Ogopogo

Names and Etymology

The Salish called it "snake in the lake"; the Chinook called it "wicked one" and "great beast in the lake." The name "Ogopogo" is a palindrome from a comic English music-hall song, "Ogopogo Song."

Description

Representation appeared in precontact petroglyphs. Like "Nessie," the Orm of Loch Ness, Ogopogo is variously described as having the head of a sheep or a horse and a long serpentine neck, and is reported to swim with an undulating motion; it is generally "sighted" as several humps moving rapidly through the water. 

Okanagan Lake has temperamental weather conditions, which might explain the apparition, and an ill-defined lake bottom, which gives rise to speculation about long-trapped dinosaur eggs released by movements of the Earth's crust.