| Seelkee | |
| Sub Grouping: | Lake monster |
| Aka: | Seelkee, S’í:lhqey, Si'xqe, Shla- lah-kum, Su'ike, Ts'ewalf |
| Country: | Canada |
| Region: | Chilliwack, British Columbia |
| Habitat: | Water |
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 (10feetto15feetft (toft)) sea serpent like beast with the head of a horse.
Most descriptions talk about how the creature was snake-like with two heads. Mostly black the serpent had red circular designs. The primary summer shelters for the Stó:lō people was in the form of a longhouse. Although some modern longhouses were built with gabled roofs, most Stó:lō longhouses were built with a single flat, but slanted roof, similar to the Longhouse. Entire extended families would live in a longhouse, and the structure could be extended as the family expanded. Some of the longhouses in the local Stó:lō villages were defined by large house posts with Seelkee designs accented with red paint.
One of the first Caucasian settlers of the region, Issac Kipp, reportly saw a Seelkee and spoke how he was told by the local people never to turn your back on the beast. Saying "Don't turn around, if you do you'll be sick."
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