Manipogo (folklore)
Manipogo is a legendary lake monster said to inhabit Lake Manitoba in Canada. Originating from the oral traditions of the region's Indigenous Anishinaabe people, the creature is known as gichi ginebig, meaning "giant serpent" or "great healer." The first recorded sighting by a settler occurred in 1909, and sightings have continued intermittently into the twenty-first century, with notable reports in 1948 and 1960, the latter leading to the name "Manipogo," inspired by the more famous Ogopogo from British Columbia. Descriptions of Manipogo vary widely, with estimates of its size ranging from 13 to 50 feet and features including a dark, humped body and a head resembling that of a horse or sheep.
Despite the various reported sightings, scientific investigations have not confirmed the existence of Manipogo, with some experts suggesting that observers might be misidentifying moose or large sturgeon in the lake. The lore surrounding Manipogo reflects a fascinating intersection of local mythology, natural history, and cultural storytelling, inviting curiosity about the rich traditions of the region and the enduring allure of cryptids in folklore.
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Manipogo (folklore)
Manipogo is a legendary lake monster said to reside in the waters of Lake Manitoba in the Canadian province of Manitoba. Stories of the creature date back centuries in the oral traditions of the region’s indigenous peoples. However, the first recorded sighting of the monster was said to have occurred in the early twentieth century. Manipogo is one of several mysterious creatures said to be living in Canadian lakes and owes its name to a more famous “cousin” in British Columbia’s Okanagan Lake, located in the Okanagan Valley. Although proof of Manipogo’s existence has never been found, reported sightings of the creature continued into the twenty-first century.
Overview
Lake Manitoba is a 124-mile (200-kilometer) long freshwater lake that covers about 1,758 square miles (4,624 square kilometers) in southern Manitoba. The lake, after which the province was named, is the smallest of three large lakes in Manitoba—the largest being Lake Winnipeg and second-largest Lake Winnipegosis. All three lakes are the surviving remnants of a massive glacier-formed lake that covered the region until about 11,000 years ago.
For centuries, the Anishinaabe First Nations people told stories of a large creature living in Lake Manitoba. The Anishinaabe called the monster gichi ginebig, which means both “giant serpent” and “great healer.” The first reported sighting of the creature by a Canadian settler occurred in 1909 when a fur trader said he spotted a large beast swimming in the lake. Other sightings soon followed, including one in 1948 where a man claimed to have seen a creature rise up from the lake and emit a loud “dinosaur cry.”
The creature did not have a proper name until 1960, when a provincial government official dubbed it “Manipogo.” The name was a play on Ogopogo, a more widely known lake monster said to live in Okanagan Lake in British Columbia. That same year, seventeen eyewitnesses claim to have seen three snake-like creatures swimming in the Toutes Aides area of the lake. The region is in the northwestern corner of Lake Manitoba and has been a frequent hotspot for Manipogo sightings.
The only known photo of Manipogo was taken by fishermen in 1962, and seems to show an elongated humped animal swimming by their boat. Eyewitness accounts of the creature vary, with its size fluctuating between 13 feet (4 meters) to 50 feet (15 meters). It is most often described as black or brown with several humps that seem to rise out of the water. Some accounts claim the creature has the head of a horse or a sheep.
In 1997, the Canadian press reported that a local member of a First Nations band supposedly shot and killed a Manipogo and stored it in his barn. The dead creature was then said to have been taken away under cover of night by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. After attracting national attention, the story was later revealed to be a hoax. Scientific studies of the lake have yet to uncover any proof of Manipogo’s existence. Some experts theorize people could be mistaking moose swimming in the lake for a humped creature. Others believe the Manipogo could be a large sturgeon, a fish that can grow up to 8 feet (2.5 meters) long and weigh more than 300 pounds (138 kilograms).
Bibliography
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Bernhardt, Darren. “Keep Your Camera Handy: Stories of Manitoba Lake Monsters Told for Centuries but Proof Remains Elusive.” CBC/Radio-Canada, 3 June 2018, www.cbc.ca/news/canada/manitoba/lake-monster-manipogo-winnipogo-1.4681105. Accessed 13 July 2020.
Coleman, Loren, and Jerome Clark. “Manipogo.” Cryptozoology A To Z: The Encyclopedia of Loch Monsters, Sasquatch, Chupacabras, and Other Authentic Mysteries of Nature. Touchstone, 2013, pp. 148–149.
Edwards, Kyle. “Why Canadians Have a Thing for Mythical Lake Monsters.” Maclean’s, 9 July 2019, www.macleans.ca/news/canada/why-do-canadians-have-a-thing-for-mythical-lake-monsters/. Accessed 15 July 2020.
Lunney, Doug. “Manipogo Park, Magnetic Hill, Bigfoot Prints & Other Unusual Manitoba Attractions.” Winnipeg Sun, 10 Aug. 2013, winnipegsun.com/2013/08/09/manipogo-park-magnetic-hill-bigfoot-prints--other-unusual-manitoba-attractions/wcm/9212b4fd-e047-4fac-ac00-1f240a2dbda1. Accessed 15 July 2020.
Nag, Oishimaya Sen. “The 10 Largest Lakes In Manitoba.” World Atlas, 15 Apr. 2015, www.worldatlas.com/articles/the-10-largest-lakes-in-manitoba.html. Accessed 15 July 2020.
Radford, Benjamin. “Ogopogo: Canada’s Loch Ness Monster.” LiveScience, 8 Jan. 2014, www.livescience.com/42399-ogopogo.html. Accessed 15 July 2020.
Storm, Rory. “Manipogo.” Monster Hunt: The Guide to Cryptozoology. Sterling Publishing, 2008, pp. 37–40.