The Hoax with the Most

A local legend celebrates 170 years

Gather ‘round, kids. This week we’re celebrating an important and historic birthday. It was July 13th, 170 years ago, when four men and two boys went out fishing on Silver Lake and reeled in a story that remains woven into the fabric of Perry, NY, to this day.

Last summer, I was enjoying an iced coffee on Main Street when a man and a woman strolled by. They were mid-conversation.

“I don’t know,” the woman said, “maybe their mascot is a dragon?”

“Maybe,” the man said, “they’re everywhere.”

“They really are,” she agreed.

“A dragon?!” I thought, unnecessarily offended as they continued down the sidewalk.

They were half right — about the everywhere part, anyway. It was then I realized you really can’t walk a block without stumbling into some sign of Perry’s legendary sea serpent (not a dragon, thank you very much). Less available, though, to the casual observer, is any explanation of why — at least not on Main Street. It’s a shame, too, because it’s a special part of our history and I think it’s a great story.

No better time than our resident sea monster’s 170th birthday to honor the tale of what I like to call: “Perry’s Hoax with the Most.”

It goes something like this:

It was a mid-July evening in 1855. A fishing boat floated out onto Silver Lake. The men and boys on board could not have known what awaited them in the water that night. By the time they headed back to the dock, it had gotten dark; just the light of the moon showing the way. That’s when it happened! Suddenly, they caught sight of a hideous creature! The dinosaur-like monster rose from the deep, splashed about, and then mysteriously disappeared. The four men and two boys lived to tell the tale, and you can just imagine how a thing like that would make its way around town and beyond.

I want to pause this story briefly to reassure any current summer visitors that there is nothing to fear; no need to vacate your summer rental or pull your boat out of the water. This is not a Loch Ness Monster or Jurassic Park situation. As far as I know, we’re not harboring any kind of prehistoric creature of the deep in Silver Lake — at least at the moment. So, don’t panic. There is more to the story.

In a twist of events that could have inspired an episode of Scooby-Doo, the sea serpent sighting was all by design. Business had been slow around the lake, and so a shrewd hotel owner by the name of A.B. Walker got creative. He spent two years tinkering away on a terrifying beast he cobbled together with canvas and wires, just waiting for the right moment to unleash it. Once he did, his hotel filled up with curious travelers and, of course, men who wanted to hunt the thing for sport.

The sea serpent was great for business and worked like a charm. Walker kept his secret safe for about two years, people kept pouring into town — and he would have gotten away with it too if it weren’t for a meddling fire that burned down his hotel and exposed the serpent as a big, fat, green, craft project. Once the flames were out, firefighters found the charred remains of the beast, revealing it had all been a publicity stunt.

In the words of Ron Burgundy, “I’m not even mad. That’s amazing.”

Don’t get me wrong. I don’t want to condone Walker’s freshwater fraud, but I have to own up to feeling a weird sense of pride that I live in a place where something so ridiculous happened.

When fire consumed Walker’s sea serpent, a whole new legend rose from the ashes, giving Perry a uniquely quirky gift, a piece of historic absurdity to call its own.

I like the fact that Perry’s sea serpent legend still captures the imagination, that we have serpents holding court and standing guard throughout the area. I like that this all happened 170 years ago, and we’ve been talking about it ever since.

This essay originally appeared in my column in the June 17, 2025 edition of the Perry Herald in Perry, NY.