The lake has been the centre of a controversy since 1964 when a group of scientists from Moscow University, claim to have encountered an animal with prehistoric biology whilst on an expedition surveying mineral deposits.

[1] An article written in Komsomolskaya Pravda by G. Rokosuev explains that the "monster" was initially seen by N. Gladkikh, the deputy leader of the expedition team: Gladkikh went out to the lake to draw water and saw a creature that had crawled out onto the shore, apparently to eat the grass - a small head on a long gleaming neck , a huge body covered with jet-black skin and a vertical fin along the spine.Gladikikh's story was at first met with incredulity by the rest of the team.

[2]Based on the team's descriptions, the monster closely resembles a plesiosaur, a prehistoric reptile thought to have become extinct around 66 million years ago.

Since Khaiyr is resting above an active volcano, sceptics point out that most of the monster sightings have probably been caused by sub-aquatic tremors sending a rush of water boiling to the surface.

Due to the lake's isolated location it is not frequently visited and there have been few further sightings, such as the 1940 sighting of "two large black creatures" by the famous polar aviator, Hero of the Soviet Union Ivan Cherevichny[3] and a celebrated Soviet polar helmsman Valentin Ivanovych Akkuratov[4] who saw two large animals when flying over the lake at the height of 800–1000 m. Getting curious, they got down to 50 m and observed the animals, but the noise of the plane scared the creatures and they submerged.