Encounter Atlas
Manipogo is a serpent-like animal said to live in Lake Manitoba, with relatives reported in connected lakes. Witnesses describe a brownish-black body 13 to 50 feet long with at least one hump, and a head like a horse, sheep or camel. Some say it lets out a loud cry as it surfaces.
Hudson's Bay Company trader Valentine McKay made the first settler report in 1909. A wave of sightings in 1960 gave it its name, coined by land inspector Tom Locke, who also named Manipogo Provincial Park. In 1962 fishermen Richard Vincent and John Konefell took the only known photograph of it, showing a dark, snake-like shape. First Nations stories of serpents in the lake are much older.
Skeptics suggest swimming moose, sturgeon, otters or floating logs. St. Laurent holds a Manipogo festival every March.
What witnesses report
- Brownish-black humps on the surface
- A flat or horse-like head
- A loud cry when it surfaces
Famous cases
- 1909McKay sighting
Lake Manitoba - 1960Name coined after a wave of sightings
Lake Manitoba - 1962Vincent and Konefell photo
Lake Manitoba
Seen the Manipogo?
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