Scary Monsters
A new theory about 0gopogo.

Lake Okanagan, B.C. July, 1949. The Watsons are visiting from Montreal and Leslie Kerry and his wife want to know if they'd like to go for an early evening spin on the lake. The four of them are just pushing off from the dock in Leslie's new outboard when someone says, What's that? Lying low in the water, about 30 metres off shore, there appears something which at first looks like a log. But this is no dead wood. Moving in a serpentine fashion, the log has suddenly become a lake monster, iron-gray to black in colour, snake-like in shape, and propelled by a forked tail. Watson grabs the boat's oars and carefully rows toward the creature. Meanwhile, on shore, next-door-neighbour Stanley Underhill has caught sight of the apparition and now watches it through binoculars. After 15 minutes of lazy, unconcerned reconnaissance, the creature moves off to the centre of the lake and disappears.

Naramata, Lake Okanagan, August, 1967. Mr. and Mrs. John Durant are enjoying an afternoon walk along the shore at Naramata, a small town on the southern tip of the lake. Seasoned nature-watchers, they are startled when a humped, serpent like animal suddenly emerges 185 metres off-shore. Mrs. Durant has often sighted whales and seals before but this is something different. Training her binoculars on it, Mrs. Durant notices that the creature has a head like a bucket and that it spouts water.

The stories told by these eye-witnesses form part of a long tradition of serpent sightings at Lake Okanagan. By the late 1700s, monster lore was already well established here: the local Okanakane Tribe would not make a dugout canoe without carving into its prow a likeness of the creature; they would not venture onto the lake without first dropping an animal into the water as a peace offering. Known variously as Naitaka, Na-ha-ha-itkh, N'ha-a-ith, or N'hahtik, the Okanagan monster has not only been described in one hundred and one eye-witness accounts but has also been immortalized in petroglyphs, celebrated in song, and recorded in plastic gew gaws. Most commonly known these days as Ogopogo* it continues to be a source of fascination to laymen, income to local residents, and increasing curiosity to scientists.

Stories of lake creatures are recounted in virtually every corner of the globe. Deep in a Scottish loch, of course, resides Nessie, the most celebrated water beast of them all. In the United States, there is Arkansas' White River monster and New York's Silver Lake monster. Cousins of Ogopogo have been sighted from Peru to Kenya to Australia. Canada, too, has her share of lake monsters. In Lake Manitoba there is Manipogo, while Ontario, Quebec, and New Brunswick all claim lakes which host unidentified swimming creatures. British Columbia has no less than nine lakes besides Okanagan which boast unusual habituées.

Although descriptions of Ogopogo vary slightly with the teller, a reasonable fascimile of the creature has been composed for aficionado's identi-kits. Major characteristics: the animal looks like a log, is elongated, serpentine, with no thickened central body parts. The creature is estimated to range from 12 metres to 20 in length. The skin colour is described variously as green, brown, gray, and black. Ogopogo's skin is usually considered smooth although observers who have enjoyed close-up views claim it has plates or scales. Most of the back is smooth, although portions are saw-toothed, ragged edged, or serrated. The creature's head tapers toward the snout and is flattened on top and bottom. Eyes are reported to be large enough to be clearly seen from a distance. Propulsion seems to depend upon the up-and-down movement of a powerful forked tail. There appears to be at least one set of forelimbs, variously interpreted as fins, flippers, or legs.

Does Ogopogo exist? Or rather, do Ogopogos exist -since there is not likely to be one without there being several?

"Some skeptics," says B.C. writer and Ogopogo detective Mary Moon, "believe that there is a simple explanation for the sightings. They claim there is no actual monster such as witnesses have described." In her 1977 investigation Ogopogo, The Okanagan Mystery (J.J. Douglas, Vancouver), Moon catalogues some of the alternate theories advanced to explain away the Ogopogo phenomenon. Among them: the creature is a sturgeon, or sturgeons-in-a-row, ducks-in-a-row, an oarfish, a Manatee, a sea lion, a prehistoric reptile.

If others experience doubts about Ogopogo's family connections, they are not shared by U.S. biologist Roy P. Mackal. Says he in his recently published Searching for Hidden Animals (Doubleday & Co. N.Y. 1980): "There can be hardly any doubt that the Naitahas (Ogopogos) are a small population of primitive whales (cetaceans) belonging to the group known as archeoceti, specifically Basilosaurus cetoides, or a closely related form."

While Mackal admits that evidence from Okanagan is too soft and anecdotal to be proper material for vigorous scientific analysis, he believes the sightings and location provide overwhelming circumstantial support for his whale theory. To begin, says Mackal, the log-like description of Ogopogo tallies almost exactly with the general description of Basilosaurus. Beyond that, Lake Okanagan, like Loch Ness, possesses several homey characteristics: it is fresh water, it is cold and deep, it never freezes over in winter, it has a constant temperature in its depths, it is well oxygenated, it has a fish population large enough to support a small colony of fish predators, and (a vital consideration) it connects through a maze of lakes and underground rivers to the ocean.

Until hard evidence is produced to substantiate the existence of Lake Okanagan's mysterious inhabitants, most scientists will continue to regard "sightings" with bemused cynicism. For those who have seen Ogopogo, however, the reaction is more likely to be one of awe.

*The name Ogopogo was dreamed up by comic songwriter William Brimblecombe in 1926 and used in his "Ogopogo Song", a parody of a popular English tune. The press adopted the name and have used it ever since.

Okanagan's Ogopogo: "Is the creature a kind of whale?"