The Bear Lake Monster has returned from the depths.
A decade after the last reported sighting of the huge dragon-fish -- said to be lurking in the aquamarine waters of the 22-mile-long lake -- reports again are trickling in.

The Bear Lake Monster began as a publicity stunt in 1868, says Bob Parson, author of A History of Rich County and curator of special collections at Utah State University.
Joseph C. Rich arrived with his father, Charles C. Rich, an apostle sent by LDS President Brigham Young in 1863 to settle the Bear Lake Valley, which spans the Utah-Idaho border region. Five years later, Joseph Rich began publicizing the story of the Bear Lake Monster to attract more settlers.

Some people have speculated that an underground waterway connects Bear Lake to Loch Ness in Scotland and that the monster travels between the two lakes, spending winters in Scotland and summers at Bear Lake.