The Strange Legend of ‘Candy,’ Candlewood Lake’s Giant Monster Fish

If you think Connecticut’s Candlewood Lake is just a place for boating, fishing, swimming and arguing over whose pontoon boat is the biggest, there’s a much stranger story hiding beneath the surface.

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There’s an old Candlewood Lake legend about a creature named “Candy,” and depending on who tells the story, she’s basically Connecticut’s answer to the Loch Ness Monster.

Candy is said to be a gigantic fish, somewhere around 20 to 30 feet long. The creature has been described as either a massive walleye or a giant bluegill, which is already terrifying when you consider that a normal version of either fish is nowhere near 30 feet long.

According to Connecticut writer Kristi Petersen Schoonover, who grew up around Candlewood Lake, the legend says Candy hangs around Vaughn’s Neck, near the area between New Milford and New Fairfield. The story gets considerably darker from there. Candy supposedly lurks in the shallows, tips over boats and eats the unfortunate people who end up in the water.

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And apparently, this isn't some ancient Native American legend that has been passed down for hundreds of years. Schoonover says the Candy story started circulating in the late 1970s, around the same time Jaws had everybody convinced that every body of water contained a man-eating monster. She even recalled hearing something large splashing near the shore while camping there in 1984.

@brittan.tolford Replying to @Suzanne here’s another one. Candy The Candlewood lake monster #cryptid #connecticut #urbanlegend #fishing #folklore ♬ Bach unaccompanied cello suite "Prelude" - Jianteng

Candlewood Lake itself stretches across five Connecticut communities: Danbury, Brookfield, New Fairfield, New Milford and Sherman, according to the Candlewood Lake Authority.

Still, the next time you're swimming in Candlewood Lake and something brushes against your leg, don't panic. It was probably a normal fish.