Quick hits Myth Vs. Fact TO TRUCKEE
Lake Tahoe is an alpine lake that sits 1/3 within Nevada’s boundary. At TA H O E 1,655 feet deep, it is CITY the second deepest in the U.S. (after Crater Lake) and the 16th in the whole world. In fact, Lake A COUSIN TO THE LOCH Tahoe is so deep that NESS MONSTER LURKS the bottom of the lake is BELOW THE WAVES. at the same elevation as People have long reported Carson City, which sits on spotting a large, scaly serpent the valley floor below the surfacing above the Sierra Nevada. water, though any There are many myths related to the lake’s legendary depths, including one that says the bottom has never been discovered. Let’s look at a few more of these stories, and hopefully set the record straight on a few!
TUNNELS ON THE LAKE’S BOTTOM CONNECT TO VIRGINIA CITY.
NEVADA MAGAZINE & VISITOR GUIDE
Tales of tunnels beneath the lake have been around since the late 1800s. Reports of greedy miners digging all the way to Tahoe’s bottom or an underground river connecting to a vast boiling lake were originally published in newspapers as entertainment.
NE VADA
Lake Tahoe
INCLINE VILLAGE
KINGS BEACH
CALIFORNIA
Myth vs. Fact:
Sand Harbor State Park
Spooner Lake State Park TO CARSON CITY
proof of the creature is only in eye-witness accounts and out-offocus photographs. In the 1980s, the legends were turned into a children’s book, and the green cartoon monster named Tahoe Tessie has since become an unofficial lake mascot.
Cave Lake State Park
ZEPHYR COVE
Van Sickle Bi-State Park
SOUTH L A K E TA H O E TO MEYERS
JACQUES COUSTEAU MADE A SECRET DIVE.
THE MOB SANK HUNDREDS OF BODIES TO THE BOTTOM.
In the 1980s, the famed oceanographer apparently made an unannounced submarine voyage at Lake Tahoe. When he surfaced, he allegedly said that the world is not ready for what he had discovered. There’s no evidence this voyage happened, but the lake has been explored by a submersible. In 2016, the Undersea Voyager Project located more than a dozen shipwrecks.
It’s no secret the Mob had a presence in Tahoe during the mid-20th century, and it’s said that people who ran afoul of the bosses would find themselves in concrete shoes plummeting toward a watery tomb. There isn’t any proof that the Mob used the lake as a place to disappear bodies, and— to date—no mass graves have been discovered.
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3/28/22 11:00 AM
