A group of seemingly rational men were planning to launch an unusual hunt on Monday. They hope to determine once and for all whether a lake in southern Norway really harbors a sea monster, after years of reported sightings.

Espen Samuelsen, 20, is leading the so-called Global Underwater Search Team (GUST) that will search for a serpent in the lake called Roemsjoeen, not far from the Swedish border.

Reported sightings of some sort of sea monster in the lake date back to the 1700s, building up a local legend akin to that of Scotland's famed "Loch Ness monster." For centuries, locals have passed on stories of strange sightings in the lake, from huge dark figures to sudden waves and turbulence in the water that disappear just as suddenly.

"We believe there is something in the lake that should be investigated," Samuelsen told newspaper Dagsavisen in Oslo. He claims researchers haven't taken the sightings seriously.

One of the more recent sightings, in September 1976, involved a busload of people who were being driven along the shore of the lake. Bus driver Asbjørn Holmedahl said he saw something unusual swimming in the water and thought it was a moose. He stopped the bus so his passengers could watch the moose come up on land.

Nothing emerged from the water, however, so he started driving again, until several passengers started hollering and telling him to stop. "I saw big waves, maybe 50 centermeters high, and something dark swimming, maybe 10 meters long," Holmedahl said. "It looked like it had humps."

And then it disappeared and the water became still again. "It all happened so fast, but it was big," Holmedahl said.

Another sighting in 1994 was similar. Samuelsen says he's aware that many laugh off his expedition, which appears similar to another (unsuccessful) attempt to find a serpent in a large lake at Seljord, in Telemark.

"There's a lot of skepticism about our work," he said. "But we're not paying attention to that." He said his group will use "advanced search methods," including an underwater microphone once used to track Soviet submarines.

• Story originally published by:
Aftenposten, Oslo / Norway - June 10.02

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