Ogopogo Lake Monster

Okanagan Lake is the largest of five inter-connected freshwater fjord lakes in the Okanagan Valley in British Columbia, Canada. Named after the Syilx Okanagan Nation that have lived in the valley since time immemorial, it was created when melting glaciers flooded a valley 10,000 years ago. It stretches for 127.1 kilometres (79.0 miles) and has a maximum depth of 232.3 metres (762 feet) and an average depth of 75.9 metres (249 feet). Okanagan has only frozen over during eight winters in the last 110 years.

The Ogopogo lake monster has been mostly described as being a serpentine creature with smooth dark skin with a large body thicker than a telephone pole and being up to 15 m (49 ft) in length. The monster has said to move at incredible speeds, coiling its body in vertical undulations, and propelling itself with a powerful tail. Many have compared the creature as being strikingly similar to the cryptid Cadborosaurus, or the extinct Basilosaurus.

According to Ben Radford, the Ogopogo is "more closely tied to native myths than is any other lake monster." The Secwepemc and Syilx natives regarded the Ogopogo, which they called the Naitaka, as “an evil supernatural entity with great power and ill intent.” The word "n'ha-a-itk" has various translations, such as "water-demon", "water god", or "sacred creature of the water". In native lore, Naitaka demanded a live sacrifice for safe crossing of the lake. For hundreds of years, First Nations would sacrifice small animals before entering the water. Oral traditions often described visiting chief Timbasket, who rejected the required sacrifice, denying the existence of the demon. Upon entering the lake on a canoe with his family, Naitaka "whipped up the surface of the lake with his long tail" and the canoe and its occupants were sucked to the bottom of the lake. The Naitaka was often described as using its tail to create fierce storms to drown victims. In 1855, settler John MacDougal claimed that his horses were sucked down into the water, and nearly his canoe before he cut the line

Read up more about the Ogopogo here:  Ogopogo - Wikipedia