The Monster of Lake Tota
A Spanish chronicle of the 1600s described a black monster in Colombia's highest lake, with the head of an ox and a body bigger than a whale's.
What was reported
Lake Tota is the largest lake in Colombia, lying high in the Andes at about 3,000 metres. In the 17th century, a Spanish chronicler wrote that a great monster lived in it: black, with a head like an ox's, and larger than a whale.
The lake was sacred to the Muisca people, and local stories spoke of a creature in its cold, deep water. Later reports have been few.
Explanations offered
No evidence of a large animal has ever been found, and the lake couldn't feed one. The story may combine Muisca beliefs about sacred lakes with the Spanish love of marvels, like other lake monsters around the world.
- When
- Recorded in the 1600s
- Where
- Lake Tota, Boyacá, Colombia
- Witnesses
- A Spanish chronicler, and Muisca tradition
- Status
- Legend
Famous cases are real, widely reported events. Each file sets out what witnesses said and the explanations that have been offered, without taking a side.
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