New Ogopogo Sighting: A Photographic Update
Posted by: Loren Coleman on July 5th, 2011
Photographic evidence of the recent sighting has surfaced. What do you think? Is it Ogopogo, a big fish, a wake, or a mistake? You be the judge.
Cryptomundian rackliff tipped us off to the fact that David Woetzel had posted the following photographs of this purported encounter to his facebook page.
Wake Picture. Note boats moored on shore.
The above photo was taken after the creature had submerged. But the wake it left behind was pretty impressive.William J Gibbons
zoomed out
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Bill Gibbons also adds:
1. We did not set out to find Ogopogo on a short trip onto the lake. We were hoping to visit a few well-known “hotspots” in order to plan out a later expedition.
2. The film only shows the wake left by the creature. However, I did observe 3-4 humps just above the waves, which were darker than the waves themselves. Dorsal ridge was also clearly visible on the humps as I was focusing on the humps with a pair of binoculars. Dave Woetzel and my son, Andrew, may have briefly observed the head of the creature for a few seconds just above the waves.
3. The film shot by David Woetzel and the subsequent (still) images were remarkably similar to the Fletcher photo of an alleged Ogopogo, taken in 1976 and featured on page 111 of Arlene Gaal’s book, ‘in Search of Ogopogo.’
4. We have absolutely no interest in selling the film to the “highest bidder,” or seeking any further publicity outside the cryptozoological community, although a subsequent frame-by-frame of the Woetzel film may be conducted at a later time.
5. This was not a sturgeon (or two sturgeons), salmon, trout, krill, otters, or waves from a boat, etc. I have fished extensively in rivers, streams, lakes, the sea and all over the world. I have seen sizable fish and sharks of all kinds, not to mention crocodiles, hippos and elephants, etc in Africa. I have even seen monkeys swimming across a river in the Congo. The Lake Okanagan observation was unlike anything I had ever seen before.
6. The disturbance and sizable waves we observed were generated by an animate object directly from underneath the surface in flat clam conditions. The waves were at least 1.5 feet high and dissipated after the animal submerged 10-12 seconds later.
7. We did not advertise this sighting but only reported it to Arlene Gaal and John Kirk (who has seen Ogopogo 11 times in the past), [as well as Loren Coleman, of course].
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.
I’m not a skeptic, I’m a realist. It isn’t an ego thing. I firmly believe that there is always a chance for some of the cryptids to exist…or at least have existed. But when some of them, like Ogopogo, defy all laws of nature and science I chalk it up to tall tales, legend and misidentifications.
David Woetzel giving his eyewitness testimony sounds far more intelligent, sincere, discerned and experienced (in the field) than all the naysayers here combined, it’s as if every one of his clear and well stated points went in one ear and out the other.
I’d at least keep an open mind to what he has to say until any of you can interview the man yourself and determine he has no integrity and no field experience.
Thank you very much Bill. I recently watched you speak in Calgary at a Dinosaur and Human coexistence Conference. You allowed me to recieve some of your presentations, and I have convinced many of my friends that the Mokele Mbembe and the N’goubou DO exist.
This Ogopogo sighting is incredible, as well as the video sonofthedestroyer posted on this site. I am very interested in Cryptozoology and this sighting was a large boost in my confidence in the subject; as well as actually hearing you speak about your incredible sighting.
People today are too afraid to accept that a creature like this could possibly exist because they know it would completely disprove the theory of evolution and the time gap of millions of years between supposedly “prehistoric” and “extinct” creatures.
Again, Thanks
Thank you Mr. Gibbons. Your research on the mokele mbembe and this sighting has greatly inspired me. My friend and I are planning a short expedition to Okanogan Lake this summer to hopefully see the creature.