 |
| Sketch by Louis Bretecher, who saw the creature in the 50's when he was about 18. We interviewed him in August of 1999. |
Manipogo Eye Witness
Interview by Russ McGlenn
http://tccsa.tc/adventure/manipogo_witness.html
Here is part of the transcript from our videotaped interview. If you'd like a copy of the video, e-mail
Russ McGlenn and the cost is $15.00.
Russ McGlenn: Well, tell us a little bit about what you were doing here. I am just going to let you tell it. I have read one newspaper article, but you know how they do with newspapers and things. You said there was a sand spit here you were working on.
Louis Breteche: There was a sand bar just out that direction but it has all grown back into some weeds. This was probably in 1957. My Dad sent me with a half-ton truck to pick up some, well I was hauling more than one load, hauling gravel to put in front of the garage because there were a lot of rough bumps in there. So, I was hauling gravel. We had a hired man named Eddy Knicknack and we were down there shoveling away. We put in a half truck load because it was pretty heavy gravel and all of a sudden one of {us] happened to look towards the lake and we saw an object coming in the water coming about, oh, three four hundred yards and it looked like a bunch of ducks. But, they were all in line so we said, well gees that looks funny for ducks. It kept coming this way. We just quit shoveling right away and we started looking and kept on looking. It kept coming closer and it keep coming a little bit on the angle. I don't know if it could hear us or what, but then it got pretty close. As it got closer to us, within about 100 yards in the water, it lifted its head right out of the water about four feet and it had a head something, oh I would say just about like a horse. It was hard to explain it. The head was fairly long and it just lifted out and slapped the water again and did that a couple of times.
R: With its head, kind of slapped its head down.
L: Yes, he hit the water with his head, you know. But, I guess the bumps it must have been about 25 feet long and it had, I guess it was just like in the water, out the water. I tell you it was just like a, it wasn't flat, like it just kept like a snake, like to was...
R: Now, did it seem like it was going in and out this way or this way?
L: No, to me, if I remember right, it was going like this.
R: Up and down?
L. Yes, up and down.
R: You see, that is one characteristic of mammals. A mammal-like creature will tend to go this way where as if it is a reptile, it goes this way.
L: No, it wasn't going sideways. It was going up and down.
R: Now, you said its head was kind of like a horse. In other words it would be like a horse's head is long this way.
L: Well, it wasn't all that wide that I can recall, but it was fairly long. The head was more like a, it is hard to explain. The head on a horse is not that wide but longer going downwards. It had a head something like that.
R: Then, could you estimate, now you said about 25 feet long. The head, could you estimate this long or this long?
L: Oh, I would say the head must have been about, when it got out of the water a couple of times, it must have been at least 3 feet.
R: Now, was the head sticking straight out or kind of down again like a horse would have its head down?
L: Down, yes.
R: Did you see anything that looked like hair or sometimes they talk about a mane or a tuft of something behind its head?
L: No.
R: Anything look like ears or horns?
L: No, I can't say I seen anything that looked like ears.
R: Did it open it mouth at all so you could see teeth or anything like that?
L: It opened its mouth, but I didn't see teeth.
R: Maybe too far away?
L: Just too far away and I don't remember seeing teeth. It opened its mouth but not very wide, you know.
R: Now, as it was moving along, do you think you could, could you see its tail at all or rear end or something back there?
L: As it went along, I would say 20 feet was bigger and then the last 5 or 10 feet was smaller.
R: Thinner.
L: Yes, thinner.
R: Because in the newspaper article, it talked about it looked like the back of a tea kettle. Now are [you] saying like a tea kettle is fat and then the spout comes up? Is that what they maybe meant or maybe those weren't you words?
L: No, that wasn't my words. I don't recall seeing that.
R: Maybe that was another report, somebody else's.
L: To me it was just like it was pushing itself, like the tail, the back end, the rest of it was smaller but just it could have been up like a tea kettle but it was in the waves.
R: Could you see anything in the rear as well as a fin or a fluke like a whale? You know how a whale has flukes that spread out like this. Did you see anything like that?
L: No.
R: Anything in the front or sides that might look like fins or paddles or anything like that?
L: I can't recall that I saw anything like that, no.
R: Ok, how far then, Ok it [was] coming towards the shore then what finally happened?
L: Well, when it was coming toward us, then after that it started turning the other way again. I remember over there it starting going towards the southwest and then when it raised its head I would say it must have been from here to the end of that thin willow tree. So, that wasn't that far and then it kind of turned because we were looking and kind of making noise I guess. It kind of turned and started swimming.
R: Turned like broadside to you?
L: Yes, broadside. Like it was coming and just when of turned that way and it went that way. It didn't go any faster but we watched it for a little while and we were about that distance, about a quarter of a mile where we were with the truck, so we just left everything there and we took off with the truck and we came across here and we come to get these people that were living here.
R: Ok, that house was still there.
L: It was a house and not a cabin and we came to get them to see what we had seen and they did not want to come. They thought we were completely crazy. They said, you know, you are stupid, you a dumb, we are not going. So, ok that's fine, don't come.
R: Now as it was leaving it would be going almost south?
L: Well, it kind of turned and went like you know away from the shore and it just kept going south.
R: Do you know right out here does it drop off pretty fast in 10 or 15 feet?
L: Well, you don't have to go very far for the water to be deep. It you go 20-25 feet the water is deep.
R: Then, did you go home and tell your parents? How old were you then? You were in high school then?
L: Yes, that was in 1957 and I was born in 1941, so I would have been about 18.
R: Then you told your parents about it?
L: Oh, definitely I told my parents and they got all excited about it and from there it went to.....The man that was looking over Manitoba beach was Tom Locky and he, I don't think he is living anymore, but he was the main like the supervisor of all parks and I told him and he right away got ahold of the media, the CTDM in Daufin, the Winnipeg Free Press and in a day or two the Winnipeg Free Press was here and Winnipeg TV and it was on the radio and all that. Then, later on in life he seen it himself. Mr. Locky, yes, he seen it but he passed away.
R: Before this time, before you saw it had you heard stories about it or were you aware of it at all.
L: Yes, I was aware of it. There was Pete Adam and there was a Carl Adam and his sister, Lucille Adam, had seen it in Crane River. There was not too many people had seen it so far. There was maybe two, three. Then after that, when I seen it then after that there was a few more after that and that was it.
R: It seems like there have been a few sightings every year off and on for a few years.
L: There hasn't been for quite a few years now. I don't know, someplace.
R: Now in the newspaper it says they went over to Eagle Point and hiked back into Steep Rock Lake. Do you know why they decided that was the place to look for it?
L: Well, Eagle Point I think there is a cave there or something.
R: Yes, they said there was, well the newspaper article seemed to indicate that the cave was back at Steep Rock Lake, but you are thinking maybe the cave is right there a Eagle Point.
L: Well, one or the other because I remember them going to look out there and there is a cave and it is still there but I am not sure if it is Eagle Point or Steep Rock Bay.
R: Oh, maybe Steep Rock Bay, because it sounded like they walked up the creek to Steep Rock Lake, that bog back there.
L: There is a big stone ridge there. It is all stone in there and that is why they call it Steep Rock and it just drops right down.
R: At the bay though, so maybe we are still looking at the wrong place. Maybe Steep Rock Bay is where we should look. Maybe a cave along the edge of the cliff there.
L: My cousins know all about that. Clemon Bretecher lives just the other side of the lake there and he has got cattle. They use that Steep Rock for pasture.
R: The bay area or up to the lake too?
L: Yes, up to the lake. He would know more. He lives just the other side of the lake there.
R: He might even know where the cave is.
L: Oh yeh, I think he does, yep.
Trician McGlenn: Did you want to ask about the weather and the time of day?
R: What was the weather like?
L: It was nice and sunny.
R: Was it very windy or was the water fairly calm?
L: The water was, I would say, about like right now. Not calmed down but it wasn't the waves where you see the waves.
R: Was it morning or afternoon?
L: It was later on in the afternoon, I would say about 3 or 4 o'clock in the afternoon. We had been hauling gravel most of the afternoon because I remember going to see these people and they were going to just have supper before too long. That is when they told us to get lost.
R: Now, the man who was working with you, how did he respond? He saw it too, right?
L: Oh yes. He was quite excited and then he was from Stonan Manitoba, which was about 40 miles north of here and he took his story home. He was an Indian.
R: Now he was an Indian. Do you know if the Indians had any stories or legends about this creature?
L: There were some that had some stories but then the one or two that I know off have passed away already too.
R: The newspaper said there was a LaFleur, an Indian man that took them over the Eagle Point. I can't remember his name. Fleury I think it was.
L: Marshtan Fleury. He passed away too. That is the one that I was thinking of that saw it a long time ago.
R: Did you have any other questions?
T: What time of the year?
R: Oh, do you know what month that was? Was it September? The newspaper article was dated September, but I didn't know if that…
T: It might have been before if he was working and not in school. It could have been in August because they came a couple weeks later.
L: Yes they came a couple weeks later, well a couple days later. They came as soon as Tom Locke told them and really Tom Locke, he was a nice guy but he told them about it and he teased me because I was fairly young at that time, about 18 or 19 and every time he would see me he would like of laugh at me about the Monapogo and I kind of laughed at him because about 4 or 5 years later he was fishing with his wife and some friends and they spotted it.
R: Did you write down Tom Locke?
T: He passed away, right?
L: Yah, I don't know if Mrs. Locke is even living anymore, but he passed away. He was in ......ok River.
R: Did you talk to him after he saw it then and what did he say?
L: Well, we had kind of the same story. They were in a boat and they were fishing and they seen it out at Crane River also. There is a little bay in Crane River there and people fish off the bridge, but I remember him saying that he was out in the bay and they were fishing and all of a sudden they noticed this thing coming towards them. Then the same thing, it kind of got out of the water a little bit and then it took off.
R: Did you have any theories about, maybe it is just curious do you think and maybe he was attracted by the noise of you working or them fishing or something.
L: I don't know what made it come this way, really. I don't know if it could have been the noise. I doubt it very much. I think it was just the way it was traveling and then when it heard us I think that is when it turned away from us.
Mary: It didn't make any noise that you heard, huh?
L: No it didn't make no noise. It just lifted itself out of the water, you know, maybe I would say it was a good 10 feet out of the water, yeh, 10 feet of the whole thing. We could see it real good. I can still remember just like the day that I seen it.
R: He lifted his head over 10 feet up?
L: Yeh, the body and the head and then he just let it go down.
R: He kind of slapped the water when it came down?
L: Well, yeh, with the weight it kind of slapped the water. I knew it was a big reptile or something pretty huge because when it was going sideways. We couldn't see it this way. We thought it was ducks coming. Little ducks sometimes follow each other in a row, but they kind of spread out and make a V. When it was straight and raised itself out of the water, I could see that it wasn't duck anymore because it was going like this. That is when I could tell the length of it because it had about 6 lumps in there, at least 6 humps.
T: What about Bird Island?
L: Oh, Bergs Island?
R: Well, there is an island up here, a pure white island with all the birds on it, is that called Bergs Island? Now, as we drove up there, we were over at Eagle Point.
L: You went to Eagle Point already?
R: Yes, today and we hiked clear back to Steep Rock Lake thinking that is where they hiked and we followed the creek up there but we could not find any cave. So, maybe it is Steep Rock Bay that is where we should be looking.
*******
In a recent posting by Jay Cooney about a horse-headed "Sea Serpent" reported recently in Maine, I mentioned that the swoimming moose series of reports featured a horselike head of about a yard long across the board- that the head was an unvarying feature no matter how long the rst of the creature was supposed to be (because the "Body" is only the illusion caused by waves in the wake anyway). Jay was skeptical of this but the 3 foot long horselike head alone I would consider as diagnostic of a swimming moose report. That is what Louis Breteche reported about Manipogo, except that at one point the creature reared up ten feet or so and plunged back down. A moose is large enough that it actually is capable of rearing up ten feet and still keep its rear quarters in the water. In cases in Maine, Nova Scotia and in the case of Manipogo we have a solid minimum length statement given as 12 feet long. That is the approximate length of a full-grown moose. See the dimensions of the lifesized statue advertised below:
--Which also gives you the impression of how big the moose could rear up in the water if it wanted to. It is easy to distinguish the swimming moose reports from the Longnecks because the head is larger (half again on average), the neck is shorter and thicker (Head and neck less than half the length and probably twice as thick) and there is often some giveaway other feature such as the hairy coat, ears or the bell/beard. in the case of Louis Breteche's report, he said he did not see ears but his sketch indicates something that looks like ears in the right location to actually be ears. And the position of the eyes and shape of the nostrils are also dead giveaways. The allegation that the head looks like a horse's or a camel's is often enough. The swimming moose can also sometimes be heard to give a peculiar loud bleating cry.
To look at other sites that mention Manipogo, some viewed with skepticism, check these:
http://www.theshadowlands.net/serpent2.htm
http://www.fortunecity.com/roswell/chaney/627/manipogo.htm
http://www.science-frontiers.com/sf053/sf053b10.htm
http://www.unmuseum.org/nlake.htm
http://paranormal.about.com/cs/sealakemonsters/index_2.htm
http://www.edwardwillett.com/Columns/lakemonsters.htm
http://www.strangemag.com/ogopogo.html
http://unmuseum.mus.pa.us/nlake.htm
Summer 2000 Reports
[Reports by teams that did interviews of local folks and Native Americans (First Nation peoples) We plan to follow up on these leads next summer.]
Report to Mr. Russ Mc Glenn on interview with Abigail Moar at Band office on reservation at Crane River, Manitoba Canada conducted by Ron Green, Bill Olmsted and Luella Jensen and prepared by Ronald M. Green 9/18/00.
Her great grandfather saw the “dragon with a horse head.” He saw him at least 50 years ago. Crane River is 40 feet across, pretty deep in some spots. Is Crane River the same as “Lake Manitoba River” which runs through the town of Crane River?—Probably so. [Need to follow up on this location]
Abigail's mother in law was there and saw it half on the shore half in the water. I believe this was the same sighting as what her great grandfather had. A teacher was with her and saw it too and then fainted. said Luella: “You don't faint if you see a log” Abigail said the teacher said it had a horse's head. The teacher who saw it is named Genevieve. She was out of town the week we interviewed Abigail.
Abigail mentioned that nearby on Louis's Island there were caves there that had pictures (drawings) of three (?) men and a horse. It didn't seem to myself and Bill Olmsted that these were related to what we were looking for because there was no mention of it being serpent-like drawing, but of just a horse. Someone there at the office could guide us to that cave—but again that man was gone for the weekend. [This may be a drawing of the creature as many eyewitnesses say the head of the creature looks like a horse. We hope to send a team to explore this island next summer]
Other information:
In calling back to the Waterhen Inn, the lady who was the owner's wife told me that she knows of someone who saw something akin to the creature (or the same) we are looking for just three years ago. The person to contact about this is Mr. Camille Catcheway who lives at Water Hen First Nation on the Skownan Reservation. This sighting was on Water Hen Lake, 20 miles north of where we were staying.
http://tccsa.tc/adventure/manipogo.html
Although the outline as given at top is more of a standard "Lake Monster" impression, the prominent single shoulder hump with the following slope of the back is also a dead giveaway for a swimming moose report.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manipogo
Manipogo
is the name given to the lake monster reported to live in Lake Manitoba, Manitoba, Canada. Sightings of this serpent-like sea monster have been going on since roughly 1908. The creature was dubbed Manipogo in 1957, the name echoing British Columbia's Ogopogo. There is also a Lake Winnipegosis sea monster called Winnepogo, thought possibly to be the same creature as the lakes are connected. Some[who?] have speculated that the monster sightings may be attributed to sightings of an unusually large lake sturgeon, or a relict population of prehistoric plesiosaurs. Although many experts[who?] believe the correct name is Winnipego, as confirmed by local residents.[clarification needed]
The monster is thought to be anywhere from 12 feet to 50 feet long. It is described as being "A long muddy-brown body with humps that show above the water, and a sheep-like head."[1]
There is a provincial park on the west shore of Lake Manitoba named Manipogo Provincial Park.
St Laurent, a community on the south east shores of Lake Manitoba, holds a Manipogo festival the first week of March every year.
Since the 1800s, people have claimed to have seen the sea monster Manipogo.[2]
The local native population has legends of serpent-like creatures in Lake Manitoba going back hundreds of years.
A group of seventeen witnesses, all reportedly strangers to one another, claimed to have spotted three Manipogos swimming together.[3]
In the early 1960s, Professor James A. McLeod of Manitoba University investigated the creature by trying to locate its remains. If there is a breeding population in the lake, they should be leaving carcasses and bones when they die. McLeod found none.
Alleged sightings
- 1935: Timber inspector C. F. Ross and a friend saw the creature. On its head was a single horn and its head was small and flat. To them it looked very much like a dinosaur.
- 1948: C. P. Alric reported that some sort of creature rose six feet out of the lake and gave a "prehistoric type of dinosaur cry".
- 1957: Louis Belcher and Eddie Nipanik saw a giant serpent-like creature in the lake.
- 1962: Two fishermen, Richard Vincent and John Konefell, saw a large creature like a serpent or giant snake 60 yards away from their boat. (Storm, 38)
- 1960s: Around the 1960s, Mr. and Mrs. Stople saw a “reptile-like beast surfacing about thirty feet from their boat
- 1989: Sean Smith and family visiting from Minneapolis on a camping trip stayed at Shallow point off highway #6 on Lake Manitoba and saw what he described as 'many humps" in the lake about 80 feet off shore.
- 1997: Several reports by cross country campers from Quebec staying at Lundar Beach campground saw what appeared to be a large reptile head rise and fall in the water several hundred feet off shore. Swimmers were evacuated from the water; the head only appeared one time. It was dismissed as a floating log, but no log was seen afterwards.
- 2004: Commercial fisherman Keith Haden, originally from Newfoundland, reported several of his fishing nets on Lake Manitoba near the narrows one day to be torn up by what seemed like an ocean shark or killer whale. The fish that were in the nets were not nibbled on, but actually torn in half, by what seemed like huge bites.[Possible giant otter?-DD]
- 2009: Several residents at Twin Lakes Beach reported seeing several humps a few hundred yards from their lake-front cottages. No photos were taken.
- 2011: Many sightings of several humps emerging and then submerging seen offshore at locations like Marshy Point, Scotch Bay, and Laurentia Beach by security personal patrolling flooded cottage and home areas.
- 2012: Aug. 9 @ 9pm just off shore of Outlet at Twin Beach Rd. Surfaced twice, showing a scaled / sawtooth jagged back of that of a giant Sturgeon.
Television
Manipogo was featured on an episode of the television documentary series Northern Mysteries
http://www.bcscc.ca/manipogo.htm
Manipogo (Lake Manitoba)
In 1997 a hoax was perpetrated claiming that Manipogo the monster of the Manitoba lake system had been captured and killed by a local farmer who saw the creature out of water and promptly shot it. The farmer was alleged to have hidden the creature in barn near the sandy point native reservation and was offering it for sale at a price of $200,000.
The Royal Canadian Mounted police Detachment at the resevation were supposed to have seen the creature, but the story began to unravel when the RCMP officer-in-charge denied that any such creature had been apprehended. That did not stop major Canadian newspapers and news services from running the story as if it were acknowledged fact, but thanks to the efforts of contacts of noted Fortean author Loren Coleman and the Manitoba UFO Research Association it was discovered that the story was utterly false and had been the work of a practical joker.
While the "Manipogo" flap was quite fictional, there remains the fact that animals of unclassified type inhabit lakes Winnipeg, Winnipegosis, Manitoba, Dauphin, Cedar and Dirty. Since the early 1900s Manipogo has made sporadic appearances in the lakes which are all quite shallow and interlinked through amzae of rivers and streams. It is no surprise that so many lakes should boast this snakey creature as it is so very easy to swim through this natural waterway.
Variously described as black or muddy brown in colour, Manipogo is an elongated creature with its body frequently showing as a series of arches above the surface. Most witnesses have described being able to see under the arches meaning that the back sections rise well out of the water. Measuring from 12 to over 50 feet in length, Manipogos are reluctant to show their heads, but when they have been seen they have always been regarded by thos epresent to be rather like a snake or sheep in shape.
In 1962 the animal was apparently photographed by two recreational fishermen who spotted the cryptid crossing the lake in front of their boat (above). Richard Vincent, operations manager for TV station CKND and an American television commentator by the name of John Konefell first sighted something in the water 300 yards infront of their boat. They believed it to be Manipogo and were fortunate enough to have a camera handy, so they availed themselves of the opportunity an promptly snapped a photo of the creature afterthey had moved closer to it. The original uncropped photograph includes the gunwhale of the boat which can be used for comparison purposes when attempting to determine the size of the object and it can be determined that the object is about two feet out of the water. At least 12 feet of the creature's length was visible above the surface and it appeared to be approximately 12 inches in diameter. The men claimed to have watched the creature for more than 5 minutes before it vanished. Their ten horsepower boat was unable to keep up with the speedy creature so they were always behind the animal.
In 1974 Vincent was asked about his experience with the strange thing in his photo, but cryptically he refused to say that he had seen Manipogo, but preferred to say that he witnessed and photographed "something" in the lake. A number of investigators have posited that the object bears a strong resemblance to nothing [more unusual than] a log with a bent branch arching over. This is a perfectly plausible explanation and is more likely than Manipogo. There is also the absence of a discernible wake in the photo which must have been created by an animal which was allegedly swimming faster than a 10 HP motorboat. Interesting as the Vincent/Konefell may be it is not acceptable evidence of a creature living in the Manitoba Lakes.
Veteran researcher and writer, Gary Mangiacopra has theorised that Manipogo may well be a left over population of zeuglodons (basilosaurus) which were thought to have died out tens of millions of years ago. This theory is also held by Dr. Roy Mackal of Loch Ness fame, but a problem arises with Mangiacopra and Mackal's identification. The Manitoba lakes are usually frozen in winter and as zeuglodons were air breathers, they would, of necessity be forced to migrate via the Nelson River to Hudson's Bay where large sections remain free of ice. Even if they were able to reach the Nelson River they would have to overcome numerous manmade and natural obstructions which would prevent them from even arriving at the starting point of their voyage to Hudson's Bay.
Manipogo has been seen frequently in one particular location since the beginning of summer, 1999. As investigations of a spate of sightings is presently underway, we are unable to divulge the location until our investigators have completed their research and return with their pertinent findings.
The content of this page are the respective copyright of Orbis Books,
Richard Vincent and John Kirk, 1987, 1962, 1996.
 |
This is probably a twisted piece of driftwood
it is not swimming faster than the water flow and hence it is not making any wake. |
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| Water Horse=Moose |
ADDITIONAL INFO FROM EBERHART,
MYSTERIOUS CREATURES:
[NB especially reports with the recurring features of head about three feet long, total length about 12-15 feet long, dark brown colour, single hump on shoulders, and mane or beard]
Maner
A category of Sea Monsteridentified by Gary
Mangiacopra.
Physical description: Serpentine or eel-like.
Length, 15–50 feet.
Horselike or snakelike flat
head, 3 feet long, tapering down to the muzzle.
Enormous eyes. Slender neck, 10 feet long or
more. A mane or beard has been reported.
Round tail, either fanlike or tapering to a point.
Behavior: Swims rapidly by squirming.
Churns up the water. Spouts. Curious and cautious;
sometimes playful. Has been reported to
circle a boat, jump completely out of the water,
and land on its stomach.[More likely try to board the boat by climbing over the side]
Distribution: North Atlantic Ocean along the
coast of the United States.
... Present status: Similar to Bernard Heuvelmans’s
Merhorse.
Possible explanation: An unknown mammal,
perhaps related to the Seals (Suborder Pinnipedia).
Sources: “The Sea Serpent,” St. Louis Globe-
Democrat, September 27, 1888, p. 6; “Sea
Serpent Hits Hell Gate Pilot,” New York
Herald, August 11, 1902, p. 12; Gary S.
Mangiacopra, “The Great Unknowns of the
19th Century,” Of Sea and Shore 8, no. 3 (Fall
1977): 175–178. [This clearly conflates the mooselike Northern Water Horse reports with the more conventional SeaSerpent reports seen in other areas further South. Eberhart gives as examples the more typical Sea-serpent reports from further South and I deleted them here]
Manipogo
Freshwater Monster of Manitoba, Canada.
Etymology: Named by Tom Locke in 1960, in
imitation of Ogopogo.
Variant name: Manny.
Physical description: Serpentine. Length,
10–40 feet [Commonly 15-20]. Brownish-black upper body. At
least one hump. Flat, diamond-shaped [or horselike] head.
Behavior: Bellows like a train whistle.
Distribution: Lake Manitoba, Manitoba. The
animal’s name is also used as a synonym for
Winnipogo in other Manitoban lakes.
Significant sightings: Louis Betecher and
Eddie Nipanik saw a serpentine animal in the
lake in 1957.
On August 10, 1960, government land inspector
Tom Locke and sixteen other witnesses
saw three creatures swimming offshore near Manipogo
Beach. They looked like huge, darkbrown
snakes. Many other sightings were reported
that summer. Zoologist James A.McLeod led an expedition to Lake Manitoba
later in the year and interviewed many residents.
Richard Vincent and John Konefall saw a
“large black snake or eel” off Meadow Portage
on August 12, 1962. Vincent took three photos,
one of which shows an elongated, snakelike object
with a hump. Unfortunately, some inconsistencies
have undermined the credibility of
this case.
In the summer of 1987, Allen McLean and
his family were boating in Portage Bay when
they saw a large, black object swimming toward
them.
Sources: Winnipeg Free Press, August 5, 1961,
and August 15, 1962; Chris Rutkowski,
Unnatural History: True Manitoba Mysteries
(Winnipeg, Canada: Chameleon, 1993), pp.
137–147.
Winnipogo
FRESHWATER MONSTER of Manitoba, Canada.
Etymology: In imitation of OGOPOGO.
Physical description: Diameter, 2 feet 6 inches.
Small, flat [or Horselike] head.
Head and neck 4-5 feet long.
Distribution: Lake Winnipegosis and Lake
Winnipeg, Manitoba.
Significant sightings: Oscar Frederickson was
shooting ducks at Fuller Bay, Lake Winnipegosis,
in April 1918 when something large pushed
up a big chunk of ice from below in about 3 feet
of water.
C. F. Ross and Tom Spence saw a dinosaurlike
animal with a single horn in the back of its
head at the north end of Lake Winnipegosis in
1935.
A serpentine animal 15 feet long was rammed
by a boat in July 1983 in Lake Winnipegosis off
Pelican Rapids.
A black creature was hit by a boat in July
1984 in Traverse Bay on Lake Winnipeg.
Sources: Winnipeg Free Press, August 5, 1961,
and August 15, 1962; Dorothy Eber, “The
Scientific Search for a Prehistoric Monster,”
Macleans 74 (August 12, 1961): 1; Waldemar
Lehn, “Atmospheric Refraction and Lake
Monsters,” Science 205 (July 13, 1979): 183;
Chris Rutkowski, Unnatural History: True
Manitoba Mysteries (Winnipeg, Man., Canada:
Chameleon, 1993), pp. 137–147. [A deerlike animal or moose could be sheding antlers and thus only have one of them when sighted]
Horse’s Head
Freshwater Monsterof Québec, Canada.
Variant name: Misiganebic [Horned Serpent].
Physical description: Length, 6–30 feet [Average is 12-18 feet]. Head
is like a horse’s.
Behavior: Swims swiftly. Travels on land between
lakes. Tourists used to put cartons of
cream in the water for the monster to drink.[Leaves cloven-hoofed footprints on land, said to be reversed]
Distribution: Baskatong Lake, Lac Bitobi, Lac
Blue Sea, Lac-des-Cèdres, Lac Creux, Lac
DĂ©sert, Gatineau River, Lac Pocknock, and Lac
Trente-et-un-Milles, all in Québec.
Significant sighting: Around 1910, Olivier
Garneau was fishing in Lac Blue Sea when he
saw a 10-foot animal with a horse’s head rise up
out of the water.
Source: Michel Meurger and Claude
Gagnon, Lake Monster Traditions: A Cross-
Cultural Analysis (London: Fortean Tomes,
1988), pp. 104–110.
Cheval Marin
Sea Monster of the coastal waters of Canada
and West Africa.
Etymology: French, “sea horse.”
Physical description: Horselike head. Clawed (cloven hooved)
forearms. Fishlike, scaly tail(Wake).
Size: 12-15 feet long
Behavior: Neighs like a horse.
Distribution: Île Brion and Rivière-St.-Jean,
Québec, Canada; West Africa.
Possible explanations:
(1) Explorer Jacques Cartier saw two
Walruses (Odobenus rosmarus)(?) on the ĂŽle
Brion in 1534 and fish-shaped, horselike
animals in a river that may have been the
modern Rivière-St.-Jean off the St.
Lawrence. The French naturalist Louis
Nicolas conflated the two stories and mixed
in Native American legends of the Horse’s
Head to describe a composite animal.
(2) Early reports from French Africa may
have confused the Hippopotamus
(Hippopotamus amphibius) and the West
African manatee (Trichechus senegalensis).[Need to drop this out]
(3) A Sea Monster resembling
Heuvelmans’s Merhorse.
Sources: Marc Lescarbot, History of New
France [1609], trans. Henry Percival Biggar
(Toronto, Canada: Champlain Society,
1907–1914), vol. 7, p. 73; Gabriel Sagard, Le
grand voyage du pays des Hurons [1632], ed.
Marcel Trudel (Montreal, Canada: Hurtubise
HMH, 1976); Girolamo Merolla, A Voyage to
Congo [1682], in Awnsham Churchill, ed., A
Collection of Voyages and Travels (London: A.
and J. Churchill, 1704), vol. 1, pp. 651–756;
Henry Percival Biggar, The Voyages of Jacques
Cartier (Ottawa: F. A. Acland, 1924); Michel
Meurger and Claude Gagnon, Lake Monster
Traditions: A Cross-Cultural Analysis (London:
Fortean Tomes, 1988), pp. 211–216.
[
Eich Uisige/Water Horse tradition also noted in Newfoundland and other parts of Eastern Canada]
Zdenek Burian
Original Source
The border separating Quebec from Vermont runs through dairy fields, traverses a small wood and crosses an abbreviated beach before diving a little over 300 feet under the cold waters of Lake Memphremagog, a 39-square-mile amoeba of glacial water that either does or doesn't contain a 30-foot-long monster. If the lake doesn't contain a monster, its most notable feature is probably its hilly shore, which bursts into riotous color come fall and presents an inviting destination for American leaf peepers exploring the Northeast Kingdom and Montreal homme d'affaires on weekend getaways.
The lake is bookended by two charming towns, Newport, Vermont and Magog, Canada, which display very different sensibilities. Newport has the look of a mill town with a brick main drag and neighborhoods full of small homes for the tradesmen who hang out downtown in greasy spoon diners. The best view in town is from the church and everybody nods or waves to everybody else. Magog is a larger place and many of the Victorian homes just outside the lengthy town center, which contains multiple practical footwear stores and a sex shop, are bed and breakfasts. There is a town park by the water where neighbors walk together and fail to smile at strangers and where a sign reminds visitors to look for Memphre, which is the name of the monster. (*SEE PHOTOS BELOW*)
Memphre got his name from Jacques Boisvert, who called himself a "dracontologist" and lived in a clapboard house three minutes out of Magog. Boisvert, who died in 2006, was the Canadian ambassador to Memphre. Along with Barbara Malloy, the head of the Memphremagog Historical Society of Newport, he publicized the serpent and, in so doing, the region.
The region on both sides of the border -- crossing requires little more than a few minutes of small talk with a custom's officer -- is quiet and pretty. The delights of this landscape, the maple trees and postcard-ready barns, are no more ostentatious than the people who inhabit it. Syrup is sold out of mud rooms and, aggressive Quebecois driving aside, courtesy seems to be the great cultural achievement. In Magog, neighbors spend a lot of time raking each other's lawns.
In this context, Boisvert's monstrous story has a distinct appeal. It helps, of course, that the story also has compelling details: A viking petroglyph found at the top of a mountain near the lake showed a serpent and, when Europeans first arrived in the area, they'd been warned off swimming in the lake by natives with similar concerns. Of course Boisvert had also seen the beast. As had Mrs. Malloy.
"At first, when you see it is pitch dark," Malloy told Huffington Post Travel by phone. "When I first saw it, it was coming in from the Canadian border. I thought it was jetskiers because it was moving fast, but when it turned to go south more it was parallel to the road and I could see from the side view that it had a head like a horse, a long neck and a big body. As it got closer I could see that it was pretty tall and as long as a house. Then it turned again and went towards the west shore and, as it swam out it disappeared into the mist because it had been raining."
It is probably worth saying the Malloy doesn't come across as crazy or attention-seeking. To the contrary actually. She says she's trying to talk about the creature less these days because "the whole thing has brought a lot of frustration." Still, she is an evangelist for the creature's existence and the holder of the copyright to his name.
"These all sound a lot like Champ," Malloy says, namechecking Lake Champlain's famous beast, the mascot for -- among other things -- the Short Season Single-A Vermont Lake Monsters.
If it did live at the bottom of the lake, a beast like Memphre would probably be classified as a Sauropterygian. Sauropterygians -- think Plesiosaurs or the Loch Ness Monster -- are aquatic reptiles and though they were once extremely common, they went extinct along with the dinosaurs at the end of Cretaceous period.
This means that Lake Memphremagog -- if Malloy is correct -- should be of tremendous interest to scientists instead of being, as it is now, of some interest to open-water swimming enthusiasts and Canadian mountain bikers, who favor the trail system on nearby Mount Orford. The people who rent the paddle boats from the public docks would probably be a bit more nervous as well, though they'd still rent the boats because the lake is beautiful. It just happens to be beautiful in a very specific way: It's eerie.
Early in the morning, vapor rises off the lake and visibility can be fairly low. The hills and mountains beyond the Lake are perfectly reflected on the flat surface of the bracing water. The shallows are clear and filled with clouds of small fish and piles of pebbles. From the lookout dedicated to Jacques Boisvert in Magog, visitors can see many miles, but may find themselves without much to focus on other than the few small islands that interrupt the liquid metal of the water.
Boisvert, it turns out, was something approaching beloved in the town of Magog, a fact Malloy credits to the politeness of Canadians, who seem more willing to engage with the idea of the monster. Memphre lends his name to nicest bistro in town.
The owner of my bed and breakfast suggested that the myth was really a way to attract tourists, but added that it might not be necessary anymore given how much the community has to offer by way of performances and festivals and trails and foliage.
But Memphre is an interesting monster because he isn't a commercial monster. You can't buy a t-shirt with his name on it in America because Malloy would be able to sue the seller for $100,000. In all likelihood, you hadn't heard of him before you started reading this article.
If he turns out to be real, Malloy will likely serve a banquet of crow for all the haters in town. But if he is simply a stubborn notion, Memphre still says something about this place at the edge of two countries: The people here want hard evidence of their landscape's singularity.
Look close enough and you can see that it is there already. The dairy farms the border runs across and the woods it runs through and the lake it dives under are all pristine. There is either a monster in the lake or there isn't. It's a nice lake regardless.
CORRECTION: A previous version of this story stated that the lake is 39 acres large. It is 39 square miles large. We regret the error.
http://www.vermonter.com/northlandjournal/lake-memphremagog.asp
Lurking in the Depths of Lake Memphremagog
Lake Memphremagog is home to a gigantic monster—at least that is what some people say. For many years, people have reported seeing what some consider a lake monster, or lake serpent, swimming in Lake Memphremagog and other Northeast Kingdom waters. My family has long been connected to Lake Memphremagog, so I’ve always been interested in the creature that we call ~Gog. I’ve often worried about the impact of this fish eating serpent has on our famed fishery. Such a creature must surely eat enough fish to diminish the supply of fish in the lake. I’ve been skeptical of claims about the existence of these aquatic monsters, any kind of monsters, whether it be Gog or ~ Willie," the mythical creature that is said to roam the waters of Lake Willoughby in Westmore. Instead, I always wrote off sightings as the result of overactive imaginations. Logs, beavers, snapping turtles, schools of fish, and swimming moose are suddenly trans¬formed into something more sinister—a salmon and walleye—eating beast.
Yes, the water can play tricks on one’s eyes. During another hunting trip I was again convinced of Gog’s existence. Through the morning haze, it was clear to me what I was see¬ing—four black humps bobbing in the lake. Certainly they were the humps on the back of a horrible lake creature. Those humps kept undulating in and out of the water one after another like some kind of prehistoric water-dwelling creature from the Stone Age. One hump appeared at the same time that another one disappeared.
"Wow!", I said to myself. "It’s Gog." My excitement was dashed when the haze lifted. No, it wasn’t a lake serpent I was seeing, but a family of loons diving for fish in the morning light. Those loons sure did look like humps rising and falling though, as they took turns diving for fish, leaving at least one loon on the surface all the time to keep an eye out for approaching danger.
"Get a grip, Scottie," I laughed at myself. "You’ve been watching Jurassic Park too much."
Then there was the time several years ago, while fishing in Scott’s cove, when I thought I was on the verge of having my first encounter with Gog, an aquatic monster that my ancestors, who have spent hundreds of years living and working on Lake Memphremagog, had never even seen. Catching one fish after another, I was startled by a tremendous crashing sound coming from the direc¬tion of the nearby cattails. This wasn’t any sound that I’d ever heard before. Surely it wasn’t one of those beavers or a school of spawning fish that had tricked me many times into making me think I was going to see a certified lake monster.
"Darn!" I cursed as I remembered that I’d forgotten my camera. Why does that happen every time I think Gog is going to reveal himself to me? Bummed out, but being the adventurer that I am, I pressed on into the cattails in my boat, hoping to at least get a description of this monster to share with my friends, some who themselves claim to have seen unexplained creatures, both aquatic and land bound, but typically only after a bit of celebrating, when, of course, they didn’t happen to have a camera to support their claims. One friend, however, did something the rest of them couldn’t: Paul took a photograph of the beast he witnessed swimming in the lake. A computer enhanced version of the photo later revealed that the beast wasn’t Gog, but rather a moose out for a swim. So, the beast was still waiting to be discovered.
Pushing through the cattails, I peered into the weeds, hoping to see a lake serpent, or family of lake serpents, frolicking. Instead, all I found were two oversized snapping turtles, the size of washtubs, enjoying a romantic afternoon in the midday sun.
Another day, while fishing off the railroad bridge in New¬port, I excitedly told a fellow fisherman standing near me, "Hey, where did those waves come from? Is it Gog?"
"No, stupid! Didn’t you see that boat go by a few minutes ago," the fisherman laughed at me, explaining how oftentimes people don’t see the wake of a boat until after the boat is long out of sight. Needless to say, I felt like a fool.
The spring of 2003 spelled good fishing for my boys and me. We caught some really fine fish and created some great memories. But the one thing we didn’t see was a lake monster. That would have made our day. Frustrated by my inability to see a monster, any kind of monster, land dwelling or aquatic, I decided to go in search of Gog.
"What does one need to go monster hunting?" I wondered. I’ve hunted many things in my life—rabbits, partridges, and deer—but never monsters. Looking at my leaky rowboat, I shook my head. It surely wasn’t made for such an adventure. I needed a nice boat, respectable enough to carry a certified monster hunter and all his gear. I called up Stan, a good friend of mine who owns such a boat. Stan and I met several years ago, and it’s safe to say that his life hasn’t been the same ever since. "Sometimes I think I met the Mad Hatter" he is fond of saying. Why would he say such a thing? Doesn’t everybody go in search of monsters? Heck, I’ve been looking for monsters every since I was a child when I insisted to my parents that the boogie man lived under my bed.
Stan shook his head in disbelief as I told him of my plans to capture Gog on film. I assured him that we and his boat would be safe since I’d been told that this mythical creature wasn’t vicious, but seemed to actually like humans.
Loading up the boat with monster-hunting tools, in¬cluding among other things, a pair of binoculars, and not one, but two cameras, just in case one camera should fail. I wasn’t taking any chances this time.
"Okay, what is that for?" said Stan, as he watched me load a hay fork into the boat. I explained that although rumor has it that Gog is friendly; I wasn’t taking any chances with a beast the size of Gog. Besides that, I reasoned that he, or she, must be one tough monster to live thousands of years in Lake Memphremagog.
Boarding the boat, I told Stan to steer toward Owl’s head, the picturesque mountain just across the border in Canada on the lake’s shores. Knowing there was a deep hole in the lake in front of the mountain, I surmised it would make for a perfect location to spot Gog.
As we sped along, Stan and I scanned the lake’s surface looking for anything out of the ordinary. We’d picked a good night for our expedition. The waves were little more than ripples.
"Stan, look! Over there!" I hollered over the roar of the mo¬tor, pointing toward what appeared to be humps bobbing on the horizon. The humps were headed easterly in the vicinity of the lighthouse, just off of the Lake Road.
Breaking out in a cold sweat of excitement, I told Stan to ease up on the throttle as I wiped the sweat from my eyes and grabbed my binoculars. I peered hard through my field glasses. There was no explanation for what I was see¬ing. Throwing down my binoculars, I grabbed both of my cameras and began to click madly away, making sure I had plenty of pictures to show my friends.
Still not certain exactly what we were seeing, we moved even closer to the beast. Suddenly, the creature made it known that he either wasn’t impressed to see us on his turf, or he viewed us humans as a hearty meal, because, that beast lunged out of the water, heading directly toward the boat. Grabbing up the pitchfork that Stan had laughed at me about, I stood on the stern, ready to fend off the attack, while Stan spun the boat so that we could escape.
No, it wasn’t a monster, or even some unknown lake crea¬ture, instead, it was a monster walleye. So, my best piece of advice to you is, if you’re coming to the Northeast Kingdom to see a monster, you’ll probably go home disappointed, but if you’re coming to look for really big fish, you’ve found the right place. Come fish the Northeast Kingdom where the fish are big and legends never die.
As for Gog and his other monster friends up here in the Kingdom, they, too, will always be part of the local lore—merry myths passed down from one generation to the next.
http://www.tomifobia.com/memjack.html
PHANTOMS AND MONSTERS: Tuesday, October 16, 2012
The Lake Memphremagog Monster
Memphre, a water creature that is said to live in Lake Memphrémagog, has taunted skeptics for more than 180 years. The lake monster supposedly resembles a sea serpent. The following is a recent article about this cryptid:
Lake Memphremagog: The Legend Of Memphre
The border separating Quebec from Vermont runs through dairy fields, traverses a small wood and crosses an abbreviated beach before diving a little over 300 feet under the cold waters of Lake Memphremagog, a 39-square-mile amoeba of glacial water that either does or doesn't contain a 30-foot-long monster. If the lake doesn't contain a monster, its most notable feature is probably its hilly shore, which bursts into riotous color come fall and presents an inviting destination for American leaf peepers exploring the Northeast Kingdom and Montreal homme d'affaires on weekend getaways.
The lake is bookended by two charming towns, Newport, Vermont and Magog, Canada, which display very different sensibilities. Newport has the look of a mill town with a brick main drag and neighborhoods full of small homes for the tradesmen who hang out downtown in greasy spoon diners. The best view in town is from the church and everybody nods or waves to everybody else. Magog is a larger place and many of the Victorian homes just outside the lengthy town center, which contains multiple practical footwear stores and a sex shop, are bed and breakfasts. There is a town park by the water where neighbors walk together and fail to smile at strangers and where a sign reminds visitors to look for Memphre, which is the name of the monster.
Memphre got his name from Jacques Boisvert, who called himself a "dracontologist" and lived in a clapboard house three minutes out of Magog. Boisvert, who died in 2006, was the Canadian ambassador to Memphre. Along with Barbara Malloy, the head of the Memphremagog Historical Society of Newport, he publicized the serpent and, in so doing, the region...
Continue reading at Lake Memphremagog: The Legend Of Memphre [Reprinted above]
The Birth of the Memphremagog Monster
Until the beginning of the 19th century, the only inhabitants of the area around Memphrémagog were the Abenaki...because of the abundance of game and fish. When the first white settlers arrived, they were warned by the Abenaki not to swim in the lake because of the presence of the sea serpent. Among the varied descriptions, it is said to be more or less aggressive and on several occasions, is said to reside in a cave at the base of Owl's Head Mountain, on the shore of the lake.
The first document describing the creature dates back to 1816 and is signed by Ralph Merry IV. He describes four experiences by the citizens of Georgeville and which he finds to be totally credible. He, however, was not a witness to any of these phenomena but only reported the facts as he knew them. He reports what individuals and groups of individuals saw in different areas and at different times. The descriptions usually coincide as to the length and appearance of the serpent like creature. In his accounts Mr. Merry does not refer to the sea serpent but rather to one of the sea serpents of Memphrémagog.
Also, on several occasions since 1847, The Stanstead Journal has published several articles on this phenomenon, some relating numerous sightings which the lakeshore residents have witnessed. These sightings continued throughout the years.
To date, more than 215 sightings have been reported and documented with great care. Each account is signed and recorded; hearsay accounts are simply refused. There are on the average, eight sightings annually which have been confirmed by about twenty witnesses.
In 1961, two fishermen, heading for Newport observed for about forty seconds a black creature, about 20 feet long, swimming partially submerged. According to these men the creature that was about 200 feet from their boat, had a round back and an indescribable head. This scene was accompanied by a strange sound.
In July 1996, four persons witnessed it's presence after observing it for more than a minute. According to them, the creature had several humps, was about 20 feet long and swam about 50 yards between their boat and the shore. This sighting which took place about 7 p.m. is similar to one that took place about 4 p.m. some 10 miles away as observed by three other persons.
The description of a three humped creature coincides with that of September 1994 given by four persons in two different boats. The weather was overcast but the lake was calm not a wave, no wind, they observed for at least three minutes from each of their two boats and object 40 to 50 feet long type of wave shaped like three humps and black in color.
This adventure ended for them when the creature swam under one of the boats and disappeared into the depths of the lake.
Rare are those who can boast having seen the phenomenon on more than one occasion. This is however the case of two Montrealers who after a first sighting in May of 1995, saw the sea serpent again in August of the same year. Better yet, they were able to obtain a film clip which was used in a documentary on the Canada D channel the following October. - vermonter.com
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Woman Recounts Sighting Of Memphremagog Monster
Saturday May 10, 2003
Newport Daily Express
Lake Memphremagog's signature mystery has returned.
Barbara Malloy, a Newport City resident and local historian, said this week she saw Memphre the Lake Memphremagog monster on May 1.
Like Nessie in the Loch Ness of Scotland or Champ in Lake Champlain, Memphre is the stuff of local legend and history.
It's not the first sighting of the creature that many claim to have seen on this long international lake.
Area newspapers like The Stanstead (Quebec) Journal have recorded sightings of something big and elusive in the lake as far back as the 1840s. On Jan. 21, 1847, an eyewitness reported this: "I am not aware whether it is generally known that a strange animal something of a sea serpent ... exists in Lake Memphremagog."
But it was known long before that. According to historical accounts, American Indians told the first Europeans that there was something in the lake.
Malloy first saw it in the waters off Horseneck Island and again north of the island in 1983.
Memphre is believed to look somewhat like a plesiosaur, a water-living dinosaur of the Jurassic period, brown or black in color, with four fins or paddle-like feet, an elongated roundish body and a long neck. It ranges from 6 to 50 feet long[most commonly 20 to 30]. Popular drawings or artwork show his skin color as green, but that obviously depends on the eyewitness.[Emphasis added. The size, shape and colour specified in a consensus of reports is nearly identical to "Champ", the beast of Lake Champlain; see art at bottom-DD]
This time, Malloy said she saw a jet black hump in the water, which bobbed up and down and then disappeared. Malloy said Thursday another Newport resident confirmed the sighting, only she saw a larger and a smaller hump, but the woman did not wish to go public.
Others have come forward over the years to record their sightings with Malloy and other "dracontologists" like Magog, Quebec resident Jacques Boisvert who keep track of such mysteries in this 30-mile-long lake.
Boisvert named Lake Memphremagog's own sea serpent Memphre, which is pronounced with a long "e" at the end, suitable for use in French or English.
A monk at the monastery at St. Benoit-du-lac near Magog coined the term dracontologie for Boisvert. Dracontology, the English version, is a branch of cryptozoology, for all kinds of mysterious creatures of legend, like Big Foot.
The name even meets the requirements of the Quebec French Language Office, responsible preserving and protecting the French language in Quebec, Boisvert said Thursday.
Boisvert, a renowned diver and local historian, had never seen Memphre himself, but said he keeps an open mind. He and Malloy collaborated for a while in the 1980s on publicizing the Memphre legend and history.
Both collect sightings, and have Web sites to keep the information alive.
Malloy has a display of Memphre memorabilia and sighting information in the Emory Hebard state office building on Main Street in Newport City. Boisvert is heavily into promoting the use of Memphre as a tourist attraction in Magog, and speaks and writes regularly about the history of the lake.
Vermont Secretary of State Deb Markowitz is into a little promotion of her own. She has a children's page off the state Web site, featuring drawings and information of both Memphre and Champ.
There have been attempts to photograph Memphre, but there is no definite evidence. Malloy took pictures in 1989, but they show a dark object sticking out of the water and making a wake. Discounters say these pictures could be of other things. One recent photograph turned out to be a moose swimming across the lake.
Yet the stories of Memphre capture and captivate the imagination. And it brings an air of mystery to this already lovely international lake.
Lake Monster Mysteries: Investigating the World's Most Elusive Creatures