Champ? Drone Footage From a Kids’ Film Shoot Goes Viral

What happened

On 12 June 2026, the Adirondack Explorer’s Almanack ran “Local filmmakers’ footage of Lake Champlain monster ‘Champ’ goes viral.” The piece, under the byline “Community News Reports,” described “a distinct, large entity moving behind the filmmakers’ rowboat” in drone video shot for the children’s film “Lucy and the Lake Monster.” The filmmakers are Kelly Tabor, a retired Crown Point teacher, and co-director and actor Richard Rossi. The clip was not new. It was shot in 2024 and had been promoted since then.

The footage

The embedded video was uploaded by the channel “RichardRossi Live” on 2 August 2024 and runs 11 seconds. It is labeled as an excerpt, with “Full Footage info in description.” The filmmakers say it comes from a continuous “12-minute and 57-second aerial master reel” with original metadata. The film’s director of photography flew the drone “on a July afternoon,” and the shape appears “just after the 4 minute mark” in the film. The rowboat is 11 feet long, which gives scale. No independent analysis of the full reel has been published.

Timeline

• 5 July 1977: Sandra Mansi photographs a shape in Lake Champlain.
• 30 June 1981: The New York Times publishes the Mansi photo.
• May 2013: Skeptical Inquirer publishes new information questioning the Mansi photo.
• July 2024: The drone footage is shot in Bulwagga Bay.
• 2 August 2024: The 11-second excerpt is uploaded to YouTube.
• 11 August 2024: The EIN Presswire release says, “We inadvertently found Champ while reviewing video from a drone.”
• October 2025: Fox Carolina TV covers the footage (linked on the film’s site).
• June 2026: The clip spreads widely. The Adirondack Explorer item runs on 12 June and is updated on 17 June.
• Autumn 2026: The filmmakers open applications for a private scientific review panel (Adirondack Daily Enterprise).

What witnesses reported

Nobody saw the shape live. The filmmakers say they noticed it during editing. “When I first saw the footage on the big screen during editing, my eyes were completely popping out,” Tabor said. Tabor insists it “is real footage, not manipulated in any way.” Rossi called the attention “an encouraging spiritual spark plug as we work on our next sequel, ‘The Secrets of Lake Champlain.'”

What the research found

The 2026 story is a 2024 press campaign. The 2024 press release set out the narrative that the 2026 coverage repeats. The filmmakers’ site links outlets that covered it. The Adirondack Explorer notes that its community items come “from press releases and other notices.” The people promoting the clip are also selling a Champ film and planning a sequel.