On the tail of a beast

Now that I’ve discovered an actual photo of the lake monster, I’m more determined than ever to find Ole Hippie. I’m setting up my camera and tripod tomorrow on the shore of Lake Travis at Pace Bend Park. If anyone wants to join me, bring beer and hot dogs. Hell, bring a keg.

Meanwhile, I’m looking for more witness sightings. If you think you have seen anything in Lake Travis, please comment on this post. I’ll explore all first-hand accounts. I’ll even explore 2nd- and 3rd-hand accounts … if you buy me a beer.

Lake monster in Lake Travis (World Exclusive photo!)

This picture of Ole Hippie was given to Ole Hippie's Hideout blog. The photographer says the photo was captured in 1963, 6 years before the famous "first sighting" on Lake Travis.

BREAKING NEWS

I received an e-mail containing this amazing photo of a lake monster taken by a man who lived on Lake Travis in the late 50s and early 60s. He says the picture was taken in the winter of 1963, six years before the famous sightings at Hippie Hollow, Austin’s nude beach.

Here’s what the photographer said in his email:

I haven’t shown anyone this picture in more than 45 years. I was hoping to release it to someone who would actually believe me, and I found this site. I know it will be in good hands. Here’s how I got the shot:

I had set up my camera to take some nature pictures of birds against the relatively rough winter water. I saw a ripple that didn’t look anything like a normal wave, about 20 yards off shore, and suddenly he was there. He popped up for just a few seconds while stalking a turtle before disappearing from view. I managed to capture the moment. I estimate he’s about 40 feet long from head-to-tail. He swam quickly, like a dolphin. My wife Betsy feared I’d be laughed at or mocked if I showed the picture around to anyone, so I put it in a trunk. I lived on Lake Travis until 1964, and I searched for the beast every day since that winter afternoon. Never saw him again. We moved across the country, and I haven’t been back. It’s great to know “Ole Hippie” is still apparently alive and well.

Looking at the picture, I’m guessing it’s a plesiosaur. What an amazing picture!

Interview Part III: Close encounter

This is the third and final part of an extraordinary interview between me, the owner of this blog, and Jim, a person who claims to have witnessed the famous 1969 surfacing of the lake monster Ole Hippie.

Click here to read Part I and Part II.

OHH (Ole Hippie’s Hideout): So, you held out a sandwich, attempting to get the beast to come closer to shore? Are you crazy?

Jim: Yeah, I’m a bit crazy. I was just sure that the monster couldn’t hurt anyone. I mean, the dude was smoking a joint. How can anyone harm anyone else while smoking the weed?

OHH: Did he come closer?

Jim: He saw the sandwich, or so I thought, and dropped below the surface. I lost sight of him. I turned and saw that gorgeous, nude woman standing on a rock about 10 feet from me. She was in a daze. Anyway, a few seconds later, there was a huge commotion in the water right in front of us as the beast popped out of the water like a cork. Instead of going for my sandwich, he surfaced within feet of that hot girl and moved his head really close to hers. She was petrified, and so was I. We both just froze. The beast seemed to be looking into her eyes, now only a few feet away.

OHH: Wow… then what?

Jim: I hate to even say this because it just seems unreal … but why not? OK, the monster said, “Hey, sugar” in perfect English. She screamed bloody murder, and I fell over and conked my head. I must have gone unconscious for quite a while because the sun was setting by the time I came to. I looked around and saw no one around me. The beast was gone. The woman was gone. I must have dropped my sandwich in the lake. There was not one sign that anything had happened.

OHH: So did you report this to the authorities?

Jim: Are you crazy? I didn’t trust the cops, and they would have thrown me in the insane asylum. I kept it to myself, and the story only comes out after I’ve had a lot of drinks. It’s all true, though. I swear.

OHH: Well, thanks for sharing. It just renews my interest in finding Ole Hippie.

Jim: That was intense. You got any weed?

There you have it, folks. That’s by far the most convincing interview I’ve had yet. Is Ole Hippie real? Jim sure thinks so.

Witness interview Part II: Contact

This is a continuation of an interview with Jim, a witness to the first sighting of Ole Hippie, a lake monster that lurks in Lake Travis near Austin, Texas. You can read the first part of the interview here.

OHH (Ole Hippie’s Hideout): So what did you see when you looked out into the lake?

Jim: You won’t believe what I saw. I haven’t told anyone about this in 40 years. It is just too … well, too ridiculous. I’m not sure I even believe what I saw myself. I mean, I was taking some really good drugs at the time.

OHH: Try me.

Jim: Okay, man. So, I gazed out over the lake and saw this monster .. a beast really … turn its head right at me. It looked like something in that dinosaur movie with Jeff Goldblum…

OHH: Oh, Jurassic Park …

Jim: No, Independence Day. Or maybe it was The Fly. I can’t remember now – anyway, it looked right at me. And it had … well, it had …

OHH: What?

Jim: It had a big joint hanging out of his mouth. I mean here was this monster, and he was smoking the giggle weed. There’s no question the beast was smoking a jay, a doobie, the lamb’s bread, the butter flower, a Colorado cocktail, Dona Juana, dope, the giggle smoke … you know what I’m saying?

OHH: No.

Jim: Weed, man. He was smoking weed! (Starts giggling)

OHH: Uh, huh. Anyway, what did he look like?

Jim: Like a prehistoric turtle without a shell. He was all neck. That neck had to be 20 feet long. I couldn’t see his body. Just this massively long neck, little head and a joint hanging out of his mouth.

OHH: Did he do anything?

Jim: He just stared at the people on the shore, who at this point were either yelling or running. Well, all except that hot flower child girl and me. We were just staring. I remember his eyes. Oh, man his eyes!

OHH: They looked vicious?

Jim: No, bloodshot. He was baked, man. Just baked. He was giggling at the scene, which just made me giggle as well. I kept saying, “whoah” over and over… and that made me giggle more.

OHH: What did you do next?

Jim: I had a sandwich with me, so I held it out. For some reason, I didn’t feel threatened, so I offered him a sandwich.

To be continued.

Witness interview, Part I

I’ve been hunting for Ole Hippie, hoping to just catch a glance of the beast, for nearly 20 years. I’ve spent countless hours by the shore with my camera on a tripod hoping to capture him on film. I’ve interviewed some convincing witnesses and countless less-convincing witnesses in that time.

Recently, I received some correspondence from the best witness I’ve run into so far: a guy who said he was there on that hot summer day in July 1969 when the monster first made an appearance at Hippie Hollow (then called McGregor Park). I asked whether I could interview him for this blog, and he agreed on the condition that I only publish his first name (Jim). Here’s a transcript of a phone interview I had with him. I’ll break it into several parts because it’s a lot of work to transcribe the call, and I don’t type very quickly.

OHH (Ole Hippie’s Hideout): Hello, Jim. Let’s get right into this. What is your connection to Ole Hippie, Lake Travis’ little-heard-of lake monster?

Jim: I was there in ‘69 when the beast surfaced. I saw him with my own eyes.  No one has ever believed me.

OHH: Why haven’t you been believed?

Jim: Because I was a well-known stoner and LSD user at the time. No one believed anything I said. Well, except when I told them I knew where I could get them some really good stuff …

OHH: OK, back to the sighting. When was this, where were you, and what were you doing at the time?

Jim: It was July 1969, and I was 19 and had just gotten my draft card to go to Vietnam. I was scared out of my mind, and was trying to decide whether to go to Canada or stay here in Austin and burn my card. To get my mind off it, I drove up to McGregor Park, now called Hippie Hollow, to smoke some weed and hang out with some other hippies. I was just sitting there on a rock, taking in Lake Travis’ beauty, when I saw something pop out of the lake about 100 yards off shore.

OHH: What did it look like?

Jim: I thought it was just a boat wake at first. Then I saw it rise up a bit above the surface. I was soooo baked. I mean just stoned out of my mind, so the thought crossed my mind that I was just seeing things … but it looked so real. I just pointed and yelled, “Whoah! Whoah!” There were a couple of other kids my age on the rocks, and they looked the way I was pointing. Some started screaming. Others just stood there. We were all naked. I mean it was the thing to do out there, and I guess it still is – to get naked at that park. I remember looking over at one really foxy lady who was standing there on the rock, completely in the buff, just frozen. She had her eyes fixed on whatever was in the water, but she wasn’t moving, man. Just like a statue. I stared at her for a while, almost forgetting the monster. You have to remember, I was 19. Anyway, her boyfriend who I saw her with earlier was nowhere to be seen. And she was just standing there. Her mouth slightly open, her eyes transfixed on the water.

OHH: Did you manage to pull away from the flower child to get another look in the water.

Jim: Oh yeah. I looked back out there. And you won’t believe what I saw.

To be continued …