MORIAH — Donald Brazee, a retiree from Watervliet staying in Moriah, saw something on Lake Champlain Saturday.

Something dark, in the water, with three humps that looked suspiciously like Champ, the fabled monster believed to lurk in the lake’s depths.

When the sun’s noon-time rays lazily lapped against Brazee’s boat, Salmon Seeker, Lake Champlain was perfectly still.

Then, something that at first appeared to be a wave, came out of nowhere.

Lake Champlain covers an area of about 490 square miles, making it the sixth largest body of fresh water in the United States. It is 108 miles long, 12 miles across at its widest point and has a maximum depth of 399 feet.

By Diane E. Foulds

BURLINGTON, Vt. -- On a chilly morning in June, a team of scientists using underwater microphones picked up a series of strangely high-pitched ticking and chirping noises, similar to what a dolphin or Beluga whale would make. Trouble is, they were miles from the ocean, on Lake Champlain.

Von Muggenthaler was on the lake doing research for the Discovery Channel, which had just finished shooting a TV documentary on ''Champ,'' the legendary Lake Champlain monster.

Although the recordings are still under analysis, they offer the most compelling evidence to date that the creature might actually be real. For ECHO, a Vermont aquarium and science center that opened its doors this spring on the Burlington waterfront, the timing was eerie: August is ''Champ'' month.