Published by the Summerland Chamber of Commerce VOL I, Issue

LEGEND HAS IT...
Ogopogo Observer

Pictographs, drawings on rock walls explained that the Okanagan Indians knew him as N'HA-A-ITK or "Lake Demon". Legend has it that the creature was originally a demon-possessed man who had murdered a local, "Old Kan-He-Kan" (yes, Lake Okanagan named in his honour). The gods turned the killer into a giant serpent so he would spend all eternity at the scene of the crime. The Indians, in order to appease the creature, offered small animals at the legendary lair, submarine caves of Squally Point near Ratlesnake Island. The creature frequented the waters between his favorite island and the Mission Valley though often makes trips to both lake ends. Early sightings date back to the 1800's; in 1860, John MacDougal's team of horses was pulled under while he was swimming them across Okanagan Lake in a canoe. They were never seen again.

It has been conceded that Ogopogo is one to two feet in diameter and is dark green in colour but its length varies from fifteen to fifty feet! The creature's head resembles that of a horse or goat and is bearded. Ogopogo has been mistaken for a log, a sturgeon and even a beaver!

Thirty to forty sightings a year are still reported and over time the "vicious monster of the Indians" has become the Okanagan mascot, and a friendly one at that!

He underwent a name change in 1924 to become Ogopogo.

"His mother was an earwig,
His father was a whale,
A little bit of head,
And hardly any tail,
And Ogopogo was his name!"

(This English music hall song about a Zulu gave Bill Brimblecomb the idea for Ogopogo's "new identity").

Some sightings of the slippery serpent

In 1872, Susan Allison of Westbank was watching the lake for her husband's return and she saw a large object swimming rapidly against the storm. This was the beginning of several sightings in various spots all along the lake.

1890: Captain Thomas Short sailing close to Squally Point observes a 15 foot long creature with a head like a ram.

1900: While fishing near Squally Point, Lysons finds himself being dragged part way around Rattlesnake Island by an unknown force.

1923: Captain Matt Reid of the S.S. Okanagan spots Ogopogo at Rattlesnake Island, near Peachland.

1925: Ogopogo is sighted by J. Mitchell of Summerland from his boat between Summerland and Penticton. He refuses the sturgeon theory proposed by J.P. Babcock, Deputy Commissioner of Fisheries.

1926: J.L. Logie finds himself racing Ogopogo in his car near Peachland. His wife and two grandchildren are astounded by the creature's appearance as is J.P Dodwell of Summerland, driving behind the Logie car.

1926: Summerland residents spot Ogopogo 50 yards from shore and note its sheep's head.

1931: An object 15 feet long surfaces and emerges several times near Mrs. Mary Gartrell and Mrs. Lizzie Gartrell near Trout Creek Point, Summerland.

1946: Mrs. Kay Bissett, her children and other Summerland witnesses see Ogopogo at play for half an hour before it hits the water with its tail and heads out.

1949: A shot is fired at Ogopogo by J. Berebow. Others look on as it surfaces three times that afternoon.

1949: A request is made for protection for Ogopogo under the Fisheries Act , Section 26. This is later granted and remains in force to this day.

1950: Greyhound bus driver G. Radcliffe pulls the bus to the roadside just north of Summerland and he and 15 passengers observe a serpentine-headed creature frolicking in the lake for fifteen minutes.

1962: 90 years after her mother (Mr. Susan Allison) sighted Ogopogo, Alice Allison is alerted to a long black creature with humps. They were near Trout Creek in Summerland.

1974: Ogopogo is seen stalking the Summerland Trout Hatchery by Dr. W. Evans, his daughter and guests.

1984: A million dollar reward is offered to "bring him in alive" offered by the O.S.T.A. It went unclaimed.

1989: It is considered illegal to kill or capture Ogopogo without a permit. He appears on the Protected Wildlife List.

1989: K. Chaplin got the elusive creature on video tape. The National Geographic Society in Washington D.C. studies the video. Ogopogo appears on NBC's "Unsolved Mysteries". Chaplin's creature was only 15 feet long and he believed it to be an "Ogopogo baby"!

Ogopogo
By Nina Stevenson Berg
Summerland

I wish, I wish that monster fish
They call the Ogopogo would
Present himself and swish about
The way an Ogopogo should
For I believe in Ogo and
the legends woven in his wake;
I think he chuckles to himself
Deep down in Okanagan Lake.
To hear men argue pro and con
And up and down, back and forth
Whether he favours southern shores,
Or bears allegiance to the north...
I wish he'd show his horny head
So I could nudge someone I know,
And add in tones corroded with
Complacency : "I told you so!"

On Highway 97, just south of Peachland this sign directs the eye to "Ogopogo's Home", submarine caves near Squally Point and Rattlesnake Island.