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Seelkee

British Columbian lake monster

In Canadian folklore, Seelkee (transcribed in English from Halqemeylem, the local indigenous language) is a lake monster reported to have lived in the swamps of what is now Chilliwack, in British Columbia, Canada. Seelkee has been allegedly seen by the Stó:lō, First Nations, people for hundreds of years. The most common description of Seelkee is a 10- to 15-foot-long (3.0 to 4.6 m) sea serpent-like beast with the head of a horse.

Descriptions often portray the creature as snake-like with two heads. Furthermore, the coloration has been described as mostly black with red circular designs. Some of the longhouses in the local Stó:lō villages were defined by large house posts with Seelkee designs accented with red paint. Although some modern longhouses were built with gabled roofs, most Stó:lō longhouses were built similarly to the Xá:ytem Longhouse with a single flat, slanted roof. Acting as the primary summer shelters for the Stó:lō people, entire extended families could live in a longhouse, with the structure capable of being extended as the family expanded.

One of the first Caucasian settlers of the region, Issac Kipp, reportly saw a Seelkee and related that he was told by the local Sto:lo people never to turn your back on the beast. Saying "Don't turn around, if you do you'll be sick."

Watch videos about SeelkeeExplainers and documentaries on YouTube (opens in a new tab)

Sources and credits

This article is adapted from the Wikipedia article Seelkee, written by its contributors and licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Fathomly has changed the layout, removed citation markers, navigation and maintenance notices, and adjusted punctuation. This adapted version is shared under the same license. For references, see the original article.

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