Please tell me you have heard of Ogopogo - especially if you are Canadian!! I say this because my son has chosen Ogopogo as his project for the upcoming school social studies fair. He had to choose something Canadian and when he submitted his choice, his teachers and classmates looked at him blankly. They had NEVER HEARD OF HIM!!
So ~ Have YOU??!!
Here is Ogopogo as depicted at a park at Lake Okanagan
Ogopogo is a water creature who lives in Lake Okanogan. This lake is situated in British Columbia, Canada, by Vernon and Kelowna. The lake is 169 km long and almost 1,000 feet deep in some places. It was believed Ogopogo resided in an underwater cave at Peachland as most of the sightings take place around that area. Part of my childhood was spent in Vernon and I grew up with Ogopogo as part of my Canadian culture. It is my duty to let all other Canadians know about him!!
The Salish Native people first described Ogopogo over 100 years ago. They called it N'ha-apitk or "Devil of the Lake". They travelled the waters carefully and sacrificed animals in the hopes of keeping the water creature happy.
The first documentated sightings came from settlers in 1860. The first mass sighting happened in 1926 at Mission Beach. Approximately 30 cars full of people claim to have seen Ogopogo at the same time at the beach. People who have seen him say he is a greenish-like serpeant with a large head a several humps. Witnesses seeing Ogopogo swear by the sightings but others believe it is only a myth. Sometime in the first half of the 1900s he was renamed Ogopogo. I don`t know how that came about, so if someone out there knows, let me know!
I have seen bits and pieces on tv about Ogopogo (as well as the Loch Ness Monster in Scotland) and some believe he might be a prehistoric fish that got caught in the lake and somehow survived. Or perhaps an enormous Sturgeon fish. There are a few kind of blurry photos of Ogopogo and the argument continues as to whether these are real or fakes. Here is one such existing photo of Ogopogo...
Do you know Ogopogo?
Friday, March 21, 2008
Have You Ever Heard of Ogopogo???
Posted by Patricia at 12:02 PM
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7 comments:
Heard of him, but not much more than that.
Not sure about your photo...
Of course I've heard of Ogopogo but not nearly as much as the Loch Ness monster (thanks to our east coast scots/english roots!). I have not SEEN Ogopogo myself, but I am certain he exists. ; )
Sorry, I don't know Ogopogo, but I *do* know Champ, the Lake Champlain(Vermont) "sea monster". I think they must be relatives!
Janet
What's this? I have never heard of Champ! Could little Ogopogo have a friend we didn't know about? I think I shall do a little sightseeing of my own here! I am so glad another Canadian has professed knowledge of Ogopogo as I was thinking I'd lost my mind or something!
I've never heard of him, but I'm from Missouri. It be awesome if it really is true, and it's more fun to believe that it is.
Never heard of him till now! Very interesting!
Well sis, we grew up with Ogopogo, the Okanagan lake monster! Remember how everything sold in Vernon had Ogopogo on it? And hey, you forgot to talk about Kalamalka lake, which was so deep that in places it still hasn't had its depths explored...which gave me the creeps swimming in the lake, to be honest. Who knows what lurks at the bottom?? (aside from the dead bodies they showed on a tv show, from people who drowned in the lake, and didn't that do a number on me that summer??)
I begin to think that only BC people are privy to Ogopogo....so thanks for making it public!!
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