Smetty
A telephone pole with lard buckets for fins. That is one description of the thing said to live in Lake DeSmet.
The story
Smetty gets called Wyoming's Loch Ness Monster. Early settlers and Native people both told of something living under the lake. [KOWB 1290] One sighting described it as "a telephone pole with lard buckets for fins." Older stories compare it to a long-legged alligator. [Cowboy State Daily]
The best-known written mention comes from Edward Gillette, who wrote in his 1925 book Locating the Iron Trail about just missing the creature. [KOWB 1290]
What is actually down there
No proof of a monster. [Cowboy State Daily] What divers do find at Monument Point: red scoria near shore, then weeds, silt and a sunken 20-foot boat. [PADI] And one verified giant: a 17.29-pound walleye speared here in 2018, a world spearfishing record. [WGFD, 2]
The lake is up to 120 feet deep, and some of what is down there is old: raising the dam drowned Seney Point. [Johnson County, 2]
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FAQ
What is Smetty?
Smetty is the lake monster said to live in Lake DeSmet, Wyoming’s answer to the Loch Ness Monster. Sightings describe a serpent-like creature.
Is Smetty real?
There is no evidence it exists. It is a story, and a long-running one.
How old is the Smetty story?
Edward Gillette wrote about nearly encountering the creature in his 1925 book Locating the Iron Trail, and stories were told before that.
Smetty news, if any
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