Ogopogo or
Naitaka is the name given to a
lake monsterLake monster or loch monster is a term referring to purported fresh-water dwelling megafauna appearing in mythology, rumor, or local folklore, but whose existence lacks scientific support. A well known example is the Loch Ness Monster. Lake monsters' depictions are often similar to some sea...
reported to live in
Okanagan LakeOkanagan Lake, also known as Lake Okanagan, is a large, deep lake in the Okanagan Valley of British Columbia. The lake is 135 km long, between 4 and 5 km wide, and has a surface area of 351 km². The lake's maximum depth is 232 meters near Grant Island...
, in
British ColumbiaBritish Columbia is the westernmost of Canada's provinces and is famed for its natural beauty, as reflected in its Latin motto, Splendor sine occasu . In 1871, it became the sixth province of Canada.The capital of British Columbia is Victoria, the 15th largest metropolitan region in Canada...
,
CanadaCanada is a country occupying most of northern North America, extending from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
.
Sightings
Proponents of the Ogopogo's existence claim that the first documented sightings of the monster date back to around 1872, and occurred as the area was being colonized by European settlers. In 1926 a sighting is claimed to have occurred at an Okanagan Mission Beach. This event was supposedly witnessed by about thirty cars of people who all claimed to have seen the same thing. It was also in this year that the editor of the Vancouver Sun, Bobby Carter, wrote, "Too many reputable people have seen [the monster] to ignore the seriousness of actual facts."
The first alleged film of the creature is The Folden Film, filmed in 1968 by Art Folden, which shows a dark object propelling itself through shallow water near the shore. The film was shot from on a hill above the shore.
Ogopogo was allegedly filmed again in 1989 by a used car salesman, Ken Chaplin, who with his father, Clem Chaplin, claimed to have seen a snake-like animal swimming in the lake, which flicked its tail to create a splash. Some believe that the animal the Chaplins saw was simply a
beaverThe beaver is a primarily nocturnal, large, semi-aquatic rodent. Castor includes two extant species, Castor canadensis and Castor fiber . Beavers are known for building dams, canals, and lodges . They are the second-largest rodent in the world...
, because the tail splashing is a well-known characteristic of beavers. However, Chaplin alleges the animal he saw was long, far larger than a typical beaver (beavers are approximately long). A few weeks later, Chaplin came back with his father and his daughter and filmed it again.
British cryptozoologist Dr.
Karl ShukerKarl P. N. Shuker is a British zoologist, cryptozoologist, and author living in the West Midlands, England. He works as a full-time freelance zoological consultant, media consultant, and noted author specializing in cryptozoology.-Academic:...
has categorized the Ogopogo as a 'many hump' variety of lake monster, and suggested it may be a kind of primitive serpentine whale such as
BasilosaurusBasilosaurus is a genus of cetacean that lived from 40 to 34 million years ago in the Late Eocene. Its fossilized remains were first discovered in the southern United States , and were initially believed to be some sort of reptilian sea monster, hence the suffix -"saurus", but later it was found...
. However, because the physical evidence for the beast is limited to unclear photographs and film, it has also been suggested that the sightings are misidentifications of common animals, such as otters, and inanimate objects, such as floating logs. Another suggestion is that the Ogopogo is a
lake sturgeonThe lake sturgeon is a North American temperate freshwater fish, one of about 20 species of sturgeon. Like other sturgeons, this species is an evolutionarily ancient bottomfeeder with a partly cartilaginous skeleton and skin bearing rows of bony plates...
. It is also possible in some cases that Ogopogo could be the misidentification of a
seicheA seiche is a standing wave in an enclosed or partially enclosed body of water. Seiches and seiche-related phenomena have been observed on lakes, reservoirs, swimming pools, bays and seas...
which is a
standing waveA standing wave, also known as a stationary wave, is a wave that remains in a constant position. This phenomenon can occur because the medium is moving in the opposite direction to the wave, or it can arise in a stationary medium as a result of interference between two waves traveling in opposite...
in a lake that travels below the surface in a long serpentine motion.
Perhaps the earliest mention of the Ogopogo by non-natives was the story of a man in 1860 leading horses that were swimming across the lake near
Rattlesnake IslandRattlesnake Island is a small island on Okanagan Lake, directly east from Peachland. The land and shore surrounding the island form part of Okanagan Mountain Park...
. They were pulled under by some unseen and unknown force later attributed to the then common native myth of the Ogopogo.
The TV series In Search Of covered the legend in their season 2, episode 8 show in 1978. A July 1977 incident, involving locals Ed Fletcher, his daughter Jill, and Erin Neely is discussed, among others.
In culture
In 1990, a Canadian
postage stampA postage stamp is adhesive paper evidence of a fee paid for postal services. Usually a small rectangle attached to an envelope, the stamp signifies the person sending it has fully or partly paid for delivery...
depicting an artist's conception of the Ogopogo was issued.
Ogopogo was both codename and mascot for 1996's
Microsoft PublisherMicrosoft Publisher, officially Microsoft Office Publisher, is a desktop publishing application from Microsoft. It is an entry-level application, differing from Microsoft Word in that the emphasis is placed on page layout and design rather than text composition and proofing.-Features:Microsoft...
97, with Ogopogo graphics featured prominently in the beta setup. Team t-shirts featured two versions of the monster: a small stylized picture on the front patch, and a larger, animation-influenced upper-body shot on back.
In 2005, a film inspired by the Ogopogo and made in
New ZealandNew Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses , and numerous smaller islands, most notably Stewart Island/Rakiura and the Chatham Islands. The indigenous Māori named New Zealand Aotearoa, commonly translated as The Land of the Long White Cloud...
was released. The filmmakers were about to name the creature in the film after the Ogopogo until an Aboriginal protested that use of the name compromised Aboriginal religion, although other Aboriginals encouraged the use of the name "Ogopogo." Thus, the creature became "Mee-Shee" and the film was called
Mee-Shee: The Water GiantMee-Shee: The Water Giant is an Anglo-German family film shot in New Zealand and released in 2005. It stars Bruce Greenwood, Rena Owen, Tom Jackson and Daniel Magder....
.
Jim Henson's Creature ShopJim Henson's Creature Shop is a company founded in 1979 by puppeteer Jim Henson, creator of The Muppets.It was originally created as a result of the observation that the team that had been put together for The Dark Crystal was extremely hard to recreate for Labyrinth, since the majority of the...
modelled Mee-Shee after the late actor
Walter MatthauWalter John Matthau was an American actor best known for his role as Oscar Madison in The Odd Couple and his frequent collaborations with Odd Couple star Jack Lemmon, as well as his role as Coach Buttermaker in the 1976 comedy The Bad News Bears...
.
The logo for Kelowna's
Western Hockey LeagueThe Western Hockey League is a Major Junior ice hockey league based in Western Canada and the Pacific Northwest of the United States. The WHL is one of three leagues that constitute the Canadian Hockey League as the highest level of junior hockey in Canada...
team, the
Kelowna RocketsThe Kelowna Rockets are a Major Junior ice hockey team based in Kelowna, British Columbia. The Rockets play in the Western Hockey League , out of the Canadian Hockey League...
, depicts Ogopogo.
In Canada, "Ogopogo" has also been a name given to items such as boats and canoes. In 1972, the
Supreme Court of CanadaThe Supreme Court of Canada is the highest court of Canada and is the final court of appeal in the Canadian justice system...
considered the case
Horsley v. MacLarenHorsley v. MacLaren, [1972] S.C.R. 441, also known as The Ogopogo case, is a leading Supreme Court of Canada decision where it was held that there is no duty at common law to rescue or aid anyone in distress...
which involved a boat called the
Ogopogo. The case itself is also known as "The Ogopogo case".
In 1989, a car salesman from
KelownaKelowna is a city on Okanagan Lake in the Okanagan Valley of British Columbia, Canada. Its name derives from a native term for "grizzly bear"...
sold footage of a beaver to the American TV show Unsolved Mysteries, claiming it to be Ogopogo.
In 1990, the owner of the Peachland Marina Restaurant "Mary's Country Kitchen" claimed to have photographed the Ogopogo crossing the lake from
Rattlesnake Island-United States:* Rattlesnake Island , in Lake County, California* A previous name for Terminal Island, in Los Angeles County, California* Rattlesnake Island , in Lake Winnipesaukee* Rattlesnake Island , in Ohio-Australia:...
Harry HorseRichard Horne better known under his pen name Harry Horse was an author, illustrator and political cartoonist. He was also known as a member of the band Swamptrash....
wrote a book for children, "The Ogopogo - My Journey with the Loch Ness Monster", in 1983.
A monster named "Ogopogo," depicted as a large serpent, appears in Square Enix's video game "Final Fantasy IV."
In Season 3 of the TV series
Monster QuestMonsterQuest is an American documentary television series that premiered on October 31, 2007 on the History channel. The program deals with the search for various cryptozoological creatures and paranormal entities reportedly witnessed around the world...
, a search was conducted for evidence of the existence of an Ogopogo, revealing sink holes in the floor of the lake, cold streaks across the lakes surface (possibly indicating a large, cold-blooded creature surfacing for food), and what was at first thought to be a baby Ogopogo corpse, but was in fact an unrecognizable decomposed fish (Salmon) body.
In Popular Culture
In
Final Fantasy IVis a console role-playing game developed and published by Square in 1991 as a part of the Final Fantasy series. The game was originally released for the Super Famicom in Japan, but has been ported with minor changes to the Super Nintendo Entertainment System as well as by TOSE to the Sony...
, the Ogopogo is featured as a side boss in the final dungeon known as the Lunar Subterrane. It was also featured in the print advertising for the game, which included the tagline "Ogopogo lives! Will you?"
An episode of
Reborn!Reborn!, known in Japan as , is an ongoing Japanese manga written and illustrated by Akira Amano. The plot revolves around the life of a young boy named Tsunayoshi Sawada, who finds out that he is the next in line to become the boss of the most powerful Mafia organization, the Vongola Family...
featured the title character dressing up as Ogopogo and declaring it "the strongest of all monsters."
finalfantasy.wikia.com/wiki/Lunar_Subterrane
External links