Rock Lake Monster

In late summer 2022, I spent close to two weeks in Wisconsin. During my time in the Badger State, I visited Lake Mills. Lake Mills is a nice town and sits on the shores of Rock Lake. Shortly after arriving in Lake Mills, I stopped off for a Chicago-style hot dog, and then made my way over to the lake. I knew it was a long shot, but I hoped to catch a glimpse of the fabled Rock Lake Monster.

The Rock Lake Monster, or “Rocky” for short, is dark brown in color with spots, almost like a pickerel. It has eyes similar to a snake, a horse-like head, and a long neck.

Rock Lake Monster Sightings

Sightings of the Rock Lake Monster go all the way back to 1867 when several witnesses claimed they saw a saurian creature in the water. In one encounter, the creature hissed at a man.

On August 31, 1882, a local newspaper, the Lake Mills Spike, reported a frightening meeting between two boaters and the Rock Lake Monster. The traumatic encounter began when Ed McKenzie and D.W. Seybert were racing one another in rowboats and the pair happened upon what appeared to be a floating log. However, as the duo quickly learned, this was no log—it was a monster, about as long as a boat, and pickerel colored. The beast opened its mouth nearly twelve inches wide, then submerged. Then it reappeared next to McKenzie’s boat. Seybert and McKenzie yelled to onlookers at a nearby boat ramp for help. One of the men at the boat ramp headed toward the pair in his boat with a shotgun. But by the time he arrived, the creature was gone.

John Lund, who was at the boat ramp, recognized the creature that had frightened McKenzie and Seybert. He had an encounter of his own with the monster a week earlier when it snapped his trolling line, injuring his hand.

In July 1943, Joseph Davis had an encounter with the Rock Lake Monster while fishing on the lake. Davis noticed the water start churning. About that time, a brownish-black creature rose from the water, with about seven feet of its upper body visible. Davis became spellbound by the creature, at sat in his boat and waited for its head to rise. Instead, the creature dipped into the water out of sight. With that, David returned to the shore.

Modern-day sightings of the Rock Lake Monster are few and far between. And I certainly didn’t see any signs of the monster as I visited various points along Rock Lake. With all of the houses, roads and development around the lake, it seems to me if a monster of some sort were in there, there would be far more sightings then there are.

Underwater Pyramids

For me, the Rock Lake Monster is only half the mystery at Lake Mills. Rock Lake has a hidden history. The lake's watery depths hide a set of pyramids. The builders of the structures are unknown. Some think the Aztecs may have lived in the area (when water levels were lower) and built the pyramids before migrating to Mexico. What makes this theory all the more intriguing, is that there are pyramid-shaped mounds located about five miles from the lake in Aztalan State Park.

The classic television show from my teenage years, Unsolved Mysteries, sent scuba divers to investigate the pyramids in Rock Lake. Forensic Geologist, Scott Wolter, star of America Unearthed, dove to the bottom of Rock Lake in a submersible watercraft and investigated the structures in an episode. Unfortunately, neither inquiry produced anything conclusive due in large part to the murkiness of the water.

Sadly for me, I did not see the pyramids or the Rock Lake Monster during my visit. But it was still fun to visit Rock Lake, even without seeing its pyramids or resident lake monster.

For more on my travels, I hope you will check out my Detours Into the Paranormal series. For more on the Rock Lake Monster and other lake monsters, please read my book People are Seeing Something: A Survey of Lake Monsters in the United States and Canada. 

Further Reading:

Linda S. Godfrey, Monsters of Wisconsin: Mysterious Creatures in the Badger State. (Mechanicsburg, PA: Stackpole Books, 2011), 86.

Linda S. Godfrey, Haunted Wisconsin: Ghosts and Strange Phenomena of the Badger State. (Mechanicsburg, PA: Stackpole Books, 2010), 80.

George M. Eberhart, Mysterious Creatures: A Guide to Cryptozoology. Vol. 2. (Santa Barbara, Calif.: ABC-CLIO, 2002), 464.

Jay Rath, The W-files: True Reports of Wisconsin's Unexplained Phenomena. (Madison, Wisconsin: Wisconsin Trails, 1997), 28-29.

  

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