Sightings of the Pend Oreille Paddler stretch back to the 1940s and continue into the 21st century. The first reports coincided with World War II, when locals spotted strange shapes in the water that some believed were submarines from the nearby Farragut Naval Training Center. In the 1970s and 1980s, new accounts described a massive, gunmetal-gray creature racing across the lake’s surface, with one 1977 incident sensationally reported as a “monster attack” before being debunked as a papier-mâché prop. Later sightings, including a 1985 report from a Coeur d’Alene teacher and a 2007 photograph taken from Grouse Mountain, kept the legend alive. Whether explained as sturgeon, logs, or Cold War naval experiments, these stories continue to fuel the mystery of Idaho’s most famous lake monster.

• 1944 – The first reported sighting occurred during World War II. Locals saw strange shapes beneath the water, which many later speculated were submarines from the Farragut Naval Training Center.

• 1970s – Rumors of a large, silver-gray monster resurfaced, with multiple accounts of something massive moving swiftly across the lake.

• 1977 – A sensational story claimed a young girl at Sandpoint City Beach survived a “monster attack.” This was later revealed to be a hoax involving a 12-foot papier-mâché catfish prop from a 1974 play.

• 1983 to 1984 – James R. McLeod, a North Idaho College professor, led a cryptozoology club investigation into the Paddler. They discovered the 1977 “monster photo” was the papier-mâché catfish, but McLeod still suggested the creature could be a prehistoric sturgeon.

• 1985 (Memorial Day) – A Coeur d’Alene teacher, Julie Green, reported chasing a “gunmetal gray object” that appeared only a few hundred yards from her boat.

• 2007 (March 29) – A staff photographer for The River Journal, Jay Mock, captured a photo from Grouse Mountain showing a mysterious shape in the lake. The image was later shared on the cryptozoology site CryptoMundo by Loren Coleman.