More sightings of Ogopogo

Arlene Gaal believes there's a strange animal living in Lake Okanagan. And she had proof.
Of course, there are countless people who think she might be out to lunch and might be a few bricks short of a full load, but the Ol' Columnist isn't one of them.
After all for the past 16 years, I have been searching for another legend, the Ark of the Covenant, while keeping food on the table by taking jobs in newspapers from here to Israel to Ethiopia.
In fact, searchers are a strange breed and some are journalists, such as Gaal, who spent 26 years in the newspaper business as a journalist and has written three books on Ogopogo along with three books on local history.
She said that the most recent sighting of the strange creature with the elongated neck was on Tuesday, May 17 by Kelowna orchardist Rob Carsoro.
However, the most revealing information about Gaal's belief comes from the Internet and I quote:
"There is no doubt in my mind that there is an unidentified animal living in Lake Okanagan, whose name is Ogopogo. The Indians call it N'ha-a-itk or Naitaka. And it goes back three centuries in the Okanagan Valley. So therefore people has been having experiences on Okanagan Lake for three centuries. But my belief structured when I had my own experiences out there. Where I was able to photograph something on the lake that was neither a whale, a submarine, no sturgeon. So therefore the only conclusion I could come to was the fact that we were dealing with this unidentified animal or USO called Ogopogo.
It was actually a short interview with Gaal yesterday afternoon, but one that certainly shook a few brain cells. In future columns we'll explore the Ogopogo mystery and also the Ol' Columnist's search for the Ark -- the terrible container of God.
As I was about to go on toi another topic, Gaal sent me a fax, which gave a brief summation of her background:
Arlene Gaal was born and raised in a coal-mining town in southeaster British Columbia; a teacher by profession and author/journalist by chouice. In 1968 she and her husband Joe and three children moved to Kelowna ... and the home of Ogopogo. To her it was Canada's Hawaii.
A curiosity-seeker at heart, Arlene soon began tracking the many sightings of the creature in Lake Okanagan. Her search led to the first film footage taken of the animal, The Folden Film, which she purchased. It was in Kelowna, that her first book, Beneath The Depths, was launched in 1976. Soon after that, Alan Landsburg Productions from Los Angeles, arrived to shoot the very first program in Lake Okanagan, "In Search of Ogopogo" and Gaal worked alongside the crew as a consultant. This was the beginning of a continuing releationship with television crews throughout the world and interviews with major newspapers, including the New York Times, London Daily Mail, Chicago Tribune.
Arlene Gaal became the reporting station for sightings of Ogopogo, and as the years progressed the accumulated data would easily fill a moderate sized room. Not only did she document the sightings, but made certain that any film, video or still photos did not go astray as they were filed for historical preservation. By 1984 it became apparent that it was time for another book, and Hancock House Publishers released 'Ogopogo, The Million Dollar Monster' written by Gaal.
Interest in the unknown is never without controversy and the Chaplin video footage presented one of the more difficult periods in Ogopogo research. The television program, Unsolved Mysteries paid $30,000 for the material as critics offered their explanations for the video.
In 1990 and 1991, Nippon Television from Tokyo, Japan requested Arlene Gaals' presence as a consultant for two productions shot on Lake Okanagan. Helicopters, deep rover -- and ROVs were part of the extensive search for the elusive creature. Nippon crews did not go home disappointed as video footage and sonar readings captured what could only be explained as Ogopogo.
In the past year, crews have worked with Gaal on numerous programs: two separate crews arrived from Germany, Fortean Television from London aired a production in February 1998, and crews from Los Angeles, including Sachnoff-lipman Entertainment who aired a documentary on Ogopogo for the Learning Channel in the latter part of 1998.
In future columns, the Ol' Columnist will continue to detail Arlene Gaal's further adventures in hunting for Ogopogo as well as tracking our own search for the greatest 'hidden" treasure of all, the Ark of the Covenant.