Editor's Note: I had the opportunity of interviewing John Kraft at his home by phone in the summer of 2001. Dirk Vander Ploeg

This is the photograph John Kraft shot.

MonsterTracker: Can you tell me John when you saw Bessie?

John: I belive it was in 1991 in July.

MonsterTracker: Can you explain how you and your family happened to be near lake Erie?

John: Yes, my inlaws live in the Erie area and we were renting a cottage as we did every summer, right on the lake in Northeast Pennsylvania. We usually rent this cottage for one week. And on this particular evening I had been taking some pictures of the sunset, it was above 8.30. in the evening. Around Lake Erie the sun sets later than does when were live.

I was framing the sunset with a tree branch and after I had finished my picture taking I sat down with my mother-in-law, wife and my brother-in-law and about five minutes later my wife said to me, "John, look out about 100 yards, there appears to be some men in wet suits, about 8 to 10 men swimming. And since I had a telephoto lens on my camera, because of the sunset picture taking I zoomed in on it and it wasn't men in wet suits. It was, I don't know what it was, but for lack of a better name, I call it a monster fish. I could see its head and the neck went under the water, could see the top of the body and could actually see the flotilla action of the tail. I took two pictures of it and handed the camera to my wife so she could see closeup.

MonsterTracker: Could you describe what the head of the animal looked like?

John: It looked like a snake. You know, where the head came up out of the water. It pretty difficult to describe. It didn't have any fins. It had the head of a snake or an eel maybe.

MonsterTracker: I understand that over the years you have had the opportunity of looking at pictures and trying to determine exactly what you saw. Right. Some prehistoric...some living.

John: Yes, but I am sorry I can not remember the Latin name for it.

MonsterTracker: John, can you send me a copy of the photos for my website?

John: Yes, my secretary has them on her computer and will send you one.

MonsterTracker: Thank you for your time and this interview.

I have inverted the photo above (reversed the colors) and it appears to show an object with its head sticking out of the water (right) and its back trailing behind. There are also indications of a tail submerged following the apparent humped back. Dirk