Ogopogo

Ogopogo (AKA: Naitaka, Kluskap O'Kom, Kluskapokkom....)

Origin: (a fictionalized version of modern cryptozoological folklore; the name "Ogopogo" first appeared in the 1910s as the title of a novelty song, and would later be applied to a mysterious lake monster said to inhabit Lake Okanagan in British Columbia, Canada. The name "Kluskap" seems to be of Micmac origin, referring to a trickster spirit born of a lightning strike who helped to create the world and protect and nurture the first men. "Naitaka" seems to be of Secwepemc and Syilx origin and describes a powerful lake god who demanded sacrifices in exchange for safe passage upon the water.)

In the Mythos

Kluskap O'Kom (Ogopogo) depicted in the form of a giant emerging from the woods....

"Sometimes described as a giant coming out of the woods, sometimes a monster in a lake or sometimes a powerful being that came from the sky, Kluskap is the name for this strange character and O'Kom is the place where he lives. Kluskap is inspired by a legend from a Canadian native tribe called the Micmacs. He once came to earth to kill all the Dinosaurs in order to help the humans to take over the planet. One day Kluskap will come back with another mission, to [kill] the humans [and help something else take over the planet]. There are many similarities between the Kluskap story and other legends from tribes all around the globe; stories told of encounters with beings from other worlds. This one is very unique, I thought."
— Denis "Snake" Belanger

Description:

The Great Old One, Ogopogo, the great water spirit: a major part of the beast's written lore is in the MacCleeg Totem, a moss-covered stone pillar of indeterminate age, engraved in incompletely translated mysterious carvings, discovered in the forests far north of Western Ontario's Lake Ogopogo in the early 1800s by the adventurer Isaiah MacCleeg, who had learned of the totem from the local First Nations tribes, who largely regarded the area as taboo and spoke of the pillar only reluctantly; MacCleeg could only induce one of the most desperate natives to guide him to the "totem pole" with a very unusual, unrecorded bribe. Much of the rest of Ogopogo's lore is oral tradition, hinted at in MacCleeg's published papers, but never publicly released in its entirety, and presumed lost with MacCleeg in his mysterious disappearance.

Local First Nations legends tell about fierce forest spirits who brought the pillar with them at the beginning of time from a mysterious spirit world under the earth, when Ogopogo walked the land working strange miracles in the age of the First Forest and was worshiped as a god, corrupted in time by the spirits. Ogopogo, now dangerous, was, according to legend, tricked and drowned in the lake by brave warriors in elder days, and its terrible cult of forest demons slain and scattered and chased back into the dark places in the earth from which they came. The demons' villages were burned and artifacts destroyed, except for the horrible pillar in the forest, the MacCleeg Totem, which could not be defaced or destroyed by any means in spite of the best efforts of the strongest heroes and mightiest wizards of the First Nations tribes.

The lake was afterward haunted by Ogopogo's ghost, but mighty wards placed by the natives' priests and wise men had protected men from Ogopogo through the generations, until the arrival of white men in the area.

But, something went wrong after the charismatic self-proclaimed First King of America, James "King James I" Lambton, who led an outcast religious sect to the lake's Snake Island in Michigan in 1850 to settle the area for a short time before the self-proclaimed king's assassination in 1856. Shortly after claiming the site as the foundation of their kingdom, Lambton's strange cult of followers - perhaps better described as worshipers - moved an entire medieval church, rebuilt brick-by-brick from the original, from its original site in Eastern Europe, and in spite of their king's assassination, settled into the dark and sullen building and a dismal collection of miserable shanties and crude farms to perform their strange ceremonies in isolation. The construction of the castle seems to have disturbing the lake's protective wards, allowing Ogopogo to once again rise from the lake and walk the earth, working its terrible miracles on the lake now as it did in the elder days of the First Forest, until the creature was stopped by mysterious means in the 1920s, with only occasional, sketchy sightings of a lake monster reported since then.

Heresies and Controversies

• The legend of Ogopogo as described above is an amalgamation of native legend, history, and fantasy. The lake is a fictionalization of Lake Okanagan, which was settled for a short time in the 1850s by a Mormon sect led by James Strang, who actually was crowned "King James I" of America shortly before his assassination. The name "Ogopogo", as described below, originates from a novelty song, which was afterward applied to sightings of a cryptozoological lake monster; the MacCleeg Totem and the adventurer Isaiah MacCleeg are fictional. (YSDC Discussion)
• The Name "Ogopogo" derives from a British drinking song, first published in 1924 (but of earlier origin):
  "I'm looking for the Ogo-pogo,
  The funny little Ogo-pogo,
  His mother was a polliwog, his father was a whale,
  I'm going to put a little bit of salt on his tail.
  I want to find the Ogo-pogo
  While he's playing on his old banjo....
  The Lord Mayor of London wants to put him in the Lord Mayor's show...."
• The Secwepemc and Syilx legend of "Naitaka" describes a powerful lake god who lived in a vast underwater cavern beneath Rattlesnake Island, from which it demanded sacrifices in exchange for safe passage upon the water of lake Okanagan. According to subsequent legends, those who refused to offer the requested sacrifices found their canoes smashed by the god's long, serpentine tail.
• The Micmac legend of Kluskap describes him as the first man and trickster god, created in a lightning strike at the beginning of time; Kluskap created the world, sailing upon the waters in a great stone canoe, visiting the first animals at a time when all creatures looked alike and playing pranks on those animals who were disrespectful, arrogant, and proud. Kluskap created people with sparks from the first fire, and helped protect and prepare man to survive and flourish in the world while by living in harmony with nature. Later, Kluskap was said to have warned the First Nations that white men were coming to America and tried to prepare them for the catastrophe, but the people didn't listen, and suffered disaster when the English arrived. Kluskap then promised that the white men would take over America, and Kluskap would leave for the far north, but would one day return with a warning for the white men, who in their pride and arrogance will not listen either, and then Kluskap will watch as the white men fall and are replaced by someone - or something - else.
• "Kluskap O'Kom" is a variation on the Micmac legend as retold by French-Canadian rock band Voivod, describing the entity as a giant or lake monster originating from outer space, which killed off the dinosaurs and raised up the first men from their ashes; when the time of men is done, Kluskap O'Kom will destroy men as well, and pave the way for something new to inherit the Earth.

Cult

Description of Cult:

Associated Mythos Elements

• tome: MacCleeg Totem
• suggested cult: Gnophkehs

References

• Wikipedia: "Ogopogo"
• Novelty Song, "The Ogo-Pogo (The Funny Foxtrot)" (1924) (Lyrics)
• Metal Song, "Kluskap O'Kom" (Voivod, 2013)

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