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Search renewed for Iliamna Lake's 'monster' with DNA testing and underwater video

Clouds over Iliamna Lake (Flickr photo by Vlad Karpinskiy)
Clouds over Iliamna Lake (Flickr photo by Vlad Karpinskiy)

If there really is a lake monster in Alaska's largest lake, a group of researchers using cutting edge technology this summer might have the best chance yet of finding it.

People around Iliamna Lake have reported seeing the creature - only in quick glimpses - since the late 1940s. But there's never been proof of what exactly it is. Now, a team has plans to sift through DNA in the lake and drop a camera down to its deepest spots, a thousand feet down, in an attempt to solve the decades-old mystery.

The group of researchers includes camera specialist Charlotte Levy , who, by day, is assistant director of Natural Resources at the Aleutians East Borough.

Levy told Alaska Public Media's Casey that people who've reported seeing the monster tend to have a similar story.

Casey Grove is host of Alaska News Nightly, a general assignment reporter and an editor at Alaska Public Media. Reach him at cgrove@alaskapublic.org.