Scotland's Nessie and British Columbia's Ogopogo have had the spotlight too long. It's time for a new sea monster to rise from the depths.

Ladies and gentlemen, give it up for Caddy!

Caddy is the nickname of Cadborosaurus, a sea serpent who, if you can believe eyewitnesses, raises his horse-like head in Cadboro Bay, just outside Victoria. The sea serpent is one of three mysterious creatures profiled by Vancouver documentarists Sheera and Peter von Puttkamer in hour-long episode two of Monster Hunters, a two-show series on The Learning Channel.

Unlike most monster legends, Cadborosaurus has actually left evidence of his existence. In 1937, a serpent-like creature with the head of a horse was found in a whale's belly. The photograph of this partly digested critter appears often in Monster Hunters, and, as they used to say in the sci-fi B-movies of the 1950s, it's not of this world.

Eyewitnesses assert that Caddy is of this world. One woman, on a leisurely stroll in the woods near Deep Cove, Victoria, claims to have come eyeball-to-eyeball with the big fellow on dry land. In a flash, he slid away into the bay.

"Not only could I see it, I could smell it," says the woman. "And it left a funny taste in my mouth, kind of metallic."

Most other sightings came from a distance, which skeptics dismiss as mistaken identity, the real culprit being a seal or a log.

How, then, could the skeptics explain that photograph, which the von Puttkamers show throughout the 20-minute segment?

The show then travels to south-east Australia, where the yowie, a sasquatch-like creature, is said to roam the suburbs. On one street alone, there have been 60 sightings, and eyewitnesses report the beast has a blood-curdling scream and a penchant for throwing rocks at inquisitive residents. Before you jump to conclusions, you should know that Marilyn Manson has never been to that 'burb.

The camera crew goes out on a hunt with a group of dedicated yowie hunters equipped with bait, night goggles and cameras, hoping to get a glimpse of the beast. We won't spoil things by telling you what happens, and please don't tell Steve (Crocodile Hunter) Irwin what's going on in his home and native land.

The final segment concerns the Tasmanian tiger, a wild dog hunted to extinction in the 1930s ... or was it? More witnesses, more claims of its existence, and more theories. One tiger believer has had two encounters in the last 30 years, though one was aural, not visual. He, too, claims to have smelled the creature after a close encounter. He also talks of a government conspiracy about the creature, though the connection seems vague at best.

The Tasmanian tiger has made the news recently with an announcement by the Australian Museum that it plans to clone the beast from the DNA of a pickled pup. The von Puttakamers interview a museum scientist about this project.

Whether you're a believer or not, Monster Hunters makes for fascinating viewing. It will certainly make the ferry trip to Victoria more interesting, what with the possibility of Caddy lurking in the depths.

• Story originally published by:
Vancouver Sun / BC | Marke Andrews - June 25.02

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