Dedication

 

To my late Mother

 

Thank you for always being there when I need it. Things have not been the same without you. But, I write these stories in memory of you encouraging me to follow my passions. I would not be here without your help and support. 

I love you, Mom! 

Rest in Peace. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Introduction

Introduction

When you stand on the shore a deep water lake or the oceanic depths, you mind wanders as to what could living in the depths. The things you may conjure in your mind could be frightening, wondrous or downright weird! They may even terrify you to the point of not wanting to go for a dip anymore. 

 

Perhaps you dream up of some plesiosaurian monstrosity that will rise and drag down into the depths, right to its lair. That's certainly a terrifying thought, one worthy to evoke nightmares.  Or, you could be thinking of a friendly leviathan that lives out its life peacefully in the abyss, only surfacing occasionally to the shock of onlookers. 

 

Then again, it may be something neither you or me could comprehend, a beast that has the traits of both options or an entirely different thing altogether. As you're about to find about, not all lake monsters are the same (despite what some news reports might lead you to believe). In British Columbia, there are almost 20, 000 lakes in total--which is a lot of freshwater! In over 40 of these bodies of mostly unexplored depths there have been reports of a menagerie of cryptid creatures which continue to fascinate those who read about them. 

  

Obviously, I can’t read your mind as to your thought on the subject of lake beasts but I can say is that British Columbia is full of such stories and sighting reports. In inspiration of the my home areas lake creature history , I have written four fictional yet equally astounding stories of several water creatures in provincial waters (they be freshwater or saltwater). All have been created by me, so no none of these eyewitness account-like narratives are real--but what about the beasts behind them?

 

Think about that as you stare into the murk and see what lurks beneath the waves.

Story One

The Water Creature of Okanagan Lake

 

I'll start my story by saying I want to remain anonymous. I currently work for the government as a professional diving welder and I don’t want to be ridiculed, for reasons you are about to read. I can tell you these following things, though. I’m 38 years old and I currently have a partner. I’m gay, so I want to make that clear first. In fact, at the time of this writing, we are only two months away from being married. I’m excited to say the least, but that’s not the point of this account.

 

I currently live in the Okanagan Valley, in British Columbia for my whole life. But, my most important personal aspect I want to tell you all is that I’m a logical, skeptical person and have never been one to be convinced of strange happaneings. And yes, I have heard of the creature of Okanagan Lake my whole life, to which I always was a silent doubter. Now, I regret that decision…but let’s get to  the story.

 

I can’t get into specifics, but it occurred in mid-June 2009 towards the evening. It was dusk and the sky was full of coral, red and yellow colors, which to this day I find stunning. I was with my fellow diving team, which comprised of ten of us. At the front were our diving supervisor and a person who was in charge of the bridges maintenance.

 

I will not reveal their names because they are legitimate people and I hate to see their reputations get torn down. However the supervisor was a nice lady who had been diving in deep lakes twenty years before me, so she knew what to do. The bridge person I have more difficulty remembering, but understood he had been in underwater construction since the 1970’s. And from what I heard he was the best in the business, for the valley anyway. For some background, there was an old bridge that was built long before the creation of the newer one, which would have the early 1910’s. Since then, it held up quite well considering the increase in population from thereon—into the early 2000’s I might add! But, due to concerns that the structure may not be strong enough to hold more cars and trucks, the old bridge had to be replaced with a new one (let’s call the new one the “The B.B. Bridge”).

 

Our task was to do some repair work for a couple of the Bridges pillars, which were damaged. Construction on it one began in Spring 2007, and ended in May 2008. This one, like its predecessor, is a floating bridge which meant that water can flow under the bridge through two channels: one towards the Westside of the lake and the other at eastside. Apparently, we were told that a review by a governmental party found these parts to be weak either due to improper construction or an external cause.

 

So, in short, we were there to fix a screw-up.

 

I rolled my eyes at this, internally questioning who was in charge of that freaking operation. It wasn’t that I hated the work, but I didn’t like fixing other peoples mistakes either. I believed—and still hold—the person who made the mess should always be the one to clean it up, or in this case, fix it!

 

I took a deep breath and sighed. Obviously, the damage wasn’t going to fix by itself and that was a job I signed on to do.

 

Too late to turn back now, I remember thinking to myself.

 

After the briefing, my team and I got on our diving gear. I was just finishing putting on my flippers when I heard my colleagues talking about something. Being the curious type, I listened in while I finished suiting up. They were discussing an experience one of their relatives had while scuba diving in this near our location, after the B.B. Bridge was completed. I didn’t listen too much, but the story went that when his uncle got towards a steep underwater drop-off, he got the chills. It was as if something was watching him from the murk; it spooked him bad. Then, as the comrade went on, he saw a long, sinuous thing emerge from the darkness. Of course, the guy fled the area.

 

That’s when I shook my head and stopped listening. I wasn’t into that “Ogopogo" bull-dust and I thought said person just hallucinated. Yeah I know, it was a lame explanation, but that was what I thought of the phenomenon then. I didn’t say anything, though, and finished suiting up.

 

When we got to the edge of the Bridge, where we were to jump off.Don’t worry, our launching point wasn’t too high, for safety reasons. Just between you and me, I have always been afraid of heights, so that was a relief for me. According to our supervisor, we were told that our time would be 10 hours. That was fine by my crew & I. I always preferred to work efficiently and I figured that fixing the pillar wouldn’t take too long. The location, if I remember correctly, was hundreds of feet down and not too far away from our position.

 

I remember hearing a number of divers who were a little unnerved by the change, from barely audible sighs and groans. While I sympathized with them—it does get creepy down there—I decided to look on the positive

Impressum

Verlag: BookRix GmbH & Co. KG

Texte: Branden Hawk, 2020.
Bildmaterialien: Branden C Hawk June 2019.
Cover: Branden C Hawk, April 2020.
Lektorat: Branden Hawk
Tag der Veröffentlichung: 02.05.2020
ISBN: 978-3-7487-3924-1

Alle Rechte vorbehalten

Widmung:
In Memory of: Dr. Paul Leblond, (Late Chairman of the B.C.S.C.C and retired Head of Ocean Sciences at UBC) For letting us know there will always be mysteries within the depths of oceans and lakes. R.I.P. Mom For Encouraging Me to Pursue the Things I Love & Loving Me Always. I’ll always have you in my heart! R.I.P.