In this video, we explore the legend of the Ogopogo, the huge horned water serpent said to haunt the waters of Okanagan Lake in British Columbia, Canada.
Co-Producer: Dan Chomistek
https://ChomistekFilms.com/
Cover art by Hannah Parker
https://www.HannahParkerArts.com/
With footage by Extemporalist
https://pixabay.com/users/extemporalist-2482730/
If you enjoyed this video and would like to help support this channel, please check out my books:
https://mysteriesofcanada.com/bookshop/
INTRODUCTION
0:00:00 – Introduction
0:01:43 – Legend of the Ogopogo
NATIVE PERCEPTION
0:06:18 – The Ogopogo in Native Tradition
0:08:25 – Local Legend
0:11:48 – Chief Timbasket’s Folly
0:16:12 – Water Mysteries
0:21:09 – Okanagan Pictographs
0:28:19 – Connection Between Okanagan Lake and the Columbia River
0:32:00 – Fox, Coyote, and the Whale Monster
0:37:26 – How the Spider-Woman Was Rescued From the Fish-Man
0:42:21 – The Carving
HISTORICAL CONTEXT
0:43:53 – The Pacific Fur Company
0:48:13 – The Okanagan Trail
0:54:17 – The Fraser Canyon Gold Rush
0:57:46 – Settlement of the Okanagan Valley
EARLY SETTLER ACCOUNTS
1:00:29 – John and Susan Allison
1:03:07 – Susan Allison’s Introduction to the Ogopogo
1:07:00 – Allison’s Ranch on the Similkameen River
1:10:31 – Rattlesnake Island
1:15:14 – Johnny McDougall’s Encounter
1:17:55 – Susan Allison’s Sighting
EARLY 20TH CENTURY SIGHTINGS
1:21:36 – Captain Thomas Short’s Sighting
1:25:28 – Frank Stevens’ Sighting
1:27:00 – Ruth Richardson’s Sighting
1:28:53 – The CPR Sternwheelers
1:31:37 – The Sightings of 1925
1:34:43 – John Logie’s Sighting
1:38:57 – How the Ogopogo Got Its Name
1:42:20 – Parallels with the Loch Ness Monster
DESCRIPTION
1:44:38 – Witness Descriptions of the Ogopogo
1:45:10 – Distribution
1:46:08 – Activity and Behavior
1:47:27 – Physical Appearance
1:57:37 – The Horned Water Serpent of Pan-American Tradition
THEORIES
2:00:31 – The Plesiosaur Theory
2:03:08 – The Whale Theory
2:09:12 – Optical Illusion
2:12:05 – The Sturgeon Theory
2:16:05 – The Oarfish Theory
2:17:41 – ‘The Amphibian Theory
source
Very good and informative video. You're videos have made me want to visit Canada for an extended vacation.
It's well known the Native folks won't talk to outsiders about their legends until they know you aren't there to make fun, misrepresent them and are capable of showing respect to said legends. May I suggest you send another package containing a couple of your books, an explanation of what you're about and more tobacco. I'm sure if they knew what you're about they would be happy to discuss the subject with you.
“His mother was an earwig, his father was a whale, a little bit of a head and hardly any tail, and Ogopogo was his name.”
(Supposedly a decades old popular song about Ogopogo.)
What I could never get past was the idea that the "monster" was so viscous in past reports until it was a money maker and all of a sudden Ogogpogo is a a mascot or some friendly lake protector
What’s scarier than a lake monster in the flesh? Looking down at your screen and seeing that somehow, you’ve disliked an HP video! Changed that really quick! 👍 Thanks for having provided a perspective on the cryptid that I’d not heard/read before, and congratulations on having wrapped this ambitious project!
It must have an indefinite life span lol. That's why I can't believe in these types of things. However, it's extremely interesting and this is extremely well done and you should be VERY PROUD. Thank You for all of your hard work and time and effort. Very much appreciated. OH….and I'm not saying it never existed. I just don't believe in these types of things existing today.
Do you have a big project involving the Wendigo, Hammerson?
That…. was amazing entertaining and informative.
I had absolutely no idea that sturgeon got to that length and weight for instance.
Dynamite work.
I live in kelowna and I got my bike stolen from those bike racks in front of earls 1:12 lol
Next time send wind dried fish instead of tobacco and they'll reply immediately lmao
Like#976👍
The fact that the "whale"bone suddenly disappeared means it must have been important enough to take and hide.
Happy Canadian Thanksgiving! 🍁🍂🇨🇦
I'm so looking forward to this video!!!♥️
Out of curiosity, will this also become available in book form?
I have one in my aquarium 😃👍
I wouldn't be surprised if what people saw might possibly be even a walrus who wandered for a short time. but walrus is salt water? that's what they thought about sharks also, We as humans think we have the world of mother nature all figured out,..lol.. in fact, we are finding out more every day that mother nature can throw us huge surprises and curve balls.. sharks in the Great Lakes and all the way up the Mississippi river into Missouri when science thought they couldn't survive fresh waters, animals we put on extinction lists, suddenly showing back up, like the clouded leopard in Tawain after more than 30 yrs on the extiction list, .. Science says NOOO grizzlies don't breed with Polar bears, until in 2006 a bear is killed, and DNA proves both Grizzly and Polar Bear DNA, Leopards aren't in Texas! until several trail cams do indeed show leopards roaming in Texas, along with Ocelots thought to be extinct in the US. Cougars? naw there aren't any Cougars in Georgia, never have been never will be says the Fish and Game after numerous sighting reports, until one is hit and killed on a Georgian highway. giant squid thought to only be legends by sailors, until oooops we found one.. heck I grew in in Colorado, as a kid I never saw a white Pelican, but now they are all over our lakes here in the summer, no one knows why they started migrating here? they just showed up.. It's a human trait to think Mother nature is done with evolution, but Mother Nature always finds a way.
Provide the spellings in native orthography so I can know how to pronounce it, you should be proud of your attempt!
Amazing video, thank you for all your hard work
Outstanding work, Hammerson! A tale that has needed to be told and who better than yourself? This is the real Canadian content!
Funny , the things people claim to see and can't identify are so often referred to as monsters.🤪🥴
epic
Good shit mate 👍
Well researched, and well done! I had to watch this in two sessions, but this production is worth taking the time.
Amazing work
Okanagan lake is not a fresh water fjord. Where did you come up with that?Good God,I guess anyone can make a documentary these days
👍💯👍× 10
Such a great video!
I am from Kelowna on the Okangan Lake…born and raised. I know two people I trusted that said they have seen the Ogopogo. Not only that, one saw a baby along side the parent. I myself have seen weird waves that gave me pause, but can't say I have actually seen it. The people I knew that saw it, didn't just see a wave they saw the creature. I trusted them enough to say now that I believe that it exists even if I have not seen it. Maybe one day I will get to add my name to the people who have seen it.
I have just found your channel, now I have weeks of viewing to catch up on…Hi from England..
Ogopogo also lives in Omak lake, lake Osooyous as well as okanogan lake & they are all connected via a deep underground river. You know which lake it's in by the color of the water if it's a deep dark blue it's there if it's bright light blue to turquoise its not there. They heard the fish hence the dark color or light color. I was born above the omak lake & grew up on the Colville Reservation.
This was fascinating TY Hammerson. Have you ever looked at the Petroglyphs in Nanaimo, BC? I've always thought they were very interesting since they do portray a serpent like creature carved in stone with a design more at home with Celtic drawings than Native 😛
Been following you for two years or so now, probably coming up to 3 soon. You’ve flourished man. I admire your content and all of their historical, fantastical, and cultural aspects. Stay blessed and keep on recording!
An excellent presentation!!! Definitely the best documentary I've ever seen on this subject. I know you put a lot of work into this channel, and I appreciate your talent and efforts. Thank you!!!!
So, so good.
The lore of the natives and the fur traders of Canada is priceless. Getting to hear their stories is an honour.
It can't exist unless a white man says it does 🙄
I myself could care less what science has to say about it to such an extent that if science says day-i know it's in fact,night-but,I digress…
I went to hockey school in Penticton in the summer of '76 and swam in that cold lake. (I'm Texan and my blood was a little thin for that. Ha!) The most beautiful place I had seen in my life, but the lake area made me somewhat tense, like swimming in the ocean and thinking of sharks.
the arrogant demeanor and derogatory nature of these mouthpieces of the scientific community only lend credence to the authenticity of the eyewitness accounts as anyone who actually applies their natural ability of processing thoughts and observations understands the tendency of humans to resort to character assassination when caught on the unprovable or obviously untrue side of debate-but,I digress..science rests on a wet toilet paper foundation of theoretical speculation and nonsense which-just like the systems of government and corporations,is compartmentalized in a labyrinth of rank and file so vast that the lifespan of the average human does not suffice nor afford the allotted time necessary to get to the bottom of all the bs so as to establish what is in fact,the TRUTH..The living word of the Almighty Lord God however,brings it all together and makes perfect sense of it all-and,aligns with the ancient stories that are handed down from all regions of this earthly realm by the PEOPLE..Meanwhile,the "experts"of science are steadily creating artificial intelligence allegedly far superior to our own-and,avatars for which such can move about and operate therein..It doesn't take an ivey league graduate to quickly figure out just how profoundly beyond stupid an idea that will surely prove out to be,or,could it be that-this alleged advanced education has perhaps impeded upon their abilities of rational thinking??? Science is a doctrine of devils….plain and simple..
Man I've been unsubscribed from you 3 times in 2 months
I know I didn't mistakenly do it because your the most important channel I am subbed to
Do you make the soundtrack as well? Specifically wondering about the soundtrack at 34min mark with fox and coyote
As a Scot, I appreciate the (sober as always) mention of Loch Ness instead of just a casual reference to Nessie. As you show us when you jump from there to Okanagan in Google Earth, like the rest of the British Isles, geography is on a completely different scale in N. America – but in a country as small as Scotland, it's easy to miss the fact that Loch Ness is part of a larger waterway that actually cuts the whole thing in half.
Between all the lochs, rivers and canals, you could technically travel from one part of the Atlantic to another while crossing the length of Loch Ness. (You know, if you want to get to Norway from Ireland but hate flying.) It's so slender and winding that it's not even obvious on a map, and even standing on the south shore of Loch Ness, you can see the north side easily, but lengthways it just seems to go on forever even on clear days. Again, no big deal if you're used to the likes of Lake Ontario, but it's something else in Britain.
Anyway, rant over – let me just say, you're a credit to Canada as both a creative and a scholar. Your work shows great passion and dedication but also sincerity and a knack for storytelling. Thanks for sharing that with us, keep it up and stay blessed!
That was really good. I live in Kelowna and I learned a lot today. Thanks!
I live on my boat on Okanogan lake, I do believe big sturgeon are what has been spotted. The currents in this lake are strong with warm and cold water mixing making strange waves and swirl down the lake looking like a snake like motion. I have chased these many times believing I had honestly seen ogopogo, But just was water current mixing.. very very deceiving.. my friend at has seen 2 huge sturgeon swimming close to surface by Ellison cliffs.s between big sturgeon and crazy water current it is easy to believe that people have thought they seen something
That was spellbinding as usual! Fascinating recounts. I live in Trail and am familiar with many locales mentioned.
People who water ski and wake board and go tubing in this lake are just stupid.
Thnx for all the work you put into this
Outstanding, simply outstanding.