Have you seen your Serpent?
by Gregory Bangs

British Columbia's two serpents -Caddy and Ogopogo- is they is or is they isn't? Don't scoff before you read on.

"I didn't believe there was such a thing, but I certainly do now," said Yvonne Roberts of Penticton, in a news story of July 8, 1952.

She and 25 other witnesses had seen a creature, generally described as a serpent, about 50 feet long, with two humps the size of footballs spaced some 20 feet apart, and a horse-like head. It was about half a mile from the shore of Okanagan Lake, swimming, diving, and apparently having a fine time. Then a noisy speed boat churned up the water and it disappeared.

Unruffled by the sighting, Mrs. Harold Cloz, one of the onlookers, said that she had seen the creature 25 years ago and its appearance was really nothing new to her.

"I know it exists all right," she said.

While skeptics yawn over the numerous reports of aquatic monsters in British Columbia, a steady flow of sightings validate Indian legends of giant creatures in Okanagan Lake and along the coastline of our Pacific Northwest.

Fantastic? Perhaps! At least if you haven't seen one. But what happens if you have?

For instance, the Vancouver Sun reported in an undated news item that 33 passengers aboard a bus observed a serpent swimming in circles in Okanagan Lake near Peachland. Although its head was obscured from view, Mr. and Mrs. Kingsley Morgan of Vancouver, former resident of Penticton, saw its humps very clearly. The bus driver, T.A. Bond of Penticton, said that there was definitely something churning the water. "There was also a white spray. Whatever it was, I haven't seen anything like it before!"

On October 11, 1955, Mrs. J.R. Gaythorne and her two children, Peter and Sandy, were rowing near Kinsmen Beach and reported that a sea monster reared its ugly head about 10 feet from the boat. "It had two humps as big as footballs and it was long like a snake. We could have touched him with an oar if the children hadn't been so frightened," she stated.

Recently, Art Folden of Chase projected films of what appeared to be a serpent. The film, though somewhat blurred, showed something that surfaced and submerged three times as it swam a hundred yards at varying speeds. The film, taken in 1968 from the viewpoint at Westbank, had never been exhibited in public because Mr. Folden expected people would laugh at him. But relatives finally persuaded him to approach the Chamber of Commerce. "I may end up with egg on my face for saying it," remarked Bill Stevenson, a member of the group who saw the film, "but it is something warranting investigation."

Dennis McGregor of Kelowna is another person who has filmed something unusual. "I have seen the film and I was very impressed," said Kelowna mayor Hilbert Roth. "There is definitely something there and it isn't a floating log."

"I have not been a firm believer in Ogopogo, although I have spoken to many people who swear they have seen him. I am still not absolutely convinced about what I saw in the film but I am very impressed. We want to turn the film over to experts to see what they think."

Although the unknown creature in Okanagan Lake seems playful, Indians called it Naitka, or Lake Demon. They believed it lived in an underground cave at Squally Point on the east side of Okanagan Lake and when they paddled a raft or canoe near the creature's lair carried a small animal which could be thrown overboard should it appear. The creature has apparently been around for a long time since rock paintings left by unknown Indian artists thousands of years ago bear a likeness to Ogopogo.

The latter name, incidentally, isn't Indian in origin. It comes from the title of an old London music hall hit "I'm looking for the Ogopogo." On August 24, 1924, Bill Brimblecombe sang the hit at a luncheon of the Vernon Rotary Club attended by members of the Vancouver Board of Trade. The catchy word Ogopogo was picked up and given in jest to the local sea serpent. The name, however, didn't solve the question -is it is or is it isn't?

Most experts take a negative view of giant serpents, though they cannot deny that these creatures once roamed the lakes, rivers, and oceans in thick clusters. During mesozoic times, roughly 130 million years ago, the ichthyosaurs, plesiosaurs, and their relations were breeding over wide areas of the prehistoric world where they ruled the animal domain.

Is it not then possible for remnants of prehistoric serpents to have survived through the eons of time? Fish once thought extinct are still found off Africa and South America. Speculation on the origin of Ogopogo therefore offers three possibilities:

1 Some of Ogopogo's ancestors were trapped during the ice age or caught in a squeeze that followed great upheavals of the earth.

2 Serpents could have travelled up the Columbia River and into the lake before streams were dammed.

3 During the ice age a number of fertile eggs were deep frozen at the deepest part of Okanagan Lake at a temperature far below zero. An earthquake might have dislodged and propelled them upward into warm, shallow waters where they hatched.

While Ogopogo is the most controversial creature present -or not present, depending on your view- in the fresh water of B.C., it is matched in mystery by a salt-water counterpart. This is Caddy, a 100-foot-long creature with a horse-like head that seems to roam between Vancouver Island and the Mainland. It was first seen October 5, 1933 in Cadboro Bay near Victoria by Frederick Kemp of the Provincial Archives and Major W.H. Hangley, clerk of the B.C. Legislature.

In 1969 Caddy aroused the interest of two UBC scientists, Dr. Paul LeBlond and Dr. John Siebert, who went on a fact-finding tour to collect evidence of its existence or non-existence. The scientists received about 50 calls from people who had seen an unidentified creature in the ocean. They checked 25 of the most reliable reports but believe that many people kept silent to avoid controversy or ridicule.

Siebert summed it up this way: "Generally I'm inclined to be skeptical, but not always. I have moods about it. Too many people have seen something for it to have been nothing. But what?"

As an illustration, Honorable James T. Brown, Chief Justice of Saskatchewan's Kings Bench Court, told a vivid story in 1950 of a monster 35 to 45 feet long at Victoria. "It was like a monstrous snake. It certainly wasn't any of those sea animals we know, like a porpoise, sea lion, and so on. I've seen them and know what they look like."

His wife and a daughter corroborated the sighting which happened during stroll at the foot of Government Street. Mrs. Brown saw the creature first and pointed it out but by the time the others had a chance to glance around it had disappeared. However it reappeared roughly 150 yards away where it was seen by all three members of the Brown family. The Chief Justice, though reluctant to get involved with publicity over the sighting, gave a graphic description: "His head, like a snake's, came out of the water four or five times and straight up. Six or seven feet from the head one of his big coils showed clearly. The coil itself was six or seven feet long, fully a foot thick, perfectly round and dark in color. There must have been a great length of him under water."

"He was swimming very fast, for he came up 200 to 300 yards away from the spot where he went under each time. I got three good looks at him. On one occasion he came up almost right in front of us. He must have gone deep each time, for we couldn't follow his trail. We watched when he went under, but couldn't spot any ripples."

Another clear sighting was by Jack Montgomery and his wife, both of Vancouver, who were sport fishing at the entrance to Cowichan Bay on Vancouver Island. A creature surfaced which had a square-shaped head, three coils, and brown leathery skin. Later, Montgomery spoke to several fishermen at Mayne Island Wharf who told him that a creature appeared frequently. They said that it surfaced over a widespread area, often several times within an hour, indicating either fantastic speed and endurance or more than one specimen.

Another intriguing story was told in 1957 by Cecelia Smith, a writer on the Vancouver Sun's "Livable Home Page." She and her husband, Job, sighted a strange creature as they cruised down the north arm of Burrard Inlet. "We saw this tremendous jet black hoop rising from the water," she said. "It looked like a big truck tire. There was a smaller black hump a few feet ahead of it. We were only about 40 feet from it when we first saw it. We were about 70 feet from shore and it was dead ahead."

"The water was smooth as a mill pond and the sun was shining. We were within 30 feet of it when it slid noiselessly below the surface. It didn't create a ripple. Then suddenly a terrific tail with large spikes at the end of it, just like a demon's, whipped out of the water."

"I didn't notice its head but my husband did. He said it was flat on top and diamond-shaped. He said it looked as sinister as any serpent's. After the tail broke water, the creature submerged completely. We looked around and spotted the humps again behind our boat. It was heading towards the west shore and traveling far too fast to be overtaken by us. It was ghastly!" shuddered Cecelia. "Only trouble was that there wasn't another boat in sight. No one can confirm our story."

But there were 10 witnesses at Qualicum Bay in 1953 when Frank Waterfall, an employee of the Veteran's Land Act Department, observed some type of serpent through binoculars for more than an hour as it played on the water a quarter mile from shore. He said it appeared to be 50 feet long, with a head resembling that of a seal and two or three humps along the back.

Other eyewitnesses were J. C. McLean, Construction supervisor for the Veteran's Land Department, his wife and mother, and Peter Barr, all residents of the area. R.D. Cockburn of Victoria, C.P. Crawford of Nanaimo, and Ron Loach of Qualicum are among others who gave their names.

"I could see a head and three humps," said Cockburn, "but I thought it must be three or four seals. Then the thing reared up a few feet out of the water and I could see it was just one animal." Two other men who saw the serpent put out in a row boat and got within 15 or 20 feet of it before it submerged and reappeared 100 yards away.

An unidentified creature also appeared in 1952 directly off Prospect Point at Vancouver. It was seen by Harold Whelan, former deputy chief constable of Vancouver, a man trained to keen observation and to accuracy of recollection. "The tide was right at slack," he said, "so there is no suggestion that what I saw was surging water. I happened to be looking right at the spot where it broke water. It was no more than 20 feet away. The water boiled up in an area about eight feet across.

"I couldn't tell whether it was the head or the back of the creature. There was no dorsal fin. I had no idea of its complete size. The monster then disappeared. It surfaced again seconds later, some distance away. It was travelling at a terrific speed -I would say about 30 knots."

Whelan, an adroit fisherman and expert on marine life, said the creature definitely was not a porpoise. He pointed out that "there were no coils or anything like that" which would identify it as a sea lion. The sighting was witnessed also by his father-in-law, and a son, Dick.

These sightings by expert eye witnesses are difficult to explain. Are Caddy and Ogopogo related to the mosasaurs which lived some 75 million years ago around the inland sea that once extended into what is now Western U.S. and Canada? Mosasaurs looked like serpents -long and sinuous- and their remains are frequently discovered.

Citing statements from scientists and others that these creatures, or something like them, couldn't have survived to the modern age doesn't necessarily solve the problem. Admittedly, not all reports of sightings can be accepted as factual. But on the other hand, not all reports are wrong.

What, for instance, is the explanation of a 22-foot monster that washed ashore in 1950 at Delake, Oregon? According to Richard A. Liftin, British United Press correspondent, it weighed between 1,000 to 2,000 pounds and resembled a cow. Its body, three or four feet thick and four feet long, had a long main tail extending eighteen feet, plus seven subsidiary tails eight feet in length, as well as a medium-sized one of twelve feet.

"It had gray and white feathers on its underside," said Mrs. Ben Allum, one of some 200 people who saw it. When Peter Cheadle, another spectator, kicked the monster it shivered and shimmied. A tow truck and crew which had been called in order to salvage the creature was forced back by high waves which pulled the monster back to sea.

In July 1956 another mysterious creature was reported washed ashore 60 miles southeast of Yakutka, Alaska. Its carcass, estimated at more than 100 feet long and 15 feet wide at the broadest part, had reddish brown hair two inches thick over its body. No blubber or fat could be seen on its rapidly decomposing flesh from which flowed a syrupy blood when the body was hit by a shovel.

Its head measured nearly six feet across, and its eye sockets between seven and nine inches in diameter. It had teeth six inches long and about five inches wide at the base. Its moveable upper jaw had a tusk-like bone which protruded over five feet beyond the end of its fixed lower jaw. Experts said the creature does not resemble any known description of prehistoric beasts.

The most recent report of a serpent or at least an unknown something was on December 14, 1970, when the Daily Province reported that Glenn Bertie, grade 9 student of Central Junior High School, was walking along the beach near Harling Point, overlooking Foul Bay. He saw a creature with three fins jutting out like humps behind its head and a body 15 to 18 inches around with humps spread out along the full length.

"It had a head a little longer than that of a horse," he said, "and about the same shape, sloping down and flat on top. It was light brown and had no visible protuberancies that could have been its eyes or mouth." When asked if his report was perhaps a hoax, Glen replied: "There could be no point to such a hoax. You can make money from it if you have a picture, but not from just making up a story."

In an article of this length it is impossible to include the hundreds of reports on Caddy and Ogopogo. Those mentioned, however, give a general picture of the sightings. For their part scientists contend that the ribbonfish, or elongated oar, is frequently mistaken for serpents. No doubt there are many reports which could be plausibly explained, but the majority of descriptions indicate that "things" unknown to science cavort about the waters of B.C.