Seelkee

Seelkee
Creature information
Other name(s)Seelkee, S’í:lhqey, Si'xqe, Shla- lah-kum, Su'ike, Ts'ewalf
Sub groupingLake monster
Origin
CountryCanada
RegionChilliwack, British Columbia
HabitatWater

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."

See also

Bibliography

Notes

  1. ↑ Eberhart 2002, p. 507
  2. ↑ Wells et al. 1987, p. 222
  3. ↑ Wells et al. 1987, p. 121
  4. ↑ Carlson & McHalsie 2001
  5. 1 2 Wells 1970, pp. 25–32
  6. ↑ Wells et al. 1987, p. 157
  7. ↑ Wells 1970, p. 30

References