Under a full moon one summer night in 1979, Tahoe Tessie was born.

While on a kayak camping trip on the east shore, creator Bob McCormick remembered a small article he read in the local newspaper about two people claiming to have seen a “sea serpent,” along the shores of Tahoe Vista. He shared the story with his friend while paddling across the lake and jokingly asked what they would do if they encountered the monster.

With all the sea serpent talk the name “Tahoe Tessie” came naturally to McCormick, who named it after the famous Loch Ness monster in Scotland, or otherwise known as “Nessie.”

“The Loch Nessie is like Tahoe Tessie,” McCormick said.

When they returned from the trip, McCormick retold the tale and spun the yarn of a friendly sea monster living beneath the surface of Lake Tahoe who eventually becomes friends with the locals and helps to save the community from imminent danger.

As the story grew along with his imagination, McCormick realized he needed to get the story down on paper as well as create the face to go with her name.

In December of 1979, cartoonist Eileen Gay drew poses and expressions of Tessie the way McCormick had always envisioned her – curious and fun-loving, yet appealing to all ages.

Marriage and children slowed the process of writing a book on “Tahoe Tessie, the Original Lake Tahoe Monster,” until 1984.

That particular summer, alleged sightings of a real monster were highly publicized and McCormick knew he needed to get his book out before anyone else had a similar idea and beat him to it. He rewrote the story to incorporate his two sons into the book and produced the first Tahoe Tessie T-shirt, to place a trademark on his unique green friend.

To date McCormick’s colorfully illustrated story has sold 66,000 copies. He’s been on the cover of Image, a San Francisco Examiner magazine, and opened a small museum in Kings Beach featuring Tahoe Tessie memorabilia.

From stuffed dolls to clips of articles claiming a serpent really lives in the lake, the museum incorporates both the fun, friendly Tessie and the real-life monster people have claimed to have seen.

“There are two Tessies,” McCormick said. “One is the real monster and the second is my creative imagination. There are serious articles from sighters and then there are the fun articles.”

Although he believes in Tessie, McCormick has never seen an actual sea monster lurking beneath the cool waters of Lake Tahoe. The stories he’s heard relating to actual sightings however, do leave him with questions.

“Is there something out there that people keep seeing in the lake?” McCormick questioned. “The Tahoe Research Group held a symposium and said in the papers that a chance of a sighting was slim, but they also didn’t want to scare tourists away.”

One particular story that raises the question of whether or not a sea serpent lives in the lake dates back to 1982. Two Reno policemen were out on the lake waterskiing when they saw a smooth, black thing about 18 to 30 feet long slithering along the surface. The object looked similar to the top of a Volkswagen Bug. One officer who was in the water at the time said it came up right next to him. He didn’t look twice to find out what it was as he scrambled out of the water and back into the boat.

Those two officers were so shaken up about their encounter that when they related it they were scoffed at, McCormick said. There was no drinking involved, either. They eventually moved away and never have talked about what they saw in the lake again.

“People don’t like to be thought of as crackpots,”McCormick said. “A prominent dentist’s wife was in a canoe one day, looked over and saw the exact same shape in the water.”

Over the years sightings have dwindled, but Tahoe Tessie frequents a street corner in Kings Beach to wave at passersby and greet the children who want to meet the 8-foot-tall Tessie.

“It’s been a lot of fun,” McCormick said. “I never would have thought I would have spawned such a huge business. Parents like the book because it covers the history of the lake and the story doesn’t end up with some sort of violence. It teaches kids moral lessons about friendship.”

A sequel to “Tahoe Tessie, the Original Lake Tahoe Monster,” is due out soon. McCormick has other story ideas in his head, but wants to give Tessie some vacation time so she won’t get overworked.