Bizarre local myths/traditions

[Unorthodox]

Along with my recent production of Bigfoot prints was what began as a search for news articles on the sightings from my childhood.  (Google Bigfoot South Weber)

While this led to a much more intensive research effort than intended, as specific details I recalled were not readily available and newspaper articles about these sightings have been removed from the internet (I think someone is trying to write a book or wants their name removed), it did jog my memory a bit on some really off the wall beliefs of (some) Mormons surrounding Bigfoot. 

Oddball things such as him being Cain.  Yes, from the Bible.  Cursed by God to walk the earth forever and still seeking to drive folks away from God. 

Don't like that, perhaps he's one of the Gadianton (spelling) robbers.  A book of Mormon band who terrorized the countryside.  Though their connection to being big and hairy is precarious. 

Anyway, I found the sources on a lot of this stuff in the course of my meandering across all things Bigfoot, and it's very far from LDS doctrine, but widely held belief, at least in Utah in the 80s.  I think it's more a few pockets of folks who still believe that crap now. 

I know Buncle has said a thing or two over the years that have perked my attention as well. 

So, a place for local myths and legends.  Tell me what local craziness you've got near you? 

[Buster's Uncle]

I know Buncle has said a thing or two over the years that have perked my attention as well. 

What?  The Brown Mountain lights?

[Lorizael]

Maryland has Goatman (pretty self-explanatory), our own version of Nessie called Chessie, and... uh... the Blair Witch?

[ColdWizard]

Bunny Man.

[Unorthodox]

More from UTah

The Three Nephites.  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Three_Nephites

Hobbitville: http://www.enjoyutah.org/2011/09/utahs-mysteries-hobbitville.html

Whales living in the great salt lake: http://biologylabs.utah.edu/rose/about_us_location_salt_lake_city.html

Jean Baptiste: https://www.facebook.com/notes/remembering-ogdenriverdale-and-beyond/utahs-ghoul-john-baptiste/995603780453980/

[Spacy]

1880 there was a gang (well, I guess that is what we can call it) that was into making fake artifacts, convincing farmers to help them 'dig' it up to gain legitimacy, and then creating a mini artifact rush and selling off a ton of fakes.  Worked well up until the 1920's, so over 40 years.  Every professional that saw the artifacts basically laughed at them - but even today people believe that a group of christians fled the Roman Empire in the time of Constantine and settled michigan (about 1/2 way between Detroit and Toledo/Ohio border), and that apparently they never built any buildings, but did a lot of trinkets in clay, wood, and iron.....

Only one that comes to mind right now...

[Rusty Edge]

 The Ingleby Monster comes to mind, from my time growing up in PA. Named for a ghost town that was once part of a lumber camp in the early 1900s, but now is hunting camps and fishing cabins, if used at all.  The "monster" is more of an evil haunting presence /ghost kind of thing than a beast, by accounts I heard, which were 2nd and 3rd hand at best.

I Googled it and found this from a newspaper in the neighboring county. The reporting in this is accurate/ true to the local legends- Scroll down to "Ingleby Monster". Some might find the next section "Eutaw House" interesting, as Edgar Allen Poe was once a guest there.  I assume that "1939" is a typo in this article, and they meant 1839.
http://www.lockhaven.com/news/community/2013/10/spooky-tales-surround-millheim-and-nearby-areas/

If you see stuff about the area from "Keystone Folklore" disregard it. Years and names are hopelessly confused. It's more a study in hearsay than anything.

_________

Here in Wisconsin I recall a local news story about a close encounter with a monster on the edge of a marsh. A fury dark bipedal beast about 7 feet tall, strong enough to snatch a deer & an atv ramp in which the deer's legs were entangled,  from the back of a pick-up truck. It had a head with the pointy ears and long snout of a wolf, rather than a bear.

http://www.wisn.com/article/bear-wolf-stalks-southern-wisconsin/6284180




There are other stories under the heading of WI bear wolf , and/ or Beast of Bay road. You can Google them. A lot like a Loup Garou, if you ask me. A lot of people have seen something scary,  but probably not all sightings are the same thing.  Ojibiwa spirits? Bi-pedal timber wolves?  Space Aliens in disguise? Pranksters? Heck if I know. Then again, being more farmland than forests, most Cheeseheads have never seen a black bear in the wild, so they might be confused by what hunters in PA call a "dog bear" ( as opposed to the plumper "pig bear" strain ).


Reading about it reminds me of panther sightings in PA. Three people I know have seen them with their own eyes,( several years apart )  but don't like to talk about it, because they don't believe their eyes, and they don't what people to think they are crazy. The game commission can come around, but they don't want to document a PA panther, because the area would come under endangered species management. The game commission guys tend to downplay everything officially while hinting privately that the witnesses aren't crazy. Chances are that the panthers are just passing through, looking for a less-densely populated place to live.

[gwillybj]

Lake Champlain has Champ, their version of Nessie:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Champ_(folklore):

Over the years, there have been over 300 reported sightings of Champ. Legends of a creature living in Lake Champlain date back to Native American tribes in the region. Both the Iroquois and the Abenaki spoke of such a creature. The Abenaki referred to it as "Tatoskok".

In 1977, Sandra Mansi took a photograph while on vacation with her family that appears to show something sticking out of the lake. The entire bay of the lake where the photograph reportedly was taken is no deeper than 14 feet (4.3 m). According to Joe Nickell, it is unlikely that a giant creature could swim, let alone hide, in such shallow water. It has been suggested that the object in the photograph could possibly be a rising tree trunk or log.

The Champ legend has become a revenue-generating attraction. For example, the village of Port Henry, New York, has erected a giant model of Champ and holds "Champ Day" on the first Saturday of every August.

[Rusty Edge]

I like to hope and believe that some of the species we believe extinct really aren't, - that there might be a surviving plesiosaur in Lock Ness, a Gigantopithecus-human hybrid in British Columbia, viable mammoth embryos in a glacier or Russian permafrost, and more recently, surviving Tasmanian Wolves.

There are legends of monsters in many northern lakes.

After 12 or 14  years of sitting on a lake fishing, I've had a chance to observe "bogs" as my wife's family calls them. Floating islands which are the remains of logs and tree trunks stuck in the mud when the lake was filled. Not good for much, unless you're a duck or goose. You can nest and graze on them.  They tend to appear about the same place each year. If they aren't there when I arrive, they may appear later. Usually preceded by days of bubbling. One day I watched a small one rise, only to release it's gas and sink again after a minute or two. 

I think most lake monster sightings are simply the stump end of a tree trunk that was bulldozed beneath a glacier, but the glacier melted and formed a lake, trapping it in the muddy bottom. In time, the tree trunk gradually warmed with the lake and began to decay. When it decomposed enough the gas made the trunks buoyant again. One of the roots rises above the lake like a dinosaur's head, and somebody notices it before the gas escapes and the waterlogged tree trunk submerges again.

Just my theory.

[Lorizael]

I'm partial to the idea that, in an age where essentially everyone has a camera, lack of confirmation of UFOs and cryptids is pretty damning.

[Unorthodox]

Meh.  They just found a new antelope in what, 2015?  There's still room out there for a few discoveries. 

UFO's and cryptids, what would be 'evidence' from a camera you would accept?  I think they hinder more than help the respective cases.