I am curious to see a reference for this alleged 1888 report in which Rich supposedly said that he made up the monster story. As I recall, he gave himself credit for "discovering and making famous by publication in the Deseret News that wonderful first-class lie- the Bear Lake Monster", but to "discover" something implies that it already existed in some form prior to awareness, and is not the same thing as to invent or make something up. Just because Rich himself didn't believe in the monster doesn't mean that it therefore never existed. It is highly likely that Rich heard tales from the Shoshoni in the area and from other settlers as well, and used those tales to generate excitement in the valley (goodness knows there's not much else to do there during the long, grim winters; I know, I grew up there). He certainly succeeded in making the stories famous, however, and he definitely deserves credit for that.