"I've heard all of your fish stories, Sam. Don't tempt me to leave this diner early before I finish my breakfast."
"It's not a fish story I have in mind. It's about a plane crash."
"What plane crash?"
"There was a Cessna 180 that crashed in broad daylight into Owasco Lake near Long Point in autumn of 1955. The pilot was never found and it was reported that he drowned. Some of the debris was found near Carpenter Point in Skaneateles Lake."
"That's impossible!"
"That's what I thought when I first heard about it. I thought--that stuff must have fallen off the plane when it passed over Skaneateles Lake and before it crashed into Owasco Lake. But nobody saw the plane over Skaneateles Lake."
"Then how did the debris get there?"
"There was a lot of conjecture about that. Most of the local residents claim there's an underground tunnel that connects the two lakes."
"That's nonsense."
"I'm not so sure it is. If there are underground or underwater cave entrances at Long Point on Owasco and at Carpenter Point on Skaneateles, nobody has ever found those entrances and people have looked. Swimmers, skin divers, and the U.S. Coast Guard have all investigated, especially after the 1955 plane crash. They looked again one year later when that Air National Guard T-33 jet trainer crashed into Skaneateles Lake. The pilot was killed instantly in that crash."
"I remember reading that story. Didn't he perform a barrel roll or immelman and stall the engine?"
"I think so. Now, where was I? The underground tunnel. If an underground tunnel exists between the two lakes, nobody has ever found it. But the evidence for it exists, at least in theory."
"What kind of evidence?"
"For one thing, there's the geological evidence. As I recall, both lakes at bottom are about 535 feet above sea level. Owasco is smaller than Skaneateles, holds less water. There's no record of whirlpools near Long Point or Carpenter Point, although some fishermen claim to see them at night under a full moon.
"Are you talking about those hairy-faced fisherman who howl at the moon, Sam?"
"I'm trying to be serious, George. The farmers who live between the two lakes claim that natural gas drillers have found evidence of a channel of water between the two lakes. It's proprietary information, I was told, and that's the reason why it hasn't been made public."
"Sounds like your typical rumor."
"Yes, and there was a doubting Thomas after Christ's Resurrection."
"Amen."
"I've been near Long Point on Owasco Lake in my fishing boat. I was there one evening in summer using a crankbait for smallmouth bass. The water at the east shoreline looked lower than usual. I had just crossed the lake from the west side. I hadn't noticed low water at the west side. It was a quiet evening. As I was fishing on the east side, I was thinking about that 1955 plane crash and about how the debris got into Skaneateles Lake about 9 1/2 miles away. My fishing boat seemed to be sliding slowly toward the east shore and there was no wind over the water. That's when I noticed the gradual slant. Near as I can figure, it's the slant of the lake from the west shore to the east shore that does it. Don't think anybody ever measured it. Most of the fish in the lake congregate near the east shore because of that slant. You see, George, the water near the east shore gets pulled down slowly by that underground tunnel that nobody can find."
"Sam, I asked you at the start of your story if this was a fish story and you said, No, it's about a plane crash. Somehow I get the feeling that I've been listening to a fish story with a flying twist."
Editor recommends: The Mouse with Three Legs. http://www.jeffpaine.blogspot.com/2011/12/mouse-with-three-legs.html
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