By Tim Binnall
A Minnesota author is offering a substantial prize to anyone who can provide solid evidence that a legendary lake monster, known as Pepie, exists. According to a local media report, Goran Pesic announced the $60,000 bounty at an event celebrating the release of his new book exploring the mysteries of Lake Pepin. The sizeable body of water, which sits on the border of Minnesota and Wisconsin, is said to be the site of all manner of high strangeness, including serving as the home to a Nessie-esque serpentine 'monster' known as Pepie.
Much like similar bounties placed on famous cryptids, Pesic's challenge comes with some stringent criteria required to collect the prize. Specifically, video or photographic evidence for Pepie must be "in clear focus, with identifiable local landmarks" alongside the creature in question. The winner will also need to provide a "physical biological sample" from the 'monster' in the form of "a scale, tissue sample, or DNA material" that cannot be matched to any wildlife known to reside in the lake.
Materials presented to Pesic will be analyzed by scientists from "the University of Minnesota or the Minnesota or Wisconsin Departments of Natural Resources," and all possible prosaic explanations for the evidence, including a hoax, must be ruled out. Additionally, in a sign of the times, the purported photos and videos of Pepie will have to be confirmed as genuine by forensic experts checking to see if they are the product of AI or some other kind of CGI shenanigans.
Ultimately, Pesic's conditions for the contest state that the prize will only be awarded if the evidence submitted results in the "unanimous, public confirmation of a new biological discovery by the scientific panel." The $60,000 bounty is something of a sequel to a $50,000 challenge for evidence of Pepie that was put forward five years ago by beloved Mississippi Riverboat captain Larry Nielson, who sadly passed away earlier this year. To that end, Pesic explained that he decided to spearhead the increased prize to both honor the man who had previously championed the 'monster' and to encourage people to visit Lake Pepin.