Deep in the “Pole of Cold,” this 100-foot-deep glacial lake is home to a massive, dark-grey predator described by Soviet geologist Viktor Tverdokhlebov in 1953 as having a giant, bird-like beak and eyes spaced widely apart. Local Yakut folklore refers to the creature as “Abaasy,” a demon that breathes through the “unfreezing holes” (locally called nadlyud) in the thick winter ice, which remain open even at -50°C. Modern scientific expeditions using sonar have documented “large, moving objects” in the lake’s underwater fissures, and in 2013, divers from the Russian Geographical Society recovered a large jawbone and skeletal remains from the silt that could not be identified as any known Siberian fish. Recent YouTube footage from drone surveys highlights strange, V-shaped wakes moving against the wind in the lake’s center, far from any known boat traffic. The “Devil” is notorious for its vocalizations, a low-frequency “thumping” sound that resonates through the hulls of iron boats, often preceding a breach.