The Centre for Fortean Zoology was founded in the UK in 1992 - nearly 20 years ago. Over the past two decades it has expanded to become a truly global organisation. We opened our American office in 2001, our Australian office in 2009, and now - in our 19th year - we are proud to welcome CFZ Canada to the CFZ global family.

Thursday 10 November 2011

Ogopogo Pogo

Is it Ogo? Is it not? Is it Ogo? Is it not? Recently a BC gentleman named Richard Huls taped something in the water at Lake Okanagan in BC. The national news media, then the international news media, immediately ran with the story that he had seen the famous lake monster.


The problem is, that isn’t what he said. Mr. Huls claimed only to have taped/photographed SOMEthing in the water that he felt certain was not a simple wave. One source claims the video has over 200,000 views on YouTube, but I was unable to substantiate that. It was, however, featured on the top rated morning show Good Morning America. MSNBC proclaimed Huls was offering “proof” of Ogopogo. Mr. Huls actually said, however, that he had a recording that showed something living in the water—something large that did not parallel the waves—and that he believes in the existence of the lake monster. Those are very different statements. I applaud Mr Huls for his open mind and careful words; not so much praise for media outlets who sensationalize and take great liberty with quotes.


The best film of the probable creature is actually one shot in 1968 by Arthur Folden. The Huls video is problematic for several reasons, not the least of which is its poor quality. As skepdebunker Ben Radford notes, at about the 39 second point, the film seems to show two objects rather than one, floating just below the water. Realistically, this could be just an example of some of the thousands of logs in the Lake. On the other hand, a marathon swimmer claimed that in 2000 two large creatures swam with him in the lake. The lake has been searched and no concrete evidence has surfaced. Witnesses still continue to report the 40+ foot long serpent.

3 comments:

  1. My first reaction was that the film showed logs. There are two main longer logs, they are not only discontinuous but they are at an angle to each other and overlap. You could not have a single long animal with one long spine do that.

    Best Wishes, Dale D.

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  2. What COULD help identify what we are seeing is information on how long these "objects" (or whatever they are) persisted/remained as they appear here, either via footage or at least by explanation by the witness. There is no mention of what happened to them in any of the articles I've read, including this one, however this is the best I've read on it so far.

    Could be logs, but there's no way to know, not worth debating either.

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  3. Excerpt from the second link probably explains it

    http://www.globaltvbc.com/video+possible+ogopogo+video+catches+the+eye+of+international+media/6442518541/story.html

    “I think I’m looking at a standing wave,” said Rob Young, an environmental sciences professor.

    “As the lake is warming and cooling, the temperature variations will be causing different layers and the layers as I say, with some minor disturbance will start flowing past each other. You’ll get that sort of rolling action where the two layers pass each other.”

    Read it on Global News: Global BC | UPDATE: Possible Ogopogo video catches the eye of international media

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