top of page

What is Sharlie?

2023 rendition of Sharlie

The short answer is:  Sharlie is a longtime, legendary creature reportedly seen by individuals beginning in 1917.  He or She lives, or lived, in the Payette Lake. (Our first blogs will tell you more.)

 

The artist for this rendition of Sharlie was born and raised where this folklore began - McCall, Idaho. Many reports of Sharlie sightings have been documented in local and state newspapers and other media and articles within Idaho over the many decades.

 

It was way past "high time" for an update to this beloved character that does not look like a dragon, dinosaur, or serpent!

After all, this critter is NOT from the ocean but from a glacial lake named Payette Lake.

Payette Lake

Payette Lake is a glacial lake located in McCall, Idaho. The lake, sitting at an elevation of 5,000 feet in the central  mountains of Idaho, was created by a glacier, and its crystal clear water provides summer fun and is a vacationer's dream.  In the wintertime, the lake freezes thus creating more fun of an all together different kind! 

 

At its deepest point, Payette Lake is 392 feet deep and it drains into the Payette River which then drains into the Snake River. 

 

Evening on the Payette Lake in McCall, Idaho
2023 Rendition of the Sharlie drawing

Sharlie

The first sighting of the legendary creature occurred in the 1917. Over the next decades, witnesses reportedly said the creature was “at least 35 feet long, with a dinosaur-type head, pronounced jaw, humps like a camel, and shell-like skin”. In a naming contest in the 1950's put on by the local newspaper, it was dubbed Sharlie, and so the folklore began.

Many more sightings have been reported since that time, and more enticing and hopefully interesting facts and fiction will follow in the Jinovation blogs.

bottom of page