Lake Monsters in Shuswap Lake!
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In several other lakes in British Columbia, as well elsewhere in North America and beyond, the myth, legend and perhaps too, likely in some cases, the reality of lake monsters is very intriguing!
Certainly, in Okanagan Lake the entity known as Ogopogo has a rich history, going back to very early sightings by First Nations and then early Europeans. Shuswap Lake has not as many alleged sightings, in part because there are fewer people to observe Shuswap Lake.
And as with Okanagan Lake, all manner of suggestions as to unusual phenomena have been suggested, from different kinds of lake waves to lines of waterfowl, river otters, logs and giant sturgeons. There are sturgeons in Shuswap Lake. And while sturgeons become very large as they become much older, as much as ten metres long, sturgeons are bottom feeders and would not need to come to the surface for any perceptible reason.
The following is a summary of the most compelling possible sighting of Shuswaggi:
1948 - A massive encounter with a creature that went under a Mr. Dew's boat and upended the stern of his craft and shortly thereafter, appeared on the other side of Mr. Dew's boat as a long necked animal.
Also, now this does I must admit seems a little odd, a case of copycat perhaps? But nonetheless, in the same year a similar slighting was reported.
And then in 1970, a family celebrating a birthday.
But the most revealing, and another incident that came from an article written by Jodi Brak in the Salmon Arm Observer, titled "Have you Heard the Legend of the Shuswap Lake Monster?” from 2019. Well this alleged encounter was in the 1980s as a woman Linda Griffiths observed through her binoculars a serpent like creature not far from the bow of the boat. Linda estimated the length to be about eight metres in length.
There has been a most intriguing observation from the summer of 2023 by the McCrae family, and to go along with it a video, that to me is very difficult to see very much. But it is the description from some of the family members that got my attention. Including first off, a number of unusual ripples. One of the members of the family noted some ripples on the lake that became larger until quite massive with the observation of the entity at about 300 metres distant. After a short time, whatever it was got closer, to about 150 to 200 metres. There appeared a series of humps with a greyish colour. I believe that this is one of the better accounts and having been seen by so many, it adds much to the sighting. I only wish the videos were more revealing. This section of the 2023 sighting was written by Lachlan Labere of the Salmon Arm Observer.
I think it should be remembered that many people that witness such phenomena as the one reported here, are fearful to come forward because of the ridicule they may have to endure.
~ Rod Chilton, August 2025
So just perhaps? Well, I leave that for the reader to decide!
