‘Stormie Normie,’ Lake Norman’s legendary creature, now has its own trail
Catawba County officially named one of the most visible trails in its new 606-acre Mountain Creek Park after a legendary Lake Norman sea creature that fishermen and homeowners still report seeing plying the waters.
The park opens Saturday on the northwestern tip of the lake in Sherrills Ford, about 35 miles north of Charlotte. Among its 19.52 total trail miles is a 0.82-mile paved, ADA-accessible “easy” trail named Stormie Normie that winds 90 to 100 feet down to a pier on the lake.
Stormie Normie is a kids-friendly name for the legendary Loch Norman Monster, park officials told The Charlotte Observer during a preview tour.
Sightings of a giant fish have been reported for decades on the lake, according to media reports and a website dedicated to the legend.
With 520 miles of shoreline, Lake Norman spans parts of Mecklenburg, Iredell, Lincoln and Catawba counties.
Park staff brainstormed names for the mountain biking trails, Catawba County spokeswoman Amy McCauley told the Observer this week.
The names “were inspired by the history, lore and habitat associated with Mountain Creek Park’s location,” McCauley said in an email. “Because it’s a park, the names were also infused with a little bit of fun.”
‘What is that freaking thing?’
Public interest in spotting the beast prompted cruises where passengers searched Lake Norman with binoculars.
In 2017, a film crew for the Japanese TV show “What’s This – Mysteries From Around the World” embarked on an unsuccessful three-day hunting expedition to find the beast, the Observer reported at the time.
Fishermen and homeowners, however, continue to report sightings on LakeNormanMonster.com, a site that sells Normie T-shirts, mugs, beach blankets, posters, prints and a children’s book.
A crappie fisherman reported the latest encounter Jan. 18.
“Could it have been Normie?” the Sherrills Ford man posted on the website after he said he saw “something sticking out of the water” as he fished from a pier in Mountain Creek, in the northwestern end of the lake in Catawba County..
“But it was moving,” he said. “The head was going forward then it would slow to a stop and take off again. I was like, ‘what is that freaking thing?!’”
The creature was brown and “about as big as a goose’s body, but it was no goose!” the fisherman reported. “It moved about 20 feet then slowly went under. I was blown away by whatever it was… and I’m not crazy!!”
His phone died by the time he tried to photograph the creature, he said.
“I saw it there too!” a person replied.
“I have caught cat fish ginormous ones I have been a fan of the idea of something being mutated and cross genetically formed into A different species,” another person replied.
‘What did I just see? A monster?’
On July 31, 2021, while paddle boarding in the person’s cove, an anonymous Denver, N.C., resident saw “a 6-8 foot dark figure just below the surface, about 10 feet from shore.”
“A few parts were barely above water and then all of sudden it splash(ed) and went under water,” the homeowner said on LakeNormanMonster.com.
Five minutes later, “the same creature breached the surface of the water close by,” according to the report.
“What is going on?” the person wondered. “What did i just see? A monster?”
‘Dinosaur-like creature’
In July 2017, a 35-year-old Mecklenburg County man told CryptoZoology.com he spotted a “dinosaur-like creature” while traveling on a boat with friends, the Observer reported at the time.
The man described the creature as “splashing around in the water,” 10 feet long and reminiscent of the mythical Loch Ness monster. It was visible for about a minute before dropping below the surface, he told the website.
It’s just a gigantic fish, skeptics say
Skeptics say the monster is just an ordinary fish grown big.
The creature is likely a catfish that grew more than 8 feet long, a diver from Clemmons posted on LakeNormanMonster.com in 2017.
In reply to the Denver, N.C., resident’s post on the website, another person posted that the homeowner likely saw a giant catfish, an alligator gar that can grow to 10 feet in length, or a longnose gar.
Longnose gar, which can grow to 5 or 6 feet in length, definitely do roam the lake, including near the new Mountain Creek Park fishing pier, park officials told the Observer.
This story was originally published June 18, 2022 at 7:00 AM.