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'Ogopogo' is the name given to a lake monster reported to live in Lake Okanagan, British Columbia, Canada.

Contents

Early myth

Modern sightings

Modern depictions

Name

See also

References

External links

Early myth

The Ogopogo, known under the Salish name of N'ha·a·itk, or Naitaka, has existed in local myth for an unknown period of time and pre-dates western settlement of the area, as do native references to the "Great-beast-in-the-lake" and the "Snake-in-the-lake" and Petroglyphs, or pictographs found near the headwaters of Powers Creek, showing a serpent-like beast, which may represent the earliest evidence of legend's existence.
Tribes in Okanagan were always wary of traveling across the lake and often carried animals that could be sacrificed in the event that the creature was sighted, and it was documented in the history of Okanagan Mission that none of the local populace were willing to fish near Squally Point, where they believed the entrance to Ogopogo's cave was located.

Modern sightings

The first documented sightings of the Ogopogo by European settlers date back as far as 1860 and occur as the area was being colonized, though the first clear sighting, witnessed by a large group of people, occurred in 1926 at an Okanagan Mission Beach. There were about thirty cars of people who all claimed to have witnessed the same event. It was also in this year that Bobby Carter, then editor of the Vancouver Sun, wrote, "Too many reputable people have seen [the monster] to ignore the seriousness of actual facts."
The first film of the alleged creature is The Folden Film, filmed in 1968 by Art Folden, which shows a dark object propelling itself through shallow water near the shore [1]. The film was shot from on a hill above the shore. The film was once enhanced, and showed a solid "reptilian" 3D object.
Ogopogo was filmed again in 1989 by Ken Chaplin. Ken was with his father Clem Chaplin, talking about where he saw the Ogopogo, when suddenly both of them saw a snake-like animal swimming the lake. The animal was seen turning and even flicked its tail to create a splash. Some believe that the animal the Chaplins saw was simply a beaver, because the tail splashing is a well-known characteristic of beavers. However, Ken claims he saw the animal slap its tail while its head was clearly visible above the water, while a beaver's head would be either be level to the water or already diving prior to a tail slap. Also, Ken alleges the animal he saw was 15 feet long, far larger than a typical beaver (beavers are approximately 4 feet long). A few weeks later, Ken came back with his father and his daughter and filmed it again.
British zoologist Dr. Karl Shuker has categorised it as a 'many hump' variety of lake monster, and suggested it may be a kind of primitive serpentine whale such as ''Basilosaurus''. Other sightings have also indicated that the Lake Okanagan beast is a 'many hump' rather than the 'long neck' type. However, because the physical evidence for the beast is limited to unclear photographs and film, it has also been suggested that the sightings were really of otters and logs (Nickell, 2006). Another theory is that the Ogopogo is a lake sturgeon.

Modern depictions

In 1990, a Canadian postage stamp depicting an artist's conception of the Ogopogo was issued. [2]
In 2005, a film inspired by the Ogopogo and made in New Zealand was released. The filmmakers were about to name the creature in the film after the Ogopogo until an Aboriginal protested that use of the name compromised Aboriginal religion, although other Aboriginals encouraged the use of the name "Ogopogo." Thus, the creature became "Mee-Shee" and the film was called ''. Jim Henson's Creature Shop modelled Mee-Shee after the late actor Walter Matthau.^[1]
The logo for Kelowna's Western Hockey League team, the Kelowna Rockets, also depicts Ogopogo.
The 2006 Love Harder Records release from Curious Hands, a garage rock band from Portland, OR, entitled 'Sea Monster' features the track 'Ogopogo'. The cover artwork also includes the depiction of a watery serpent of unknown origin.

Name

Canadian Aboriginals had named the supposed beast "'Niataka'" or "'N'ha-aitk'", each of which translate to "sacred creature of the water." In 1926, non-Aboriginals in Vernon, British Columbia jokingly renamed it the Ogopogo.^[2] The (palindromic) name comes from a 1920s comic song:
:I'm looking for the Ogopogo,
:His mother was a mutton (or sometimes ''earwig''),
:His father was a whale.
:I'm going to put a little bit of salt on his tail.
In Canada, "Ogopogo" has also been a name given to items such as boats and canoes. In 1972, the Supreme Court of Canada considered the case ''Horsley v. MacLaren'' which involved a boat called the ''Ogopogo''. The case itself is also known as "The Ogopogo case".^[3]
"Ogopogo" is also the name given to a few dragon-like monsters in various role-playing games and other fantasy settings. In ''Final Fantasy IV'' he is the (optional) last boss monster encountered before the end-boss Zeromus.
Harry Horse (1960-2007) wrote a book for children; The Ogopogo - My Journey with the Loch Ness Monster, in 1983. Harry Horse died tragically in Shetland in January 2007.

See also

★ Champ

★ Lake Tianchi Monster

★ Loch Ness Monster

★ Manipogo

★ Mokèlé-mbèmbé

★ Na-Dene Indian mythology

★ Goshi-Narotig Monster

References

1. Johnson, Brian D. "Ogopogo gets drawn Down Under," ''Maclean's'', July 31, 2006, vol. 119, issue 29, page 56.
2. Joseph Brean, "Natives in two nations spear the elusive Ogopogo: Moviemakers give in to demands," ''National Post'', Don Mills, Ontario, March 8, 2002, p. A.1.FRO.
3. E. R. Alexander, "One Rescuer's Obligation to Another: The 'Ogopogo' Lands in the Supreme Court of Canada," ''The University of Toronto Law Journal'', vol. 22, no. 2. (Spring, 1972), p. 110.


★ Gaal, Arlene. 1986. ''Ogopogo: The True Story of The Okanagan Lake Million Dollar Monster''. Hancock House, Surrey, BC.

★ Moon, Mary. 1977. ''Ogoppogo''. Douglas Ltd., North Vancouver, Canada.

★ Nickell, Joe. 2006. Ogopogo: The Lake Okangan Monster. ''Skeptical Inquirer'', 30(1): 16-19.

★ Radford, Benjamin. 2006. Ogopogo the Chameleon. ''Skeptical Inquirer'', 30(1): 41-46.

★ Salmonson, Jessica Amanda. 1992. ''The Mysterious Doom and Other Ghostly Tales of the Pacific Northwest'': 149. Sasquatch Books, Seattle, WA.

★ Shuker, Karl P.N. 1995. ''In Search of Prehistoric Survivors.'' Blandford, London.

External links

★ Is Ogopogo a Nothosaur?

★ Ogopogopedia - the Okanagan's Wiki

★ The Ogopogo Song (slightly different from original)

★ The Ogopogo Song Remix by the Amphibians (band)

★ CTV Canada - Québecois claims to have photos of Lake Massawippi monster.

★ Ogopogo sightings and stories

★ Ogopogo the Chameleon, article about Ogopogo in the Skeptical Inquirer