THE OKANAGAN LAKE MONSTER

June 1951 : Mr. Budge Barlee was on the water's edge near Okanagan Mission when he saw the lake creature Naitaka surface only forty feet away. Barlee described a long back with a hump in the middle, and a long neck. He could not describe Naitaka's head which was peering down into the water.

June : At 10 a.m. off Boucherie Mountain, Westbank, Edward E. Schindel of Kelowna saw a stationary log in the water as he was steering a CJNR, tugboat towing a barge, from Kelowna to Penticton. As the tugboat drew close, the floating log came to life, swam off and then sank out of sight.

July : Mrs. H. Dutton of Trout Creek and her daughter Mrs. Harvey Spence saw Naitaka moving swiftly across the lake between Peachland and Poplar Point, Kelowna.

July : At dusk, Monte DeMara, a Kelowna insurance man, and Billy Fisher, a school teacher, were in a small boat passing Ogopogo Island, off Squally Point when Naitaka surfaced about thirty five yards away. They described a humped back and a long neck swanning through the water. They turned their boat and chased the creature which sank when they closed in on it. The two men thought that Naitaka was about thirty feet in length.

July : Resort owner Albert M. Moore of Peachland and two of his guests were out fishing in Trepanier Bay it a small boat. The guests were Marvin and Ernie Sheurman of Bashaw, Alberta. Naitaka surfaced sixty feet ahead of their boat and they opened the throttle of their small outboard motor and took off after the creature. Naitaka easily outdistanced-the boat. Again, humps and a long neck.

August : Returning from Penticton to the family orchards above Naramata, Mrs James Gawne saw Naitaka at 4 p.m. near Trout Creek. She mentioned that her orchard workers had seen the lake monster several times, but neither she nor they reported it because they did not want to be held up to ridicule. She only divulged details when others convinced her of Naitaka's existence.

August : Mrs. Charles Smith of Pascoe, Washington State U.S., who had never heard of Naitaka saw the creature "frolicking in the water" off Kelowna Beach.

September : Naitaka made a brief appearance before two residents, Mrs. D. Johnson and Mr. J. Fraser, as they stood on Okanagan Landing. They said that the creature was close inshore.

September : None believer Mrs. Max.J. (Alice) de Phyffer, of Kelowna changed her mind at 9:30 a.m. on a Saturday morning. Through her window, looking down onto her lakeside garden, she saw Naitaka surface so close inshore, it frightened the mud hens, which took off. After a minute or so cavorting on the surface, the lake monster sped off towards mid lake and then sank.

July 1958 : Resort owner Albert M. Moore saw Naitaka at 8 a.m. off the West shore of the lake, across from Kelowna.

1958 : At 3:45 p.m. Edward Coelen of Kelowna and Mrs. W.D. Walker of Okanagan were sitting in the garden of Mrs. Walker's home at the water's edge when they saw Naitaka go swimming by on the surface. When neighbour Gerald Lennie started the engine of his motor boat, the creature immediately submerged.

At 4:30 p.m. the same day, Mrs. S.(Nan) Dalrymple, a hostess at the Eldorado Arms Hotel, just south of Mrs. Walker's house, saw the lake creature Naitaka. She alerted hotel guests Don Shoe and Mrs. Jack Schier, and all three of them watched Naitaka swim by at a fast pace.

July 1959 : Mr. & Mrs. Albert Block and their son Dennis, saw Naitaka lying on the surface off Cameron's Point, near Vernon. After a few minutes, Naitaka swam off and then sank out of sight.

July : Five people in a motor cruiser returning to Vernon from Okanagan Landing on the evening of the 17th, saw that a Naitaka was following their boat. Dick Miller(editor of the Vernon Advertiser) and his wife were amongst the passengers, as were Mrs. Miller's brother Pat Martin and his wife and Murray Martin, who was only six years old. Dick Miller later stated that they were all both thrilled and scared. The creature had a large body with a hump on top; and a long neck, at least fifteen feet in length was raised out of the water. They turned the boat towards the creature so that Mrs. Miller could make a sketch of the creature's head, whereupon the Naitaka sank under the surface. They described its head as sheep or horse like. This is reminiscent of some of the descriptions of the head of the Loch Ness Monster, which the local inhabitants call the "The Water Horse."

January 1960 : Mr. & Mrs. Peter Stoyanski of Summerland saw Naitaka swimming past the beach. They stopped passing cars to draw attention to the creature.

May 1962 : A boatload of students saw Naitaka near Okanagan Center at 5:30 p.m. on a Sunday. They included Ron Nishi, 17, student at Dr. Knox Junior High School Kelowna, his brother Doug Nishi, 14, and two friends Allen Miller and Bruce Giggy, both of Kelowa.

July : Mrs. Alice Allison Wright, a daughter of pioneering John Falls Allison of Westbank, saw Naitaka at Trout Creek Point, Summerland, at 4 p.m. Mr. Wright's daughter, Mrs. Jim Sisson of North Vancouver, drew attention to the long "polelike" neck sticking out of the water, which then sank, as the humped back of the creature appeared on the surface. It then swam off showing just the hump, and several feet ahead of it, the top of the creature's head just breaking surface.

July 1962 : Naitaka appeared on July 17th when it surfaced less than fifty yards from John and Lena Schneider and their eight year old son Frankie, of Westbank. They were in their motor boat off Squally Point at 8 a.m. They chased Naitaka for a few minutes but the creature easily outdistanced them.

July : On the 29th, a group of thirty parishioners of the Immaculate Conception Roman Catholic Church, Kelowna, were enjoying their annual picnic on the beach, South of Kelowna, when Naitaka appeared. "It swam like a huge snake or caterpillar" they said.

August : While John Surtees and Carl Tostenson were water skiing off poplar Point, Kelowna, in the mid afternoon, their wives onshore, approached what they described as a "huge peeled shiny brown log" washing too and fro in the weeds at the water's edge. When the two women got close, the log moved violently, causing great turbulence in the water. It then moved offshore and sank.

August : Mrs. Vic Weller of Kelowna and her two sons were strolling by the lake when a large "log" in the shallows suddenly swam and headed North towards Kelowna Bridge.