The Legend of Chessie

While the Loch Ness Monster lives in Scotland, the Chesapeake Bay has its own legendary creature: Chessie. The story can be followed through the Rappahannock Record and other newspaper reports.

News of the creature first hit headlines in the summer of 1978 after multiple sightings in the Chesapeake Bay. Donald Kyker, a retired CIA agent, and his wife saw what they called Nessie Jr., a “25 or 30”-foot-long-creature “as round as a telephone pole” that “stuck its head out of the water and moved in an undulating fashion.”¹ Kyker’s neighbors, Mr. and Mrs. Howard Smoot, also witnessed it.

At the time, James E. Douglas, who was the chairman of the Potomac River Fisheries Commission, said that “if there is a sea monster in the Potomac River…it deserves peace and quiet and a right to frolic unfettered and unharmed.”²

Early reports from the Virginia Institute of Marine Science (VIMS) and Dr. John Merriner suggested Chessie is most likely “a pound net pole, an oar fish, a tree or stump, a common water snake, an escaped anaconda, an alligator, a wave, an optical illusion, or a skinny sea monster.”³ They also reiterate that sightings have only been land-based, with the exception of one by a sea captain. VIMS sought out photos and notes and told the public that the creature “should not be molested.”⁴

After no reports of Chessie in 1979, the summer of 1980 yielded multiple sightings, leading residents of Maryland and Virginia to believe that the creature would only be seen in the warmer months.⁵

In June, Goodwin Muse, an Oak Grove farmer of Westmoreland County, saw “a snakelike creature some 10-14 feet long, dark in color and with no trace of fins.”⁶ He added “its head was smaller than [his] hand.”⁷

Later that year in September, the Richmond Times Dispatch reported multiple sightings from Maryland. G.F. “Buddy” Green III and his family saw the creature near Coles Point and described it as “25 feet long and 5 to 6 inches in diameter.”⁸ A father and son near Guthries Point also saw the creature, as well as a handful of people near Patuxent River.⁹

September 1980 was a particularly bountiful month as there were more than five individual reports from various news sources. These ranged from the Bay Bridge Tunnel, to Gunpowder River (near Baltimore), to Kent Island.¹⁰

In October, on a fishing trip, a total of 25 or more people all saw the creature off Smith Point in Northumberland County. One captain, Bill Jenkins, disputed the idea that it could be a turtle, and other captains describe the creature as “a serpentlike thing” with a head that “was not larger than a football.”¹¹ It was also clear there had been more reports by people who did not want to talk publicly about it.¹²

With more sightings also come more explanations–one called “The Anaconda Syndrome” posits that residents are most likely seeing South American anacondas that traveled on commercial sailing vessels to Virginia, where these snakes escaped and made the Chesapeake their home.¹³

Despite the multitude of sightings, and even the Virginia Governor John N. Dalton talking about the phenomenon, the turning point for Chessie did not arrive until Memorial Day of 1982.¹⁴

On this fateful day, Robert and Karen Frew captured Chessie on film for the first time. Karen describes the creature as “20 feet long” with “a round head about 10 inches in diameter.”¹⁵ She states it was “like seeing a UFO.”¹⁶ The couple was aware of the long history and folklore of the animal and were excited to be able to share the footage. Frew at the time was getting inundated with phone calls but was determined “to get the film in the right hands.”¹⁷

The Smithsonian was contacted about the film, and scientist George Zug first refused to review Frew’s footage, stating it was a “media circus.”¹⁸ In July 1982, Zug changed his mind. After looking at the video, he determined that it was not clear enough to identify the creature. Plans were made to conduct image enhancement on the film to better view it.¹⁹

Other scientists and organizations also looked at the film. The Enigma Project is a group of investigators focused on natural phenomena. Mike Frizzell and Bob Blazzara, Enigma Project co-founders, also could not conclusively say what Chessie was, but do state that whatever is on the tape is “alive.”²⁰ The pair used similar descriptors as other witnesses, stating the creature was dark brown and very long.²¹ They thought that it’s possible Chessie is a snake, but mentioned that it would be exciting since it would be an “unknown species.”²²

Dr. Goldfinger examined the video at the Applied Physics Lab, and he determined “the object could be a long undulating creature, but it could also be a shorter animal leaving a wake that took on the appearance of humps.”²³ In other words, his analysis was also inconclusive.

Though no conclusive evidence could be found from the Frew video at Love Point (the northernmost tip of Kent Island, Maryland), Chessie continued to be sighted consistently near the Eastern Bay. At this point, Chessie became synonymous with that region.

Chessie continued to be sighted consistently through the summers of 1983 and 1984. In August of 1984, three consecutive weeks yielded sightings off the Eastern Shore.

On August 4, Harry R. Lohman and his wife reported seeing what looked like “a great big eel.”²⁴ On August 9, Allen and Louis Blunt Jr. saw something that looked like a snake or eel. Finally, on August 14, Thomas Creekmore and his family saw Chessie and described it as “dark, long” and with “at least two humps.”²⁵

Despite these reports, some residents of Virginia and Maryland remained unconvinced, with some suspecting an elaborate hoax designed to increase tourism to the area.²⁶

1984 was the last “big” year for Chessie. There were a couple sightings in the following years, though most of them petered out by 1986. Sightings ranged in location from the Eastern Shore to the Rappahannock River.

Lydia Bowles saw Chessie in 1985 near the Potomac.²⁷ Her sighting inspired Mrs. Ralph Marinacci to write to the editor of the Rappahannock Record multiple times, stating she also saw Chessie, this time in the Rappahannock near Grey’s Point, the same location as Faith Ann Calis’ encounter earlier in the month.²⁸

Finally, Dr. Bishop and Boudrie saw Chessie in the Tred Avon River in 1986. They saw a creature described as “20 feet or more long” and they say it appeared that “a couple of arches would go under, and then another would come up.”²⁹

The last reported sightings in the 20th century were near the Choptank River by Patterson and in Westmoreland County. Lydia Bowles, who previously saw Chessie in 1985, saw Chessie again five years later, in the same location.³⁰

The most recent sighting was from 2014, when Chris Gardener wrote an article titled “Chasing Chessie” on Bay Weekly. He described his encounter with the legend:

I have seen water moccasins swimming through rivers, but this creature was much, much longer. Its head flared out ever so slightly in an almost slender football shape. Picture an abnormally long king cobra with its hood flared and head and tail floating on the surface of the water. To the best of my knowledge, there are no snakes in the Chesapeake Bay that are close to being that long — let alone hooded like the king cobra.³¹

Chessie became a cultural phenomenon starting in the 1980s.  In 1984, Virginians were asked “If you had a chance, what would you put on a stamp?” A Chessie-inspired stamp was submitted by Bill and Carol Durr.³² Chessie was also seen in Deltaville’s annual children’s parade, winning the walker category for Shannon Vest.³³

In 1987, Chessie became the mascot for a restoration program on the Chesapeake Bay by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Services. She was featured in a coloring book that would “point out problems his fish and wildlife friends are having because of polluted conditions,” to appeal to children by encouraging them to clean up trash and litter by the shore.³⁴

A person by the name of Charley wrote into the Richmond Times Dispatch to say that he was “glad to see that Chessie will be the Fish and Wildlife Service’s symbol and spokesmonster in the effort to clean up the Chesapeake Bay,” adding,

Not only will this promote the ecological restoration of the bay, but it also will increase public alertness to a specific sea monster presence in the bay. As you and I know, a more alert public will make more sightings and more sightings will wear down the boring skepticism that we continue to encounter occasionally in our coverage of Chessie.³⁵

In the same year, a board game was introduced with Chesapeake Bay Trivia and, of course, Chessie was featured.³⁶

Chessie can also be found in literature. Margaret Mecham in 1991 published a children’s book titled The Secret of Heron Creek, about a pair of boys who befriend Chessie the sea monster.³⁷ Lisa Cole’s 2011 book Searching for Chessie of Chesapeake Bay told the story of a girl searching for Chessie. Reviews praised its “nice eco-message.”³⁸

Throughout the next 20 years, Chessie appeared at “Estuaries Day” at York River State Park in 1991, in a boat parade in Urbanna in 2006, at a Spring Fling at Kilby Shores Elementary School in 2005, and at Ripley’s Believe it Or Not Museum until 2020.³⁹

You can find remnants of Chessie even today, from the Chessie Dragon paddle boats in Baltimore’s Inner Harbor to RAR’s burger joint, Chessie Burger.

The story of Chessie lived on in the hearts of Marylanders and Virginians in the form of a lost manatee that was spotted in the Chesapeake Bay starting in the summer of 1994. It was named Chessie by the locals. The manatee was from Florida and had a tracking device placed on it as it moved north. It was eventually returned to Floridian waters.