in the mid 1980s.
Although there is no literal evidence that this sea creature existed, there are alleged photographs of Chessie. Some explanations behind these reports, include prehistoric zeuglodons, large river otters, a “mutant eel” theory and South American anacondas escaping from 18th century ships. However, none of these speculations have been proven one way or the other, so we would like to believe that our mascot is still out there, but simply chooses to remain hidden for the time being.
Check out some resources we found about this fascinating legend.
Wikipedia Commons