By Tim Binnall
Wildlife officials in Massachusetts have shot down speculation that a popular lake is home to a mysterious creature following sightings of the alleged 'monster.' The curious case reportedly began last month when a father and daughter were visiting Fresh Pond in the city of Cambridge and noticed something unusual. Detailing their experience in flyers that he later posted around the area, the man explained that they had spotted an unidentified creature emerge from the water approximately 90 feet from the shore. Sharing a drawing of the oddity which eerily resembled the famed Loch Ness Monster, he declared that "we are certain that it was not a snake, fish, river otter, or axolotl" and asked for people to contact him if they had seen something similar.
As one might imagine, the story raised eyebrows among the many visitors to the popular recreational location and sparked speculation among residents of the area after the tale was posted online. In a second series of flyers, the man claimed that his call to action had been successful and that a person contacted him with their account of seeing the creature that has now come to be known as the Loch Fresh Monster or Freshie. The initial witness also lamented that all of his flyers had been removed by the city in less than a day, which led him to wonder "is there something they don't want us to know?"
In response to the suggested conspiracy theory that the proverbial powers that be in Massachusetts wish to keep a 'monster' in Fresh Pond under wraps, Mark Gallagher of the Cambridge Water Department told the Boston Globe that "there's nothing to hide" and insisted that the Freshie sightings have "a very plausible and rational explanation.” To that end, water department ranger Timothy Puopolo explained to the newspaper that "because it's an active drinking water supply, we keep it very well monitored" and, as such, "I don’t think there’d be any type of cryptid living there without us knowing."
As for what might have caused the misconception that there is a creature lurking in the lake, he noted that there are aeration tubes at the bottom of Fresh Pond to keep the water clean and this would account for any 'mysterious' bubbles spotted at the site. With regards to what the initial witness claims to have seen, Puopolo pointed to a very specific suspect: an approximately 15-foot-long log that he recently noticed floating atop the water and seemingly moving as a result of the aeration system. "You could easily see how it looked serpentine. It's the perfect illusion," he marveled, noting that the wood appeared to still be at the spot of the sighting when he investigated the peculiar report this week.