Ashuaps

Ashuaps (coming from the Ashuapmushuan river) is the name of a serpentine creature that allegedly lives in the 1,053 square kilometre Lac Saint Jean in Quebec, near Saguenay. Ashuaps is a 60 foot long dark bluish, snake-like animal that can lift its head over three feet out of the water. The indigenous Innu people have had legends of similar creatures in their mythology, saying that it lives in a cave under Grass-Snake Island in Lac Saint Jean.

The first modern sighting was in the early 1950’s, although a large amount of sightings occurred between 1978 to 1995 or so. Due to this, some locals think there was one Ashuaps, and it died in the 90’s, hence the very small amount of modern sightings. In 1955 the “International crossing of Lac Saint Jean” swim race was occurring, and due to the sightings, they signed a waver that if they encounter or are injured due to an Ashuaps, they will not take legal action against the organization that puts on the race. Sure enough, multiple onlookers reported seeing an Ashuaps during the race.

In 1978, Marcel Tardif and his wife saw a 50 foot long serpentine black creature in the lake, and on the same day, Michael Verreault, his wife and daughter had their canoe overturned by a “massive black snake”. In 1977 due to all the sightings a man built a submarine to find an Ashuaps, but due to the size of the lake, he was unsuccessful. The Ashuaps has became a local mascot and has had a brewery named after it.