Cowichan Lake Serpent
Cowichan
is situated beside the Cowichan River and is the second largest lake on
Vancouver Island, measuring 34 km long and in places over 500
feet ( 166 metres)deep.
The people
of Cowichan have a history of stories of a giant serpent-like creature
that lives in the deepest parts of the lake. It is said to be over 50
feet( 16 metres) in length, with a very large head, furious eyes and an
enormous mouth and teeth. The creature named Stin-Qua is said to be capable of
swallowing whole canoes and their contents.. The first story I came
across is from the Kaatza Station Museum and is by Nitinat Charlie:
here was
an Indian encampment near where the March’s now live. In the camp was a very
old woman who cautioned the young women to beware of the Stin-qua. Next morning
three young men and three women set out in a canoe for Bald Mountain across the
Lake. The men were left on the mountain to hunt deer and the women were to
return for them later. The women were returning to the camp when one of the
maidens stoop up in the canoe and, waiving her paddle said that she was not
afraid of the Stin-qua. Almost immediately it began to get dark, the wind
roared and the Stin-qua rushed through the water and swallowed the canoe and
all the women. The Stin-qua disappears from the lake by an underground passage
down the West Coast.
At the
time it was thought to be just a legend but then reports started to appear.
The
following report appeared in the Cowichan Leader newspaper on Thursday, June
12,1930: ( extracts from the report)
Is there a giant water serpent in Cowichan Lake similar to the reputed
Okanogan Lake Ogopogo? There are of course, many doubters, but the mass of
evidence from reliable sources has grown to such an extent that there would
appear little question about there being one or more large serpents in the
waters of the lake. Some time ago The Leader gathered information from various
people who had seen this unusual fish and without exceptions the witnesses are
most emphatic that this thing actually exists. They are anxious, also to come
across it again and photograph or capture it so as to have proof of the “fish
story” A new interest has been aroused in this strange reptile by the report
from Mr. C. E. Cauldwell (Cougar Charlie) that last week he saw the serpent.Mr.
Cauldwell and Mr. Fred Fillinger, planer foreman of the Industrial Mill,
Youbou, were together at the time on the shore at the head of the lake. The
serpent was distinctly seen swimming Interested in the fishing, nothing more
unusual was noticed until Mr. Jarvis, looking around saw about eight feet of
tapering neck and a serpent like heard standing straight out of the water.He
called to Dr. Hill to look at the “apparition” and at the same time reached for
his gun.
Today this comment appeared:
Anonymous
said...
Hi there,
My son and I saw this today at Lake Cowichan. I did take some video, but it
doesn’t show much as I was fumbling around too long trying to set the camera to
video from photo…by the time I had it on the body was under water again.
Stin-Qua, The Lake Cowichan Serpent, I saw this Lake creature today with my son
while fishing from the shore. I have in the past noticed disturbances in the
water which seemed odd, but have always chalked it up to minor tremors or wind,
which both are common here. Today though I actually saw an object moving in the
water. It was about 10:45 am or so on Sunday October 7th, 2012. My son and I
had been fishing with friends who had just left to go back to the house for
breakfast. We were planning to return shortly ourselves. A motor boat had just
taken a water skier across the lake and had disappeared around the point a few
minutes prior to the sighting. I noticed a disturbance in the middle of the
lake and a large dark object surfaced, it began to move east to west at a fast
rate. There was a huge wake behind it and white water at the front and moving
away from the front leaving a large wake. I yelled at my son to look, he had
already seen it from his position on the beach(actually a small dock). I
fumbled for my camera and tried to change the setting from photo to video and
began shooting. Unfortunately, I did not catch much more than the wake and my
own voice… Very disappointing. I was in shock afterwards as I could not
rationalize what it could have been. It was very large and although 500m or so away
I could make out it was an animal and alive. It was not a log or bird.
Searching on the internet I found a name for the creature, Stin-Qua, so named
by the local natives. I found this site and am grateful for two things, one my
son saw it with me and two others have seen it too. I will be ready the next
time… Something is out there.
Regards,
Randy Stewart
So what do you think readers?
