Duluth needs a monster of its own
Earlier today I was reading about the Red Dwarf of Detroit, a harbinger of doom that’s been haunting the Detroit area for hundreds of years. It’s described as “a small child-like creature with red or black fur boots” that has “blazing red eyes and rotten teeth.”
Other communities have monsters that are unique to their location. Point Pleasant, WV has the Mothman. Southern New Jersey has the Jersey Devil. Botetourt County, VA and Mattoon, IL have the Mad Gasser, who was more of a serial killer really but I’m still including it here.
Mayor Ness wants to get the population back up to 90,000. Maybe some good old-fashioned mass hysteria is what we need to put this town back on the map.
If Duluth had a monster of its own, what would it be like? When would would it appear? Where would it appear? What would it be called?
You can start here: 1905
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Or, Jan. 9, 1912
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Cthulhu
June 1902
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I like where this is headed. Maybe some sort of electrical aquatic moose-monster, connected to a cult of “foreigners” that meets in the building next door to Central Sales.
TimK is right, this has all the signs of a Lovecraft-ian novella. A giant amorphous blob, a shambling mound of gelatinous taconite sludge, the “ancient ones” … Also, I like the idea of a huge 300lb sturgeon with eyes the size of pie-plates
Oh, BTW didn’t Low do soundtrack work for The Mothman Prophecies?
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QLt8AThNDL8&feature=related
I’m starting to smell a script ….
This is the best idea I have ever heard.
That story about the two-headed baby is sad, but “SHIPS COMPASS GETS CRAZY” is awesome.
Someone get Anthony Bukoski on the case…
Have you all never heard of the Superior Sasquatch? Behold his ratty might:
I nominate seagulls.
I think the bunnies that used to swarm down around Park Point & Canal Park need to be incorporated into the legend somehow. Maybe we can blame their appearance/disappearance on the monster — plus, a story about a monster eating bunnies is sure to scare the kids.
https://seamonster.org/
The Ojibwe believed that spirits concentrated in the rock outcroppings of the Lake Superior shore, which belonged to the mysterious domain of the powerful Ojibwe sea monster Mishipizheu
I have seen a creature! A gnome-like man, with a mighty beard, prone to fits of dancing and unintelligible banter!
Cork, I too have seen this gnome-like man. He plays terrifying sounds from his mouth horn.
Forget the monster eating bunnies. We call those things the killer bunnies. They’re the monsters, I tell you.
I think he looks something like this:
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I looked for this one when I was up in British Columbia a few years back. No such luck.
I too shall vouch that the gnome-like man exists! He of the broad-brimmed hat and mighty thirst. Rivers of beer empty themselves down his gullet, and lesser demons quail before his belching countenance.
Newsreel – Gasman
The land is inhospitable enough that we don’t need a monster. The air or the lake would be pleased to kill you.
Rhinelander, WI has a creature called a “Hodag.” It’s even the mascot for the high school athletic teams.
The Duluth Ball Slasher is enough to keep me from visiting too often…
The gaggles of hipsters roaming Superior St on any given night is monster enough.
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I just came across this Ripsaw cover we did way back when. One of my favorites. Rick Allen did the amazing illustration.