Turns out Canada has its very own Loch Ness monster, and this guy made its media debut before the Scottish creature. Ogopogo is the name given to the being that lives in Lake Okanagan in British Columbia, and in 1926 the Vancouver Sun described the curious phenomena, saying "Too many reputable people have seen [the monster] to ignore the seriousness of actual facts."

The animal is most often described as 15-20 feet long, either horse-, snake- or goat-like, and eerily similar in appearance to a log. Footprints have been found, varying from cup-like tracks to three-toed marks. Indians in the Okanagan Valley first spotted the monster and described him with various names, including N'ha-a-tik, and pictographs. The Indians viewed the monster as malevolent, and would avoid the area for fishing. The name Okopogo didn't come from the valley natives; instead a local singer came up with the name in 1924.

Ogopogo may not be as famous as Nessie in Scotland, but press and monster hunters have come from around the world to the area. In 1926, around 30 cars of people watched the monster, a rare feat of multiple witnesses that has repeated in smaller numbers in the years since. In all, over 200 sightings have been recorded (including "credible” witnesses of a priest, sea captain, surgeon, police officers and others). Today, the mystery survives. Cryptozoologists believe the creature could be a form of a primitive whale, but definitive answers are still far from reach.