THE LEGEND
Centuries of Sightings
As early as the 1700s, the Okanagan native tribes knew of a water beast living in what is today known as Lake Okanagan. They called the creature N’ha-a-itk, meaning "sacred spirit of the waters" and their Native superstitions demanded certain traditions before entering N’ha-a-itk’s domain. One of the traditions was apparently the ritual sacrifice of a small animal as a peace offering before crossing the lake. Tying their horses behind their canoes, they would paddle out to where they believed the serpent lived in a cave beneath the water and make their offering, thus ensuring that their horses would not be dragged under and drowned by the monster.
Early area settlers also reported sightings of N'ha-a-itk and they patrolled the shores to protect their families.
In 1890, Captain Thomas Shorts was steaming on the lake when he saw a finned creature about sixteen feet long with a head like that of a ram. The creature promptly disappeared when he turned his ship in its direction, and virtually no one believed him when he reported it. But other reports soon followed at two or three a year, and people began to examine the lake in more careful detail. The local population fervently believed in the creature’s existence. They called it Ogopogo and named the island, Ogopogo Island, which later officially became known Rattlesnake Island.