Lake Minnewanka strange sightings

 Lake Minnewanka is a mountain lake in Alberta Canada. When the glaciers began to shrink more than 10,000 years the lake was reborn. The Cascade River flowing from Lake Minnewanka was first dammed in the early 1900’s and then again during World War II in order to provide more electricity to Calgary. The lake is long being approximately   18 miles (approx 28 kilometres) and 466 feet( 142 metres) deep. It is very popular for fishing. Some say there is actually a town at the bottom of  the Lake from when it was dammed in the 1900s.

 The lake has a very old  monster legend. How the Lake got it’s name is interesting. Originally the Stoney people of the area called it ‘m’ne-sto’ or Cannibal Lake .The  name came  from a Stoney legend telling of a half-human, half-fish creature, locally known as the ‘mer-man’ that lived in the lake was believed to prey upon people boating and fishing on  the lake. Fearful of this mysterious being who could only be killed if struck by lightning, the Stoney people would not go on the lake .Another legend tells that the first person  who viewed the lake saw it from the peak of a surrounding mountain and  he noticed a fish that stretched the length of the lake, leading him to call it “Lake of the Evil Water Spirit”. The name of the lake was changed in 1888 as it was believed the name “Cannibal” was too horrible to attract trade and visitors to the area . It was renamed Lake Minnewanka, which is translated from the Stoney name Minnee-wah-kah, or “Lake of the Water Spirit”. Some people diving in Lake Minnewanka claim to have seen   a giant lake trout down in the murky depths but no one has attempted to capture it. If such large fish had always lived in the waters, that  could be the origin of the merman story.
There was a  popular rumour that the Merman was pulled out of Lake Minnewanka by some hapless fisherman and they got eaten but this was probably just campfire tales. There is also an odd stuffed "Merman" on display at the nearby Indian Trading Post.

That is not the only strange thing seen in the area.  “The Lake Minnewanka Wildman”story about a possible sasquatch in the area started in 1895. Several people were out fishing, along the shore of the lake when they found huge footprints.  More were found in 1896 and a trapper  and two prospectors reported seeing a creature over 7 feet tall. The stories carried on with the creature being reported every year until 1899. For further details and the full story of the sightings see :
www.albertasasquatch.com

So a mysterious place that perhaps earned it’s original name for all we know. If anyone knows of any more recent sightings of anything strange in the area please post a comment