Chessie is a Loch Ness Monster (Nessie) type cryptid said to inhabit Chesapeak Bay in between Maryland and Virginia USA

Most sightings describe the creature as a long, snake-like sea-serpent, from anywhere between 25 and 40 feet long.
Unlike other similar cryptid sightings such as Nessie, or Champ, Chessie possesses no flippers or limbs whatsoever, but is instead said to more closely resemble a giant Eel or a sea-snake. And is reported to be black or brown in colour.
 
The earliest sighting the creature is said to have taken place in 1936. "Something reptilian and unknown in the water" was observed by a crew of military personnel.
 
 
 
According to Matt Lake in The “Weird Maryland” Travellers-Guide, Two fishermen, Francis Klarrman and Edward J. Ward had spotted something in the water near Baltimore in 1943, one of the men said:
“This thing was about 75 yards away, at right angles from our boat.
At first, it looked like something floating on the water. It was black and the part of it that was out of the water seemed about 12 feet long.
It has a head about as big as a ‘football’ and shaped somewhat like a horse’s head.
It turned its head around several times — almost all the way around.”
 
In 1978, witnesses claimed to have seen Chessie near Southern Maryland's Calvert Cliffs State Park and in the Potomac River in Westmoreland County, Virginia.
 
A sighting in 1980 by boater Trudy Guthrie, was published by the Evening Sun. It was later identified as a manatee from Florida. Manatees are occasionally sighted in the area.
 
In 1982 Robert and Karen Frew captured Chessie on film near Kent Island. Their footage shows a brownish object moving side to side like an aquatic snake.
In 1994, a manatee that was rescued from Chesapeake's cold water was nicknamed “Chessie” after the monster, before being returned to Florida.
 
Another sighting occurred in 1997, off the shore of Fort Smallwood Park, very close to the shore.
 
And the most recent, occurred on the morning of the 5th of April 2014.
While parked on the side of Arundel Beach Road directly next to the Magothy River "when the tide was really high", a Maryland resident and his friend said to have seen Chessie less than 5 feet away from his car.
He described it as a snake-like creature about 25–30 feet in length, without fins, topped with a slender head, and black in colour, although he could not tell if it had scales or leathery skin.
The creature did not rise out of the water, but the head and tail end "just breached the surface" as it moved "with a serpentine motion".
The witness first questioned himself if it could have been two separate animals traveling behind one another, but soon realised that it was one creature because of the pattern it created on the water’s surface.
 
Although no photo was obtained as the witness said he was so busy trying to figure out what the hell he was looking at, that in the moment, he did not think to take a picture with his phone, the witness was so moved that he called the Maryland Department of Natural Resources soon after the sighting.
 
There is also this photograph taken recently, seemingly replicating the famous “surgeon's photograph" of 1934.
But instantly betrayed by its more modern, high definition capture, as being nothing more than a child’s toy.
 
 
Chessie has become somewhat of an icon for the Chesapeake Bay, and was used by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service for its educational colouring book in 1986, Chessie: A Chesapeake Bay Story. The book focuses on the Chesapeake Bay and protecting its resources. A second colouring book, Chessie Returns, was published in 1991.
These along with later illustrations of the monster in newspapers, government publications, and articles gave the monster a more friendly appearance, in line with their attempts to bring awareness to the issue of pollution in the Bay.

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