Ogopogo Monster - Canada's Famous Lake Monster

[skunk]

Ogopogo (http://www.ogopogomonster.com/lake-okanagan.htm)

Over 1,170 people say they have seen a monster in Lake Okanagan.

Lake Okanagan is a large, deep lake in the Okanagan Valley of British Columbia, Canada. The lake is 135 km (84 miles) long, between 4 and 5 km (3 miles) wide, and has a surface area of 351 km².

The lake's approximate depth is over 365 meters (1,200 feet) but the lake possibly goes much deeper under the shelves. Some areas of the lake have up to 750 meters (2,460 feet) of glacial and post-glacial sediment fill that were deposited during the Pleistocene Epoch.

Lake Okanagan has an abundance of fish, krill, and shrimp. It is interesting because many paleontologists say that Plesiosaurs probably ate shrimp.

Cities bordering the lake include Vernon in the north, Penticton in the south, and Kelowna in the center, as well as the smaller municipalities of Lake Country (north of Kelowna), Peachland (south-west of Kelowna), and Summerland (north-west of Penticton). Various lake features include: Rattlesnake Island (where most Ogopogo sightings have been recorded) a small island east of Peachland; Squally Point, a popular cliff-diving area; Fintry Delta on the west side; and the Okanagan Lake Bridge, a floating bridge which connects Kelowna to the community of Westbank.

http://www.ogopogomonster.com/user/cimage/ogosign.jpg

There is a plaque at Lake Okanogan that reads:

"Before the unimaginative whiteman came, the fearsome lake monster N'ha·a·itk was well known to the superstitious Indians. His home was believed to be a cave at Squally Point, and small animals were carried in the canoes to appease the serpent. Ogopogo still is seen each year - but now by white men."

Ogopogo wiki page (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ogopogo)

Ogopogo or Naitaka (Salish: n'ha-a-itk, "lake demon") is the name given to a lake monster reported to live in Okanagan Lake, in British Columbia, Canada.

[skunk]

I admit...I heard about this first on the venture brothers...Did a bit of research, sounds like a nessie-type animal.

[skunk]

Purported photos of Ogopogo (http://www.ogopogomonster.com/photo-album.htm)

[Ducky]

Sweeeeeeeeeet!

Kewl topic Skunk.

I've heard about the story for a number of years now.

The one thing that comes to mind was what some researchers/cryptozoologists dubbed: 'the monster belt' of the northern countries. Seemed to be the 'ideal' spot for ifish monsters to habitate.

[Snow Crash]

I thought The Duck was the only lake monster in Canada?

[egg]

If I remember correctly, the local American-Indians (don't remember their tribe's name) have "myths" about the local lake monster going back before the Europeans came to town.

[Ducky]

I thought The Duck was the only lake monster in Canada?

That's right baby, and don't YOU forget it ;)

How dare the ogopogo usurp me like that.

[Pam]

I used to live by the Lake. Never saw Ogopogo but there are quite a few people that have seen unusual rifts in the Lake on a calm day.

I am really not sure if it is real or myth. There are a few other Lake monsters as well... Loch Ness, Champion so you gotta wonder.

[Ducky]

There was always a common denominator with these creatures (nessie, ogopogo, champ)..is that they were all described in having a 'horse-like' head. As well as living in (adapted to) colder climate regions.

Scotland, Canada, U.S. >>> hence the 'monster belt'.

[egg]

My belt's made out of real monster.

[Ducky]

I used to live by the Lake. Never saw Ogopogo but there are quite a few people that have seen unusual rifts in the Lake on a calm day.

I am really not sure if it is real or myth. There are a few other Lake monsters as well... Loch Ness, Champion so you gotta wonder.

Well, if you take for example, Lock ness, that lake is only so many miles wide, around 18 miles long(?) but verrrrrrrry deep.

I wonder if those who researched in the area were able to get a few pics of the supposed underwater caverns that run along the lake in itself.

What are the possibilities of this creature existing in the first place.

Unless it's some forelorned pleisiosauric species that has evolved into an 'assexual' being, I find it hard to believe that there might be more of them hanging around down there in the caverns just out of sight.

In order to perpetuate the species further, there must be viable DNA from a male and a female. Where's the colony? Or or we looking at the last of its kind?

Skeletons? Like the elusive BigFoot/Sasquatch, there doesn't seem to be any evidence pointing in the direction either. But it's far easier to not being able to find the bones in dark, murky, and deep water, than it is within a forest area.

The bones in the lake would settle into the soot, rot, and simply disappear. That's assuming these creatures head back into the water to die.

But getting back to these caverns, I was thinking they might be interconnected somehow. It's not unreasonable to think that. Look at the Kentucky/Mammoth caves in North america. Some explorers have found that they do indeed 'interconnect' with each other.

[The Lone Gunman]

I would assume the Sasquatch type beings would have some sort of graveyard. Either that or their homes would be mainly inside caves and shit. It would make their spelunking easier since they are big and could climb around in caves easier than we could, plus most credible sightings, IMO, happen at night. I mean the ones where there are multiple witnesses and some kind of track or trace evidence left behind. If they were cavernous creatures they would probably have some sort of area inside the caves where they would bring their dead. That's right, 8 foot tall spelunking giant monkeys that have deep subterran graveyards.

As far as the lake monsters go, I would doubt that there are some extremely large creatures in the ocean, however when it comes to freshwater, I have to think serpentine or again with the caves. Many lakes are fed via caves that expel fresh water from the mountains. If you look at typical eel behavior, and then consider a freak of nature of that sort, it would probably hang out at the bottom hiding in caves or rock crevices waiting for lunch or chillin out.

Displaced dinos such as Nessie, I would have to say that if they were to survive, her alledged species is one that was a deep water dweller. Her calves would be down there and those possibly may be the freak sightings when they wander from the deep and are seen on the surface. We also have no way to guage the life span of such a creature either. The most interesting thing I have read about Nessie is that remote viewers would say that she is there, as in physically there, and then she is gone. Like an interdimensional creature that can be summoned, which lends credence to some of the old tales of sorcery surrounding the infamous loch and the sacrifices made to the beast in old times.

But I digress, this is all speculation.

[skunk]

If I remember correctly, the local American-Indians (don't remember their tribe's name) have "myths" about the local lake monster going back before the Europeans came to town.

Yes...Supposedly.

Ogopogo, Real or Myth? (http://www.tourcanada.com/ogopogo.htm)

Although Indian legends support a monster living in Okanagan Lake long before white men arrived in this country, Ogopogo is very much a present day phenomenon.

The first non-native to see this creature was back in 1872.

The first recorded sighting by a caucasion was by Mrs. John Allison in 1872 and such instances have continued to this day with many credible, rational and sober people becoming absolute believers. Indian folklore specifically places the lair of the lake monster which they called N'ha-a-itk, or lake demon, at a cave under Squally Point near Rattlesnake Island which is offshore from Peachland. The Indians would never paddle a canoe near this area without an offering because too often a storm would spring up and N'ha-a-itk would rise out of the waters to claim another life! When white settlers first came to this area in the mid 1800s, they were not superstitious but gradually changed their views with ongoing sightings of the monster. An early instance tells of two horses swimming behind a boat that were mysteriously pulled beneath the waves and the owner barely saving himself by cutting the rope attached to the horses!

One cryptozoologist claims Ogopogo might be a Basilosaurus (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Basilosaurus).