The Summer of Cadborosaurus and Ogopogo

It delights me no end to see the recent interest in Robyn Holman’s Ogopogo sighting and the recent article in the Victoria Times Colonist enquiring about what has happened to Cadborosaurus.

Along with the efforts of British Columbia Scientific Cryptozoology Club vice president, Jason Walton, these articles may stir up memories of people who have seen either animal and have valuable observations to share with us who investigate cryptids. Jason has spent most of the spring contacting harbour masters along the various coasts of British Columbia – we have a lot of them including the mainland, Vancouver Island, the Gulf Islands and the Queen Charlottes. There is a $500 reward for anyone who can produce a specimen of the animal available and Jason has made this known to fishing communities up and down the BC coasts. We hope this stimulation of people’s memories will bear positive fruit.

A number of Cryptomundo readers and visitors to the BCSCC web site have expressed a curiosity in the statement on the BCSCC web site that there are two pieces of footage seemingly showing a Cadborosaurus. Let me assist in enlightening everyone about these pieces of footage.

The first was shot by BC resident Gary Liimatta in the 1970s. I believe this footage was actually shown on the TV show ‘Sightings’ over a decade ago. I have no idea where you get a copy of it from, but I do have one in my archives somewhere. The footage is shot in very dark circumstances, but there is enough light to show a large reptile-like head rise out of the water and remain above the surface for a several seconds. Is this Caddy? Possibly.

The second piece of footage was obtained by operation CaddyScan and the BCSCC on July 26, 1999 at Deep Cove, B.C. A video camera was placed at the location of a previous sighting with the hope that the animal seen by witnesses would make another appearance. While the footage is shot at some distance, it is apparent that this animal locomotes in a very unusual inchworm-like fashion while swimming through the water. We do not know of any animal that swims like this. The footage is by no means definitive, but it is very interesting to observe. Fortunately there were several other pieces of footage that day that show boats going through the camera’s field of view and we can clearly rule a boat out. Similarly, footage of whales and seals obtained by the same camera clearly show what these animals are each time they are captured on video. The unknown creature certainly swims like Cadborosaurus is supposed.

The 1999 footage has been featured on a couple of TV shows and you may be able to find copies of it from producers. Unfortunately, I can’t recall the names of the programs. The footage is not posted anywhere on the internet as we do not want it to be used and abused as so many other pieces of footage have been. However, interested readers can go to the CaddyScan web site and view some still captures of the event.

If you want to report a Caddy or Ogopogo sighting – or for that matter any cryptid sighting – please go to the BCSCC sightings page and make your report there.

In contrast to what has been recently reported, there was a supposed Caddy sighting which took place last October and is currently being investigated for accuracy by CaddyScan and the BCSCC. If this pans out and is a credible sighting, I will share it here with the Cryptomundo readership.

John Kirk About John Kirk
One of the founders of the BCSCC, John Kirk has enjoyed a varied and exciting career path. Both a print and broadcast journalist, John Kirk has in recent years been at the forefront of much of the BCSCC’s expeditions, investigations and publishing. John has been particularly interested in the phenomenon of unknown aquatic cryptids around the world and is the author of In the Domain of the Lake Monsters (Key Porter Books, 1998). In addition to his interest in freshwater cryptids, John has been keenly interested in investigating the possible existence of sasquatch and other bipedal hominids of the world, and in particular, the Yeren of China. John is also chairman of the Crypto Safari organization, which specializes in sending teams of investigators to remote parts of the world to search for animals as yet unidentified by science. John travelled with a Crypto Safari team to Cameroon and northern Republic of Congo to interview witnesses among the Baka pygmies and Bantu bushmen who have sighted a large unknown animal that bears more than a superficial resemblance to a dinosaur. Since 1996, John Kirk has been editor and publisher of the BCSCC Quarterly which is the flagship publication of the BCSCC. In demand at conferences, seminars, lectures and on television and radio programs, John has spoken all over North America and has appeared in programs on NBC, ABC, CBS, PBS, TLC, Discovery, CBC, CTV and the BBC. In his personal life John spends much time studying the histories of Scottish Clans and is himself the president of the Clan Kirk Society. John is also an avid soccer enthusiast and player.

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