THE OKANAGAN LAKE MONSTER

August 1964 : At 5 p.m. Alan Hassall of Vernon, his father, William George Hassall, and wife Joan, were at Dellcliffe Lodge, south of Vernon swimming in the lake, when they saw Naitaka on the surface, to the North, between them and Vernon.

June 1965 : Mr. Terence Upton and his wife Primrose of Okanagan Mission tried to record two fading Indian pictographs of Naitaka which had been painted in red ochre on granite rock, between Kelowna and Okanagan Landing. The creatures depicted had humped backs, short legs and a long neck.

September : Mr. & Mrs. George Hubley of Okanagan Landing and Mr. & Mrs. H.G. Bayliss of Kelowna saw "an enormous monster" rise out of the water off Okanagan Landing. They said that the huge creature made a great disturbance in the water. All four were visibly shaken by their experience.

1966 : Naitaka made several appearances for Mrs. Dorothy Gellatly of Westbank, and a friend, Mrs. Marjorie Fell of Vancouver, who were admiring the panoramic view of Lake Okanagan, from the top of Boucherie Mountain. They said that the creature surfaced and then sank under the water several times.

1967 : Between 6 and 7 p.m. Brenda Briese of Kelowna saw Naitaka scaring a school of fish off Casa Loma, opposite Kelowna. At the time, she was driving a ski boat towing a waterskier Brian Bucking. Their parents were watching from the Briese home at Casa Loma, and they too saw the creature.

July : "It had a head as big as a bucket" Mrs. John Durrant of White Rock, B.C. said when she and her husband saw Naitaka "spouting water" off Naramata.

1967 : At the same time as the Durrant's sighting, fifteen cannery employees were watching the creature, and they all agreed that the creature was trying to get into a school of fish.

April 1968 : The lunch hour of three North Vancouver workmen laying a water main from Poplar Point do Kelowna was abruptly disturbed by a sighting of Naitaka. They ran to Jack Lowe, their project expediter. The four men watched Naitaka for several minutes. The sighting was made by Victor Bergen Alfred Williamson and Al Francis.

July : Connie Marlow and Lucille Roche, both on the staff of the Kelowna Chamber of Commerce office on the West end of Kelowna Bridge, saw Naitaka swimming on the surface to the north. An older couple on a nearby beach who previously were non believers, confirmed to the two girls that they too had seen the lake creature. The older couple refused to be interviewed by the press stating that they didn't want to be ridiculed.

July : Kelowna businessman Ernest A. Lording was fishing with two friends Colonel and Mrs. Albert Stock of Ottawa, North of Kelowna when Naitaka surfaced about fifty yards from them.

July : Sheri Campbell of Kelowna was water skiing seven miles North of Kelowna, being towed by a boat piloted by Willie Walls. Also in the boat were Gwen Johnson, Renee Bliss and Bruce Johnson. They saw Naitaka resting on the surface, and in the excitement, Sheri Campbell let go of the ski rope and fell into the water. The others picked her up and they all headed at high speed towards Naitaka. When within only a few feet of the creature, it panicked and headed North towards Vernon at high speed. They were unable to catch up with it before it sank.

August : Arthur Folden, a sawmill worker, was on his way to Chase, B.C., when he and his wife saw Naitaka just South of Peachland. Fearing ridicule, he and his wife did not mention their sighting for a year and a half.

September : After living beside the lake for twenty years, and always remaining sceptical about the existence of Naitaka, Peter C. Pearson of Lakeview Heights, opposite Kelowna, saw Naitaka lashing in the water offshore. Pearson who became a believer at that moment, said that the creature was "huge."

September : At 6:15 a.m. taxi driver Paul Pugliese saw Naitaka off Kelowna city park, heading towards the public swimming pool. During seven years working on the lake ferries he had not believed in the creature's existence until then.