 |
| 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
Désert, 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 Île
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]
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