User:Keuka lake investigations/sandbox

Carl Chipman (April 17, 1973- July 12, 1984) was born in Bath, New York at Ira Davenport Memorial Hospital to parents Frank and Bethany Chipman. He attended Glenn Curtis Elementary School.

DROWNING

At age 10 he was sent to Camp Iroquois, a YMCA summer camp, in Penn Yan, New York. The camp is located on East Bluff Road on Keuka Lake. He was to attend camp from July 9, 1984 to July 16, 1984. While at Camp Iroquois he attended sailing classes and learned the basics of sailing an AMF Sunfish. Chipman developed a reputation of being a rambunctious, but fast learner.

In the early morning hours of July 12th Carl and two other campers, Michael Holt and Stephen Dougherty, took one of the camp’s boats, a 14 foot single mast sail boat named “The Fitz”, out without permission. Accounts by Holt and Dougherty report they sailed to “the bluff” and then encountered very strong winds, rain, and poor visibility. The boys turned back. They did not wear life jackets, nor have a bailer with them, this would prove to be too much for the boys to handle.

Approximately 150 yards from camp they lost the sail when the mast broke from the boat, and they floundered and took on water. They paddled with their hands for shore and approximately 50 yards from shore the boat sank in 23 feet of water within sight of the Camp Iroquois boat house.

The boys swam for shore and when they reached the shore only Holt and Dougherty made it. The boys looked for Chipman but were unable to locate him anywhere in the high winds and chop. They reported the incident to camp staff and a search was initiated.

After 7 days of searching by the Penn Yan Fire Department, the Dundee Fire Department, The Yates County Sheriff’s Department, the Ontario County Sheriff’s Department, the Seneca County Sheriff’s Department, the New York State Police, and the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation Police, the search was called off. Chipman’s body was not recovered. “The Fitz” was found 65 yards from shore, on its keel, in a weed bed with damage to the mast mounting, and no rudder in place. By request of the Chipman family it was left in the lake as a memorial to their son and it still remains there.

POSSIBLE HAUNTING

A couple of years after the Chipman incident, children at the camp reported feeling something touch or grab them on the legs when they ventured outside the designated swimming area. The cause was never identified, but they said it felt like someone was grabbing at their feet and trying to pull them under. This spurred the legend that Chipman’s ghost was in the lake and lonely, looking to drag a camper of similar age to stay with him. It is said that adults cannot see Chipman, but several campers between the age of 10 and 12 have reported seeing a skeleton wearing an orange shirt and green bathing suit in “The Fitz” and have even reported the skeleton reaching out for them.