Baby Ogopogo?

What is this photograph being published with this story?

It may be nothing more than journalistic melodrama compounded by a lively interest in the excitement stimulated by a hot television program. Nevertheless, we must not ignore notice of information no matter how fleeting.

While I was in Colorado, the story broke of the possible discovery of an immature Ogopogo, the lake cryptid of Okanagan Lake, British Columbia. Let’s take a look.

The Vancouver Province published the following on Monday, November 10, 2008:

Could unknown Okanagan creature be baby Ogopogo?
by Kent Spencer

A TV documentary crew has added to the mystery surrounding Ogopogo by finding an unknown biological specimen in the depths of Okanagan Lake.

“I told a radio station tongue-in-cheek I thought it was the baby Ogopogo,” monster-watcher Bill Steciuk of Kelowna said Monday after the History Channel completed a nine-day shoot.

“It was all curled up. The features were really hard to see. You could see a little head tucked in and a straight tail with no fins.

“It’s a huge mystery. We have no idea what it is,” said Steciuk, who helped organize the shooting locations.

The unidentified specimen has been shipped to the University of Guelph in Ontario for DNA tests, but Ogopogo buffs will have to wait until February to find out more, when the Monster Quest program weighs in on the legendary mega-serpent.

Ogopogo, first sighted in the 1870s, is reputed to be 12 metres long with multiple humps and a small head.

The History Channel, which had a bigger budget than previous expeditions, mounted a thermal infrared imaging camera on a helicopter for the first time. It picked up an unidentified shadow on the lake, while sonar spotted something over three metres long moving in the water.

“That’s pretty big for a fish,” said Steciuk.

But divers made the most interesting find in an underwater cave on the west side of Rattlesnake Island.

“I couldn’t recognize it,” said Steciuk. “Nor could anyone else. Maybe a new species has been found.”
Photographs of the specimen were shown to local expert Arlene Gaal, who has earned the title of Ogopogo-ologist after writing three books on the subject. She is not sure that the son of Ogopogo has been found.

“The Ogopogo is real, but I don’t know what this is,” she said.

“I had my doubts when the crew presented me with their findings. It looked to me like a decomposing ling cod.”

She said the crew’s best efforts were wasted on choppy waters.

“It was not the time for sightings,” she said. “The Ogopogo likes warm weather and sunshine.”

Producers departed with dramatic re-enactments of past sightings – but no catch of the century.

Steciuk said the program may have been defeated by the primitive snake’s reserve.

“The Ogopogo is a shy animal,” he said. “There is no question we have an aquatic animal on our lake. Okanagan residents are starting to come to grips with it.”

Commentary does not seem to be going the History crew’s way.

For example, in remarks by Annalee Newitz, on Tuesday, November 11, 2008, she asked whether or not a “Baby Ogopogo [Was] Found in Canadian Lake?” She mentioned that another group of filmmakers had finished a “pseudo-documentary” on Ogopogo before the History crew showed up. She also dropped in the “ling cod” quote from “local monster buff, Arlene Gaal.”

Newitz concluded, “Sounds like this might just be advance publicity for the Monster Quest show. Frankly, I’d much rather watch The Beast of Bottomless Lake. Sounds more realistic!”

Another comment came via a blog from Monster Island News:

Whether the specimen is a decomposing fish or a genuine lake monster infant, it is certain that the folks over at the History Channel are going to keep a lid on the test results until the episode on Ogopogo airs in February.

It’s better for ratings that way.

Despite all such remarks, tell me you aren’t curious enough to either watch the program or hear what was discovered, even if a negative? Frankly, most of us here do consider “MonsterQuest” more worthy time spent watching television than, say, just relaxing with the latest variant of a copycat show perhaps named “North American Idol” or “Dancing With Someone.” 🙂

Thanks to Bruce, Harris, Craig, BCSCC, and others who shared the breaking news on Ogopogo.

Loren Coleman About Loren Coleman
Loren Coleman is one of the world’s leading cryptozoologists, some say “the” leading living cryptozoologist. Certainly, he is acknowledged as the current living American researcher and writer who has most popularized cryptozoology in the late 20th and early 21st centuries. Starting his fieldwork and investigations in 1960, after traveling and trekking extensively in pursuit of cryptozoological mysteries, Coleman began writing to share his experiences in 1969. An honorary member of Ivan T. Sanderson’s Society for the Investigation of the Unexplained in the 1970s, Coleman has been bestowed with similar honorary memberships of the North Idaho College Cryptozoology Club in 1983, and in subsequent years, that of the British Columbia Scientific Cryptozoology Club, CryptoSafari International, and other international organizations. He was also a Life Member and Benefactor of the International Society of Cryptozoology (now-defunct). Loren Coleman’s daily blog, as a member of the Cryptomundo Team, served as an ongoing avenue of communication for the ever-growing body of cryptozoo news from 2005 through 2013. He returned as an infrequent contributor beginning Halloween week of 2015. Coleman is the founder in 2003, and current director of the International Cryptozoology Museum in Portland, Maine.

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