$60,000 for Proof of 'Pepie': A Minnesota Author Raises the Bounty on Lake Pepin's Monster

LAKE CITY, Minn. (Sept. 29, 2026) — If something really is swimming in Lake Pepin, Goran Pesic wants to pay $60,000 to the person who proves it.

At a public presentation at the Lake City Public Library at 6:30 p.m. on Tuesday, Sept. 29, 2026, the local author, educator and researcher raised the reward for verifiable evidence of “Pepie,” the legendary lake monster of the Mississippi River’s widest stretch, KTTC reported. The event also launched his new book, The Greatest Mysteries of Lake Pepin.

“My idea is always that people did see something,” Pesic told the Rochester station. “So now, is that necessarily a monster or is it something that can be explained?”

✓ What we know

On the record: documents, statements, dates and places. Sources below.

• The bounty. According to KTTC and the Republican Eagle, the new $60,000 reward replaces a $50,000 bounty set by the late Capt. Larry Nielson, former skipper of the Pearl of the Lake paddlewheeler. On Sept. 25, 2026, the Republican Eagle reported that Nielson had died earlier in 2026 and that Pesic was continuing the tradition to promote local history and tourism.
• Who pays. Pesic says he will pay the $60,000 out of his own pocket if someone claims it, according to KTTC.
• The book. KTTC reports that The Greatest Mysteries of Lake Pepin covers more than 300 anomalies, stories and historical accounts tied to the lake. Pesic has also written Once Upon a Lake in Pepin.
• The author. Pesic moved to the United States from the former Yugoslavia in 1993 and has spent more than 20 years documenting oral histories, archival records and anomalies of the Lake Pepin area, KTTC reports.
• Coverage. KTTC first published its story on Sept. 28, 2026, and followed up with a video segment on Sept. 30.

? What’s claimed

Accounts, testimony and theories, as told by the people who tell them.

The legend’s roots. According to KTTC, Pesic says the Pepie legend has origins in Dakota belief.

1871. Pesic described a report from 1871 in which two witnesses said they saw a monster in Lake Pepin the size of a rhinoceros or an elephant, KTTC reported.

1897. The best-known version of Pepie dates from the spring of 1897, according to Pesic. That year, he says, two rafters from St. Louis recorded seeing a monster at least 20 feet long swimming in the lake.

These historical accounts are reported as Pesic relayed them in his presentation. KTTC’s report doesn’t name the 19th-century sources, and Dead of Night Dispatch has not reviewed them.

The fine print

The rules, as published by KTTC, are strict:

• Where. Evidence must be collected within the waters, shores or bluffs of Lake Pepin, in the stretch between Bay City and Nelson, Wisconsin, and Wabasha, Minnesota. Anything from outside that area won’t qualify.
• Pictures. Claimants must submit high-definition, unedited photos or video in clear focus, with an identifiable local landmark in the same frame as the animal. Examples given are the Maiden Rock bluff, the Lake City marina and the Pepin peaks.
• A sample. A physical biological sample, such as a scale, tissue or DNA material, must also be provided. It must not match any known native wildlife species.
• A panel. An independent panel of marine biologists, for example from the University of Minnesota or the Minnesota or Wisconsin Departments of Natural Resources, must verify the sample and the media. The panel must rule out a giant lake sturgeon, an alligator gar, a swimming deer, a log or a hoax.
• Forensics. Forensic experts must rule out AI generation, CGI, Photoshop editing and physical tampering before any payment.
• Rights. By accepting the reward, the claimant transfers all ownership, copyright and media rights to the evidence and any physical specimens to Pesic.
• Payout. The reward is paid only after unanimous, public confirmation of a new biological discovery by the scientific panel.

More than a monster

According to KTTC, Pesic’s Sept. 29 presentation went well beyond Pepie. It covered explorers and tribal leaders connected to the lake, natural features discussed alongside Dakota traditions and sacred sites, and historic Bigfoot, UFO and crop circle accounts from the area. It also covered local tragedies, among them the 1890 Sea Wing disaster and a 1945 bomber crash.

Pesic told KTTC he sees the bounty partly as an invitation. “I want this to continue because I find this is a great motivator for everybody to come out here on the lake, enjoy the waters of our great Mississippi River,” he said. “And I wanted to motivate also my students to think through the eyes of these mysteries… to really make this special and alive for a few more generations to come.”

No new sighting was announced alongside the bounty. As of Sept. 30, 2026, the latest date in the coverage reviewed here, no one had claimed the reward. To claim it, someone would need a scale or tissue sample, unedited HD video with Maiden Rock or another landmark in the frame, and a scientific panel that agrees unanimously.