1 00:00:00,638 --> 00:00:18,271 This series presents information based in part on theory and conjecture. 2 00:00:18,271 --> 00:00:22,789 The producer's purpose is to suggest some possible explanations, but not necessarily 3 00:00:22,789 --> 00:00:29,787 the only ones to the mysteries we will examine. 4 00:00:29,787 --> 00:00:37,904 On a sunny day in July 1977, Aaron Neely was waterskiing with Ed Fletcher and his daughter 5 00:00:37,904 --> 00:00:40,782 in Canada's Lake Okanagan. 6 00:00:40,782 --> 00:00:45,780 As shown in this reenactment, Aaron was an expert and had skied these waters many times. 7 00:00:45,780 --> 00:00:49,779 Neither Ed nor his daughter was alarmed when Aaron took a spill. 8 00:00:49,779 --> 00:00:53,777 But they were when she started screaming. 9 00:01:19,767 --> 00:01:28,764 Safely in the boat, young Aaron told a terrifying story of coming face to face with a huge serpent-like monster. 10 00:01:50,755 --> 00:01:56,753 Aaron was not the first person to see such a creature in Lake Okanagan, nor the last. 11 00:02:03,750 --> 00:02:08,748 Many believe that a mysterious monster lives in the depths of Loch Ness in Scotland. 12 00:02:08,748 --> 00:02:15,745 This ancient ruin marks the spot where St. Colombo first sighted the creature in 565 AD. 13 00:02:15,745 --> 00:02:21,743 Loch Ness, however, is not the only place where forbidding monsters are reported to dwell. 14 00:02:21,743 --> 00:02:29,740 In British Columbia, Lake Okanagan is reputed to be the home of a giant water creature similar to the one in Loch Ness. 15 00:02:29,740 --> 00:02:34,738 Both lakes are remarkably alike, lying at almost the same latitude. 16 00:02:34,738 --> 00:02:38,737 Both are long and narrow, having areas of great depth. 17 00:02:38,737 --> 00:02:42,735 Both were formed by cataclysmic shifts of the Earth's crust. 18 00:02:42,735 --> 00:02:47,733 They have similar temperatures and contain almost identical types of fish. 19 00:02:49,732 --> 00:02:53,731 This is a famous picture claimed to be a Loch Ness monster. 20 00:02:53,731 --> 00:02:58,729 The head bears a striking resemblance to that of a prehistoric creature. 21 00:02:58,729 --> 00:03:04,726 Reports of beasts of immense length indicate that creatures like these may still exist. 22 00:03:04,726 --> 00:03:10,724 But how could it be possible for them to survive undetected for millions of years? 23 00:03:10,724 --> 00:03:15,722 If such creatures unknown to science do indeed exist, what could they be? 24 00:03:15,722 --> 00:03:21,720 Fish, mammal, reptile, or some species long thought to be extinct? 25 00:03:21,720 --> 00:03:26,718 40 years ago, the scientific world was stunned by the discovery of a sila canth, 26 00:03:26,718 --> 00:03:30,716 a fish believed to have been extinct for 60 million years. 27 00:03:30,716 --> 00:03:35,714 Not only was it very much alive, but many times larger than any of its ancestors. 28 00:03:36,714 --> 00:03:40,712 If such a discovery happened once, could it not happen again? 29 00:03:40,712 --> 00:03:47,710 On the surface, Lake Okanagan presents a scene of calm beauty, but this view can change in a moment. 30 00:03:47,710 --> 00:03:52,708 Winds rise seemingly from nowhere, whipping the lake into a fury. 31 00:03:52,708 --> 00:03:55,707 Can it be that below this changeable surface, 32 00:03:55,707 --> 00:03:59,705 dwells a creature rivaling the famous Loch Ness monster? 33 00:04:00,705 --> 00:04:07,702 The Okanagan Indians have lived near the shores of the lake for centuries, long before the white man. 34 00:04:07,702 --> 00:04:15,699 Like all Indians, they hold a deep reverence for nature, believing that all of creation is part of the plan of the Great Spirit. 35 00:04:15,699 --> 00:04:22,696 The Indians of Okanagan both respect and fear their lake. Many of their legends are built around it. 36 00:04:23,696 --> 00:04:30,693 These legends are passed down around the campfires from generation to generation. 37 00:04:40,689 --> 00:04:47,686 You know, Lake Okanagan is like a living, sacred thing. 38 00:04:48,686 --> 00:05:00,681 In an hour or two hours, this lake can be a raging, raging body of water and very dangerous. 39 00:05:03,680 --> 00:05:09,678 In this lake, we have the Haka'edq. 40 00:05:10,677 --> 00:05:24,672 It's a serpent that lives in the water and has been told to me by my great-great grandfather and told to him by his ancestors. 41 00:05:24,672 --> 00:05:34,668 In early times, according to legend, no Indian would attempt to cross Lake Okanagan without first offering a small animal to the lake monster. 42 00:05:34,668 --> 00:05:41,665 There are stories of those who failed to make such offerings and whose horses were sucked under by a mysterious force. 43 00:05:41,665 --> 00:05:45,664 Stories of canoes wrecked and scattered on the rocks. 44 00:05:48,663 --> 00:05:57,659 The Indians' offering can be viewed as a spiritual act of sacrifice or as the pragmatic act of appeasing a hungry monster. 45 00:06:05,656 --> 00:06:16,652 At the Kelowna Museum near Lake Okanagan, we talked with curator Ursula Sirtees, who has devoted years to the study of the local Indian culture. 46 00:06:16,652 --> 00:06:24,649 Niharate lived about midway down Okanagan Lake in a little cavern underneath Squally Point. 47 00:06:24,649 --> 00:06:32,646 And Ogopogo, or Niharate, was a creature that had to be appeased whenever the occasion arose. 48 00:06:33,645 --> 00:06:38,643 Many people have cast some doubts as to whether Ogopogo was really there. 49 00:06:38,643 --> 00:06:54,637 But the Indian people have for years known about Ogopogo, and we have learned over a long period of time that Indian legends, for the most part, have a very substantial amount of fact and truth in them. 50 00:06:54,637 --> 00:06:58,636 Mary Moon is the author of Ogopogo, The Okanagan Mystery. 51 00:06:58,636 --> 00:07:07,632 I first came up into this lake country in 1972 as assistant editor of a magazine to write seven or eight stories about this area. 52 00:07:07,632 --> 00:07:15,629 And everywhere I went up and down the valley, they kept saying this funny word, Ogopogo, Ogopogo. 53 00:07:15,629 --> 00:07:17,628 And I said, what's an Ogopogo? 54 00:07:17,628 --> 00:07:19,627 And they said, oh, there's a snake in the lake. 55 00:07:19,627 --> 00:07:21,627 And I said, what? 56 00:07:21,627 --> 00:07:24,625 They said, there's a snake in the lake. 57 00:07:24,625 --> 00:07:26,625 And I said, please tell me about it. 58 00:07:26,625 --> 00:07:35,621 And they rounded up half a dozen people, seven or eight people, of stunning respectability and great enthusiasm and great sincerity. 59 00:07:35,621 --> 00:07:38,620 And they told me their stories and they all hung together. 60 00:07:38,620 --> 00:07:40,619 We launched our boat in Peachland. 61 00:07:40,619 --> 00:07:43,618 Harry and Betty Steins have often cruised these waters. 62 00:07:43,618 --> 00:07:48,616 About one third of the way across we noticed a commotion in the water to our right. 63 00:07:48,616 --> 00:07:51,615 And we turned our boat in that direction. 64 00:07:51,615 --> 00:08:01,611 When we got near this area, we noticed this huge creature emerge from the water and was swimming in an earthly direction. 65 00:08:01,611 --> 00:08:03,610 When I looked at it, I was just scared to death. 66 00:08:03,610 --> 00:08:05,609 It looked so huge. 67 00:08:05,609 --> 00:08:10,608 And I remember in particular the fins on the top of it, the bone structures. 68 00:08:10,608 --> 00:08:15,606 You know, it was just so really stood out, the white bone structure. 69 00:08:15,606 --> 00:08:17,605 And I said, oh, it's got fins, you know. 70 00:08:17,605 --> 00:08:20,604 And I said, Harry, let's not go any closer. 71 00:08:20,604 --> 00:08:22,603 It just made tip the boat over. 72 00:08:22,603 --> 00:08:24,602 It was so big. 73 00:08:24,602 --> 00:08:29,600 We've been holidaying in this area for the past 30 years with our family. 74 00:08:29,600 --> 00:08:33,599 We've heard of Ogopogo, but we never believed in it. 75 00:08:33,599 --> 00:08:38,597 But Betty and I are real believers now that there's a huge creature in this lake. 76 00:08:38,597 --> 00:08:40,596 Jeffrey Sherwin remembers. 77 00:08:40,596 --> 00:08:42,595 It was a calm day just like it is today. 78 00:08:42,595 --> 00:08:46,594 We were fishing on the lake, my son David, myself and his two friends. 79 00:08:46,594 --> 00:08:50,592 Parallel to the shore, we were trolling when one of the boys shouted, 80 00:08:50,592 --> 00:08:52,591 look at that funny looking wave. 81 00:08:52,591 --> 00:08:57,589 I turned and looked at the strangest looking thing I'd ever seen in my life. 82 00:08:57,589 --> 00:09:01,588 I saw two humps sticking out of the water, heading for shore. 83 00:09:01,588 --> 00:09:08,585 We watched it for a full three minutes as the object, whatever it was, reached the shore. 84 00:09:08,585 --> 00:09:10,584 It was five feet short of the shore. 85 00:09:10,584 --> 00:09:13,583 I expected to see it walk up out of the water when the whole thing sank. 86 00:09:13,583 --> 00:09:16,582 I don't know what it was, but I think I saw Ogopogo. 87 00:09:16,582 --> 00:09:19,581 I've been ridiculed about this many times since, 88 00:09:19,581 --> 00:09:24,579 but I'll tell you right now there's no way that I'd make a liar out of my son and his friends. 89 00:09:24,579 --> 00:09:25,578 The first time I've seen it. 90 00:09:25,578 --> 00:09:27,578 And Fletcher and his daughter Jill. 91 00:09:27,578 --> 00:09:36,574 Jill and I were idling out in the bay there, and we were all about two blocks from the shore. 92 00:09:36,574 --> 00:09:41,572 And all of a sudden this huge man came up in front of us. 93 00:09:41,572 --> 00:09:45,571 We shut the boat off, and by the time that the boat had stopped, 94 00:09:45,571 --> 00:09:50,569 we had almost coasted up to within reaching distance of it. 95 00:09:50,569 --> 00:09:55,567 And that particular day we chased Ogopogo for about an hour and a half, 96 00:09:55,567 --> 00:09:59,565 and out of an hour and a half we got five pitchers. 97 00:09:59,565 --> 00:10:03,564 We saw it just around 50 feet out, just one hump. 98 00:10:03,564 --> 00:10:04,563 There was just one hump there. 99 00:10:04,563 --> 00:10:10,561 I guess it would have been around three feet high, and it was dark. 100 00:10:10,561 --> 00:10:17,558 And one of the reasons we believe that we've seen it so many times is because of the boat. 101 00:10:17,558 --> 00:10:25,555 The boat has an electrical current developed by the motor going through into the rudder. 102 00:10:25,555 --> 00:10:30,553 And this creates what they call electrolysis. 103 00:10:30,553 --> 00:10:36,551 And electrolysis is a high amperage which attracts marine life. 104 00:10:36,551 --> 00:10:41,549 And the first year that we went out we thought we were chasing Ogopogo, 105 00:10:41,549 --> 00:10:46,547 but we find that Ogopogo is attracted to the boat, and it's following us. 106 00:10:46,547 --> 00:10:50,545 We've seen Ogopogo 40 or 50 times. 107 00:10:50,545 --> 00:10:56,543 At first glance, Ed Fletcher's pictures look like a wave, 108 00:10:56,543 --> 00:11:03,540 but a closer look reveals something much more difficult to explain. 109 00:11:03,540 --> 00:11:10,538 Intrigued by Ed Fletcher's pictures, our camera team decided to explore beneath the surface of Lake Okanagan 110 00:11:10,538 --> 00:11:13,536 in search of the Ogopogo monster. 111 00:11:13,536 --> 00:11:19,534 Cal Bevin in red scuba gear is a local diver who's made many attempts to find the monster. 112 00:11:19,534 --> 00:11:22,533 He agreed to try again. 113 00:11:22,533 --> 00:11:28,531 Our cameraman is Barry Herron, an expert underwater photographer. 114 00:11:28,531 --> 00:11:35,528 As the lake is over 80 miles long, his chance of filming the monster is slim. 115 00:11:35,528 --> 00:11:42,525 They decided to dive in the area where Ed Fletcher stated he had sighted Ogopogo many times. 116 00:11:58,519 --> 00:12:04,517 It was near this spot that young Aaron Neely reported a face-to-face confrontation with the monster. 117 00:12:13,513 --> 00:12:20,510 The heavy underwater camera and housing becomes buoyant and easy to handle below the surface. 118 00:12:28,507 --> 00:12:33,505 The camera is also very close to the water. 119 00:12:33,505 --> 00:12:38,503 The camera is also very close to the water. 120 00:12:38,503 --> 00:12:43,501 The camera is also very close to the water. 121 00:12:43,501 --> 00:12:48,500 Strangely, no fish were found in an area where they are known to feed, 122 00:12:48,500 --> 00:12:52,498 and after a long and careful search, no monster. 123 00:12:52,498 --> 00:12:55,497 At least none in this section of the lake. 124 00:12:55,497 --> 00:13:00,495 In the summer of the year 2000, a public meeting was announced through the local press. 125 00:13:00,495 --> 00:13:04,493 We were amazed by the number of people who related unusual sightings. 126 00:13:04,493 --> 00:13:08,492 How many people have seen Ogopogo here? 127 00:13:08,492 --> 00:13:12,490 How many people in this crowd have seen Ogopogo here? 128 00:13:12,490 --> 00:13:17,488 It was a hot summer morning and the lake was just like a mirror. 129 00:13:17,488 --> 00:13:22,486 When my mother and I saw it, it was between Trout Creek Point and Summerland. 130 00:13:22,486 --> 00:13:27,484 The lake came up out of the water like a huge horse's head. 131 00:13:27,484 --> 00:13:32,482 The back of it was quite calm, the lake was still there. 132 00:13:32,482 --> 00:13:37,480 Then its head went down and the back of it just lashed like this. 133 00:13:37,480 --> 00:13:41,479 I would estimate it would be about 35 feet long. 134 00:13:41,479 --> 00:13:46,477 The whole thing I've seen, head and all, and boy, all at once he went down. 135 00:13:46,477 --> 00:13:49,476 He must have seen me, went down on the waves, all. 136 00:13:49,476 --> 00:13:53,474 He was in the middle of a boat, he's not here anymore, he's in Prince George. 137 00:13:53,474 --> 00:13:57,473 He stopped behind me and he says, what did you see? I've just seen Ogopogo. 138 00:13:57,473 --> 00:14:01,471 He says, gee, look at the waves in there. I says, yeah, I've just seen Ogopogo. 139 00:14:01,471 --> 00:14:05,470 The whole thing, I says. He didn't believe me, he says, but oh, it must be true then. 140 00:14:05,470 --> 00:14:09,468 So we says, let's go to the willow inn for coffee. We went down the willow inn and told everybody, 141 00:14:09,468 --> 00:14:13,466 you're crazy, you're crazy, what have you been drinking? I says, no. 142 00:14:13,466 --> 00:14:16,465 I says, I've just seen Ogopogo, they didn't believe me. 143 00:14:16,465 --> 00:14:21,463 People have seen something, but moving images reflected in the water can be deceiving. 144 00:14:21,463 --> 00:14:25,462 Well, I, I grew grapes across the lake and I was sitting on my tractor, 145 00:14:25,462 --> 00:14:30,460 cultivating my vineyard and I looked down in the water and there was a big black, 146 00:14:30,460 --> 00:14:33,459 looked like a big black log about 50 or 60 feet long. 147 00:14:33,459 --> 00:14:37,457 So I stopped the tractor and I thought, well, maybe I should go down there and cut that up 148 00:14:37,457 --> 00:14:42,455 because I'm looking for some cedar posts. A few minutes later, some little waves started coming from my log 149 00:14:42,455 --> 00:14:47,453 and I thought, well, that thing must be alive. And suddenly it started up, 150 00:14:47,453 --> 00:14:54,451 made a huge circle and a terrific lashing of water and then two coils came out of the water 151 00:14:54,451 --> 00:15:00,448 about four or five feet high and they were the most beautiful green you have ever seen. 152 00:15:00,448 --> 00:15:06,446 We were part of a large group on a family picnic sort of thing in the summertime 153 00:15:06,446 --> 00:15:11,444 and about six o'clock in the evening, the water was all quiet and calm, much as it is right now, 154 00:15:11,444 --> 00:15:15,442 and all of a sudden it started to churn. 155 00:15:15,442 --> 00:15:22,440 Yes, it was definitely something serpentine about this creature. It, it made its own wake behind it. 156 00:15:22,440 --> 00:15:27,438 Waves from passing boats often take five minutes to reach the shore. 157 00:15:27,438 --> 00:15:31,436 Could such waves appear to be large humps moving through the water? 158 00:15:31,436 --> 00:15:38,433 They had three humps and it looked like the shadow of a tail at the back. 159 00:15:38,433 --> 00:15:46,430 One day, our crew was the victim of a hoax. Someone with a sense of humor tied three tires together. 160 00:15:46,430 --> 00:15:51,428 For a moment, the in search of camera team thought they'd seen Ogopogo. 161 00:15:51,428 --> 00:15:57,426 Even allowing for optical illusions, there's much that is difficult to explain away in the many sightings. 162 00:15:57,426 --> 00:16:03,424 One thing is certain, the sincerity of the people interviewed. Ed Fletcher, for example, 163 00:16:03,424 --> 00:16:08,422 has spent a great deal of time and money continuing his own investigation. 164 00:16:08,422 --> 00:16:16,419 Do I understand that you saw a creature in the lake that had texture something like the skin of the shark that swung past here? 165 00:16:16,419 --> 00:16:19,418 Yes, very much similar. Very smooth and shiny. 166 00:16:19,418 --> 00:16:21,417 No scales? 167 00:16:21,417 --> 00:16:26,415 No, very similar to the shark and very similar to a whale skin. 168 00:16:26,415 --> 00:16:29,414 Have you seen sharks and whales up close? 169 00:16:29,414 --> 00:16:38,410 In an attempt to identify what he had seen, Ed met with Willard Baskham, director of the Southern California Coastal Waters Research Project. 170 00:16:38,410 --> 00:16:46,407 Beside the tanks at a nearby museum, Fletcher compared the monster he had seen with some of the aquarium's underwater creatures. 171 00:16:46,407 --> 00:16:47,407 Oh no, it swam this way. 172 00:16:47,407 --> 00:16:48,406 Side to side. 173 00:16:48,406 --> 00:17:00,402 This creature we saw didn't have fins. When it was swimming, it would show mounds in the water only because of the way it was swimming like a snake. 174 00:17:00,402 --> 00:17:07,399 Ed learned that whales are capable of withstanding sudden and extreme changes of depths and pressures. 175 00:17:07,399 --> 00:17:16,395 But whales are saltwater mammals, not likely to be found in a mountain lake. 176 00:17:16,395 --> 00:17:20,394 Some believe Ogopogo to be a giant eel. 177 00:17:20,394 --> 00:17:26,392 Eels are known to grow to lengths of 20 feet and they do inhabit freshwater lakes. 178 00:17:26,392 --> 00:17:33,389 One theory states that eunuch eels with little or no sex drive do not participate in the mating migration, 179 00:17:33,389 --> 00:17:38,387 but remain feeding on the bottom of lakes and grow to enormous size. 180 00:17:38,387 --> 00:17:44,385 Could Ogopogo be one of these? 181 00:17:44,385 --> 00:17:50,382 As their first attempt was inconclusive, our divers decide to try again. 182 00:17:50,382 --> 00:18:06,376 This time off Squally Point where Indian legends tell of a cave-like home of the lake monster. 183 00:18:06,376 --> 00:18:19,371 As the divers descended, the water grew painfully cold. 184 00:18:19,371 --> 00:18:30,367 Amid the rocks, our divers found many cavernous openings, but no signs of Ogopogo living in any of them. 185 00:18:30,367 --> 00:18:36,364 Unable to capture the monster on film, our searchers had one more contact to make. 186 00:18:36,364 --> 00:18:45,361 The author is of Beneath the Depths, Arlene Gall, who owns the only known motion picture footage reputed to be of Ogopogo. 187 00:18:45,361 --> 00:18:56,357 The most conclusive evidence that I personally feel that we have on the Ogopogo is the fold-in film. 188 00:18:56,357 --> 00:19:13,350 The fold-in film actually shows a large, animate object, servicing, submerging, and propelling itself through the waters at a very high speed. 189 00:19:13,350 --> 00:19:23,346 There is very little doubt in my mind that there is a creature, or creatures, of massive size beneath the depths of Okanagan Lake. 190 00:19:23,346 --> 00:19:37,341 We optically enlarge the film, and on close examination there was indeed a large object moving through the water, as shown by the white foam. 191 00:19:37,341 --> 00:19:42,339 Professor Willard Bascom comments on the conditions necessary for the development of a monster. 192 00:19:42,339 --> 00:19:49,336 One of the difficult problems is that this is in a fairly small lake, which is only 90 miles long and 2 or 3 miles wide, 193 00:19:49,336 --> 00:19:57,333 and it just doesn't seem likely that you could have developed any animal quite so large in the relatively short time available 194 00:19:57,333 --> 00:20:02,331 since that lake was frozen no solid during the ice ages. It just seems very unlikely to me. 195 00:20:02,331 --> 00:20:08,329 I do believe that in the open ocean there are probably lots of very large animals that are so rarely seen by man. 196 00:20:08,329 --> 00:20:15,326 There are some sea monsters, if you will, of animals of a certain kind which are much larger than any others like that that have ever been seen. 197 00:20:15,326 --> 00:20:23,323 All animals have certain problems of getting oxygen and of feeding and of living through the winter time and of mating and raising young and all the other things, 198 00:20:23,323 --> 00:20:28,321 and all of those things still need to be described about this particular creature, whatever it may be. 199 00:20:28,321 --> 00:20:37,317 But there's no question there are very large animals in the sea which are only rarely seen, so anything might be a sea monster but grew to a very unusual size. 200 00:20:39,317 --> 00:20:49,313 The persistent question remains, what is it so many reliable witnesses say they've seen in the lake? Could so many people be wrong? 201 00:20:53,311 --> 00:21:02,308 Whether the creature is something known or unknown, it's difficult to ignore these pictures and the large number of sightings of a creature scientists cannot explain. 202 00:21:02,308 --> 00:21:08,305 What it is we still don't know. Perhaps someday a scientific expedition will tell us. 203 00:21:08,305 --> 00:21:17,302 In the meantime, the Folden film provides us with the most conclusive evidence that something very large lives in Lake Okanagan. 204 00:21:19,301 --> 00:21:24,299 So what's the secret for winning any battle? The element of surprise. 205 00:21:25,299 --> 00:21:32,296 The bouncing bomb was a handy way for a plane to hit the hull and sink a ship in one hit, and there's plenty more where that came from. 206 00:21:32,296 --> 00:21:37,294 Check out Greatest Raids, all this week at 9 on the History Channel.