Jamaica Plain's Own Loch Ness Monster?

When you take a date for a romantic row around Jamaica Pond this spring, watch for a stirring beneath the gentle waves — it could be Jessie, the Jamaica Pond Monster.

Yes, three local residents — Jonah Elwin, Syd Hardin, and Michael Hensley — have started a tongue-in-cheek blog supposing that there’s something more than fish in the watery kettlehole depths.

“We’ve been thinking about Jessie for a while,” Elwin says, via email. “We wanted to bring a little sense of mystery to Jamaica Pond, as well as hopefully make a few people smile. I’m also a biologist by training, so if I can work in a science lesson or two, that would be an added bonus.”

So far, the blog and Twitter account have addressed such pressing issues as Jessie’s preferred foods (saag paneer, fried Mars bars, and hot chocolate); what to do in case of a sighting (“If you are on the water … Pull your paddles out of the water. We don’t want Jessie to think you are trying to mate with it.”); and who or what the beast could be (A plesiosaur? A manatee? Donald Rumsfeld?).

Winter is a particularly inactive time for pond monsters, according to the blog, but Elwin says “there’s so much about Jessie the world doesn’t know yet.” Hardin is an artist and Hensley is a musician, so we can only hope for a theme song or some renderings in the near future.

What’s next? Sasquatch tracks in Somerville? Woolly Mammoths in Watertown?

(Jamaica Pond. Photo by Sam Blackman, via Flickr)

* Special thanks to Universal Hub for introducing me to this supernatural phenomenon.