I could swear I’ve seen an episode on the monster of Lake Okanagan somewhere among the usual suspects. But according to the episode lists for Expedition X (and its parent shows Expedition Unknown and Destination Truth) and MonsterQuest, that’s a nope. Unsolved Mysteries did a segment on it in its second season, with references to Loch Ness among others.
I found a show I hadn’t known before under that title, Boogeymen, though I’ve seen it as Monsters Among Us. That’s not quite it, but it has some interesting things to say about the creature that’s known as the Ogopogo.
Lake Okanagan, like Loch Ness, is a long (130 km/70 miles), very deep (230m/760ft), cold lake that once connected to the ocean but is now cut off from it. (But cryptid enthusiasts speculate that it might still be connected through underground tunnels or channels.) It’s exactly the kind of lake that supposedly harbors monsters.
General searches on “Canada’s Nessie” turn up summaries about a very long, serpentine, dark-green creature, which is what you’ll see in art and advertising if you happen to be touristing around Lake Okanagan and particularly in the city of Kelowna. The show however presents a different picture, which looks familiar after our explorations of Nessie and Champ.
It’s anywhere from ten to fifty feet long or more. There’s a head like a horse, some say. Others say it has flippers, and some of those declare that it can maneuver around on land. It’s black and shiny, or brown, and only sometimes green. Some even say it’s orange.
This episode of Boogeymen sums up the history and notes that First Nations peoples told tales of the monster long before the age of colonization, and drew pictures of it on rocks near the lake. They called it Nhaatik according to the show, and believed that it was a spirit of the water, lairing off what’s now known as Rattlesnake Island. It fed on kokanee salmon, a subspecies of sockeye that are unique to the lake and its tributaries. People who wanted to stay safe around the lake made offerings to propitiate the monster; if they failed to do so, the consequences could be violent.
The first settlers in the area were so alarmed by the stories that they posted armed guards along the shore. Yet there don’t seem to have been any actual attacks on humans. As with Nessie, most of the witnesses tell of sighting something on or in the water, usually at a distance.
By the twentieth century, the deadly spirit of the waters transformed into a tourist attraction. In 1989 it came under the protection of the Canadian government—though there had never been physical evidence of its existence. Nor has there been since, in spite of the usual range of investigations (with sonar) and expeditions.
Even its name changed in the direction of the friendly and the funny. “Ogo-Pogo” is a British dance-hall song, subtitled “The Funny Fox-Trot”. It’s cute, it’s silly, it’s designed to sell fuzzy green plushies.
Photo and video evidence tends to show what look like long, undulating coils of something in the water. Occasionally there’s an eruption of spray in the middle of the lake, or something zooming along rapidly like a speedboat but with no boat in sight. Some claim to have seen a long neck and a reptilian head, à la Nessie.
The episode devotes some time to a man who maintains that not only has he photographed the Ogopogo, he’s found a nesting site and seen its young. What this skeptical viewer sees are photos of logs underwater, with branches and knots that he insists are monster heads and eyes. The “nest” could be anything from a moose bed to a turtle nest, and the “babies” look like orange salamanders.
The other evidence, the serpents in the water, could be anything from floating logs to rogue waves. Scientists interviewed on the show point out that temperature differentials in the water of a lake that large and deep can give rise to isolated waves, which will surge along the surface and look as if something big is swimming down the lake. Another option is bubbles of methane rising from the bottom and erupting into the air. To this, Unsolved Mysteries adds the possibility of seals or otters playing in the water.
Ultimately, Lake Okanagan’s monster is a boon to the local economy and a bit of fun for the tourists. It gives people a reason to visit the area, which is known for its pleasant summers and its natural beauty. It’s safe; it’s friendly. It’s long since lost the edge of danger that made it a legend among the First Nations peoples.
