OGOPOGO by Randy Scott

In the annals of cryptozoology The Ogopogo lake monster is arguably the second most well of known lake monster, at least in Canada. Lake Okanagan is in the interior of South Central British Columbia. It's a beautiful place to vacation and take in the sun on a summer day. Some say that the lake is home to Ogopogo and has been for hundreds of years. The native peoples of this area referred to this animal as "N'ha-a-itk". The early peoples of the area were often afraid to paddle to various areas of the lake for fear of this animal.

Sightings are reported of a creature somewhere between 20 to 50 feet long; with a horse shaped or goat-like head and a serpent like body which is darkish green or brown in color. Lake Okanagan is about 80 miles long extending from Vernon at the north end to Penticton in the south with the city of Kelowna in the center. This lake is 169 kilometers in length and with depths of nearly 235 meters in some parts and is 3.5 km wide. Sightings have been reported throughout the length of the lake but the monster appears to favor an area just south of Kelowna in waters near a place called Peachland.

The first reports from Europeans came in the early 1870's. Later in 1914 a group of local native folks discovered the decomposing body of an unidentified creature on the shores of Lake Okanagan. It was five to six feet long and was estimated to weigh approximately 400 pounds; it was blue-grey in color. The beast had a tail and flippers, and a local amateur naturalist felt that it was a manatee although no one knew of ant populations of Manatees in the lake. Lake Monster expert Peter Costello has theorized that the carcass was an Ogopogo; he suggested this even though the carcass was badly mangled and the long neck was gone.

Supporters have argued that, similar to Loch Ness, underground passages exist between Lake Okanagan and the Pacific Ocean to the west. Ogopogo-like creatures have on numerous occasions been reported been reported in the pacific.

Several photos of the creature have been taken over the years but they are either too blurry or taken from such a distance that the evidence is inconclusive. Here we have another Lake Monster claim from whites and natives that so far has no real evidence. All we have is stories, a number of eye witness and some blurry photos and maybe a weak video or two. Much like The Loch Ness Monster, we have claims but we don't have proof enough to convince scholars.

Source: http://www.helium.com/items/483515-annals-cryptozoology-ogopogo-monster