Legend of Ogopogo / Brazilian UFO Cases

About the show

Called Canada's answer to the Loch Ness Monster, the Ogopogo is said to be upwards of sixty feet in length. Jason Hewlett has chronicled numerous sightings and frightening folk tales, and film director Eli Watson ventured to Okanagan Lake in British Columbia in an effort to unlock the mystery. In the first half, they joined George Knapp to discuss the lore of this strange cryptid. Hewlett described the creature as having a long serpentine-like body, a whale's tail, and a horse- or dragon-like head, with horns or nodules sticking out. Watson detailed how horns can be seen in a photo of an aquatic anomaly taken by a Canadian couple while on Okanagan Lake in their boat in 2022. Watson further noted that the lake is some 1000 feet deep, so there's a lot of space for a creature to hide there.

Hewlett shared that when he started to investigate Ogopogo, he began as a skeptic, but the many witness testimonies and long-standing Indigenous people's lore opened up his perspective. One of the interviews in their documentary is with a tribe member named Coralee, who suggested that the creature could be considered a shape-shifter and its truest nature is the water itself. Watson recalled a 1968 case when Art Folden and his family saw something splashing in the water while driving on Highway 97 in Kelowna, and they captured footage of it on 16mm film.

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Brazil has some of the most spectacular cases in ufological literature dating as far back as the 1930s. In the latter half, Brazilian UFO researcher Thiago Luiz Ticchetti, who has studied the phenomenon for more than 22 years, discussed well-known cases, such as Varginha, in addition to a number of lesser-known sightings. He noted that the Brazilian government, in contrast to what some believe, is not particularly open about UFOs, and reportedly often transfers covert files and information to the United States.

He delved into the 1977 flap that took place on the Brazilian islands of Colares wherein citizens were said to be sickened by UFOs that sent out beams of light and made puncture marks. Ticchetti noted that victims' blood was drawn and some were found to be anemic. He concluded that it was a "sample" mission and that the more damaging effects were perhaps inadvertent, though the medical records of the patients were said to mysteriously disappear.

He recounted the 1986 "Night of the UFOs," where more than 200 witnesses, including pilots and air traffic controllers, saw up to 22 UFOs flying over different parts of Brazil, including one colossal mothership. Jets were scrambled to no effect. Ticchetti considers the 1996 Varginha case to be Brazil's Roswell in terms of importance. A UFO crashed, and five creatures were said to be recovered, with two of them alive. Multiple witnesses described a small alien as having oily brown skin, large red eyes, and emitting a sulfur-like smell.