The other day I was discussing Lake Merritt and the Lake Chalet with a colleague, when for some reason I felt it was a good idea to note the existence of an Oak Ness Monster. After telling me I was crazy, said colleague finally agreed that it was indeed a cool art project and maybe it did exist. This prompted me to do a bit of internet searching, at which time I discovered that my previous post about the monster has nearly 300 page views - by far the most I've ever had.
Since the publication of my blog post in March 2011, a UC Berkeley publication contained a serious albeit likely tongue in cheek article about the monster, apparently on the author's last day.
In addition, you can now purchase a t-shirt with a 1940's era representation of the monster.
Of course, the Lake Merritt Institute has been touting the existence of the monster since 2006, but given that they also discuss mermaids in the lake, they really can't be trusted.
In 2008, the Oakland Tribune picked up the story, and the monster was apparently named Merrittzilla in a poll. (I prefer Oak Ness.)
Still, I'm rather flummoxed by the lack of information on this monster. If you do a google image search for the Lake Merritt monster, my picture is one of only three apparent real photos. Why do more people not see this monster? How long does it sit on the bottom of the lake? And most importantly, will it rise from the depths to support me during the Oakland Marathon on the 24th?
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Have you seen the monster? Please tell me.
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