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Denizens of the DeepSee the Sea SerpentWITH spring, breakup comes the open. season lor all lake • monsters. These include the Lake Manitoba monster which created such a stir last Tail. It was then, it will be remembered, that a party of sportsmen went into the Sandy Lake area with the avowed intention of tracking the monster to his lair.Travelling by boat and overland. they located what appeared to be tire monster's favorite haunt; but at that very hour the monster they hoped to capture was making a spec-, lacular appearance, surging along, head high in the air, over the waters of the lake fifteen miles away.It is difficult for any human being to assess the mind and . habits of a creature that was a local celebrity, even back in the days before the coming of the while man. At the same time, there are plenty of water monsters 'active in many parts of the world; from these some general characteristics emerge.There was a time when dragons appear to have made life rather miserable, because of the young women they captured for lunch or demanded as sacrifices. Fortunately anynumber of witnesses declare that the Lake Manitoba monster belongs to the water serpent family. In fact, I he Indians have always called if the Big Snake; and armchair observers traditionally accept Indian judgment orr such natural phenomena.By Elisabeth longThis would make The Lake Manitoba monster one of the many water serpents which from myihical days have been regarded as benign. In many corners of the' globe today they are showing their co-operation with their home area in helping to promote tourist trade.Best known of: this type of monster is The Loch Ness monster. But there are also monsters in Lake Zurich, at New Hamburg, in the Mediterranean, off the west coast of Africa, the north shores of Spitsbergen and in. many Irish lakes.Of the seven monsters re-reductioncisive phase in which Mr, Khrushchev, the supreme ; champion of peace, would be I the best man lo be in charge.T-\ 1*1ported in various parts of Gan-.a da, the two in British Columbia appear to have developed the co-operative spirit most highly. The well-heralded appearances of Ggppogo, the Okanagan Lake monster, have increased tourist, trade over an entire summer. The same applies to Cadborosaurus which managed to make its first, appearance for the-B.C.-Centennial some weeks ago, in fact just about the time when the first tourists-were due in 'Victoria,v*'In contrast there have been occasions m Canada when monsters and. men have not worked out a co-operative existence. This happened ori the Atlantic Coast when Newfoundlanders and Nova Scotia fishermen sighted such monsters,* but did nothing about: It. Neither, apparently, did the monsters.And down in Quebec at Lake Poheneganok. a monster .'has been making occasional appearances for the last twenty years — but nothing more happens. The lake is remote and apparently the residents of the area never give a thought to tourist bait. But .at least they refuse lo molest their-monster, which is better than the shocking end of Tchimiose.It was the Hskia Indians who first met Tchinnose. in the straits off the Queen Charlotte Islands on Canadas West Coast. The monster had an unpleasant habit of overturning tribal canoes with his powerful tail. The Indians had onlv known him a month — this was back in 3SS4 — when anAmerican whaling vessel arrived 03i the scene.The sailors sighted Tchinnose, harpooned him and hauled him on board. He had. the head of an alligator, the body of a lizard and was 33 feet long. They cut off his nine-foot (ail and took it to scientists in Sail Francisco. They agreed that it looked like nothing now' on earth, but thought it. resembled a fish lizard of the Mesozoic age.•«**Now scientific explanations of monsters are all very well. But hundreds of Canadians are starving for a good mystery. It was Einstein himself who said that the fairest thing that we can c-xperienee is the mysterious. Sc. riot only for its future tourist value but also for its mystery, residents of this province should try to develop good public relations with the Lake Manitoba monster, remembering that a; liv-| ing myth is a fairer thing than a dead caelocanth or even another elamosaurus direct from, the Mesozoic age.
Newspaper Details
Winnipeg Free Press
Winnipeg, Manitoba, CA
Fri, Apr 11, 1958
Page 23
Full Page
Clipped by
Kevin S.
CA 05 Dec 2020
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