Case: GG-2026-175
Status: Active
Documentation rating: C
Location: Lake Van, Van Province, Turkey
The Van Lake Monster is an alleged aquatic creature associated with Lake Van, a large soda lake in eastern Turkey. The earliest currently identified newspaper account appeared on 1889-04-29 in the Ottoman newspaper Saadet, which described an unidentified creature reportedly attacking a person at the lake, while a much larger wave of modern interest developed during the 1990s. In 2025, journalist Mehmet Çetingüleç acknowledged that the 1993 media campaign that helped launch the modern monster craze was deliberately devised as sensational publicity intended partly to attract attention and touris…
Full case file:
https://gothic.black/Case-Files/id/186