As you see the 1965 Monroe Monster tweaked an interest and I would like to conclude this with a foundation for some of the information. I would like to add some excerpts strictly for educational understanding of what I believe took place nearly 50 years ago.
Cass County Residents Still Remember Monster
DOWAGIAC (UPI) — “In Cass County some people are afraid the "Monster of Sister Lakes" will come back. Others are afraid it won't return. The former group includes property owners around the Dewey Lake area who have "for sale" signs up in the community where the 9-foot, 500 pound beast, or whatever it was vanished from the scene two months ago, leaving a trail of shudders and chuckles in his or its wake.” THE HOLLAND, MICHIGAN, EVENING SENTINEL, Tuesday, October 6, 1964, page 8
Cass County Residents Still Remember Monster
DOWAGIAC (UPI) — “Conservation Officer William Rowe Sunday said he doesn't believe there was one. He said he went along with the cops but couldn't find any tracks. However, the sheriff's department reported on another occasion they found a 6-by-18-inch footprint.” THE HOLLAND, MICHIGAN, EVENING SENTINEL, Tuesday, October 6, 1964, page 8
Cass County Residents Still Remember Monster
DOWAGIAC (UPI) — “Among those who reported seeing the intruder was John Utrip, who said he saw it in 1963. His wife reported the monster came back in June this year but was driven away by her dogs. “I didn’t notice at the time when the dogs drove it off but later Chester (one of the dogs) showed up with a puffed eye ball that turned blue and he was blinded for about a month. "Real, or unreal, or whatever it was, the ultimate result is the same," Mrs. Utrip said Sunday.” THE HOLLAND, MICHIGAN, EVENING SENTINEL, Tuesday, October 6, 1964, page 8
Monroe Is Still After A Monster
MONROE (UPI)- “a ragged posse of nearly 100 combed the woods near Frenchtown Township north of here Tuesday night, armed with baseball bats and rifles, in search of the beast that is described as "seven-feet tall and hairy." So far the posse has made no sightings, but no one seems to care much except the 16 persons who have made official reports with police in the past year. Two have come within the past five days loaded with vivid descriptions of the elusive thing.” THE HOLLAND, MICHIGAN, EVENING SENTINEL, Thursday, August 19, 1965, page 8
Many riddles use metaphor and simile to mislead and distract the reader from the real meaning. Good investigators use metaphor in comparing a solution with subtle nuances that may or may not be related. Some refer to it as “Thinking outside the box,” and reading between the lines.
Monroe’s ‘Monster’ Mystifying
Police Get Reports Of Hairy Something
Nine In Auto
From the Blade Correspondent
MONROE, Mich., Aug. 17- Cpl. Clair Dechow, of the Erie post, who admitted that efforts to keep the reports secret have backfired, expressed fear that the biggest danger is that someone will get shot. Toledo Blade, OH Tuesday, Second News Section, August 17, 1965 page 18
Monroe’s ‘Monster’ Mystifying
Police Get Reports Of Hairy Something
Some Trigger Happy
From the Blade Correspondent
MONROE, Mich., Aug. 17- Reports of contact with the apparent mutation that allegedly rises out of the swamps of Lagoona Beach have been kept quiet by suspicious state troopers until two terrifying contacts were made last week. Toledo Blade, OH Tuesday, Second News Section, August 17, 1965 page 18
First, I do not believe in coincidences but rather notice things as gambits or opening moves or statements, but there is every reason to be deeply skeptical of some comments made 48 years ago. This becomes clear when one examines statements or comments issued by folks relative to this elusive creature. When analyzed closely I see some interesting red flags popping out all over the place that are extremely interesting to me. It is important to distinguish carefully what is written between the lines and any hidden meaning that when deciphered, leads one to believe something else. Thus, the publicly known facts clearly establish a course of conduct that goes well beyond the intended story. Here it is spelled out in actual excerpts, witnesses are ridiculed, and the creatures they claim they seen must be “bears.”
Cass County Residents Still Remember Monster
DOWAGIAC (UPI) — "No one wanted to talk about it because they were afraid of ridicule," Mrs. Utrip said Sunday. THE HOLLAND, MICHIGAN, EVENING SENTINEL, Tuesday, October 6, 1964, page 8
Crowds Seek Glimpse Of Monster
Police Skeptical, Consider Lie Tests
MONROE, Mich., Aug. 18 (AP)
Monroe County Sheriff Charles Harrington also scoffed at the monster scare. “I’d have to see it first to believe it,” he said. The Blade, Third News Section, Toledo, Ohio, Wednesday, August 18, 1965, page 37
Crowds Seek Glimpse Of Monster
Police Skeptical, Consider Lie Tests
MONROE, Mich., Aug. 18 (AP)
The hairy monster of Mentel Road may be a figment of someone’s imagination, and law enforcement officials might resort to lie detector tests to help settle the question. The Blade, Third News Section, Toledo, Ohio, Wednesday, August 18, 1965, page 37
Monster Victims Agree To Polygraph Test
Monroe (AP)- Monroe County sheriff’s men have refused to investigate reports of the monster further but have patrolled Mentel Road to control crowds of monster hunters which have gathered nightly. Monroe County sheriff’s men have refused to investigate reports of the monster further but have patrolled Mentel Road to control crowds of monster hunters which have gathered nightly. The Owosso Argus, (MI) Friday, August 20, 1965, page 8 The Owosso Argus, (MI) Friday, August 20, 1965, page 8
Hence, it can be inferred that witnesses were mistaken or a fraud and the whole thing was an entire hoax, as some claimed. Strangely enough though, in two separate news reports the words swamps or lowlands pop up as the writer delivers a setting for readers in two separate years, in two separate parts of the state and in two separate stories. Doesn't it seem odd that a witness of something so horrific, so far outside one orthodox reality, would be asked to take a polygraph test? If you were a witness to a crime and reported it, would you expect to be asked to take a polygraph to determine if you seen what you claim? Really?
Cass County Residents Still Remember Monster
DOWAGIAC (UPI) — “The Dewey Lake area where it was reported seen is swampy, foggy and gives out an erie effect at night in the lowlands, especially in spots where intermittent lights shine. It also is heavy with blueberries which attract animals.” THE HOLLAND, MICHIGAN, EVENING SENTINEL, Tuesday, October 6, 1964, page 8
Monroe Is Still After A Monster
MONROE (UPI)- “The past two nights have brought not only monster hunters, sightseers and doubts from police, but also perfect weather for such things. A heavy rain and the resultant mist have hidden the moon in the lowlands and swampy areas between 1-75 and the Enrico Fermi Atomic plant north of here, where the monster has been cited. The past two nights have brought not only monster hunters, sightseers and doubts from police, but also perfect weather for such things.” THE HOLLAND, MICHIGAN, EVENING SENTINEL, Thursday, August 19, 1965, page 8
It is important to note that indeed, many in Bigfoot study believe these animals habituate in the deepest least accessible parts of woods and swampy areas so, how was that known nearly fifty years earlier?
Ursus americanus, or more commonly known as the black bear are generally well dispersed throughout the Midwest and eastern seaboard states and into the far reaches of northwest and southwest including Canada. Bear habituation south of the thumb area are rare. So rare that a sighting is topic of the local news and town folk, and according to Michigan DNR black bears have begun to be reported in southern counties in the “past few decades,” not in the past 48 years or fifty years and being bow legged, it cannot run on two legs. The largest Michigan black bears can stand three feet in height and weigh up to 500 pounds for males and they are mainly black in color.
Cass County Residents Still Remember Monster
DOWAGIAC (UPI) —Mrs Bernice Vanderburg, a newspaperwoman for over 40 years in Dowagiac, took it calmly. “I believe it was a bear," she said Sunday. THE HOLLAND, MICHIGAN, EVENING SENTINEL, Tuesday, October 6, 1964, page 8
Monroe Police Seek 'Monster’
MONROE (UPI)—
Monroe County Sheriff Charles Harrington said he knew nothing about either the monster or the reports. "We had a bear over there in June but that's all I know," he said. THE HOLLAND, MICHIGAN, EVENING SENTINEL, Monday, August 16, 1965, page 1
When folks first began reporting the beast animal during the Dewey lakes reports near Dowagiac in 1964 witnesses reported the animal they observed to be nine feet tall, and yet the beast described in the Monroe incident of 1965 placed it in the range of seven feet in height and massively built. All those descriptions are exactly in line with what is commonly reportedly around the state and throughout the lower 48 states at present and past. Apart from the immediate difference in size, it would be extremely difficult for anyone to extrapolate or confuse a three-foot black bear sighting with a bipedal thing with manlike features standing upright seven or nine feet off the ground.
Let’s take another step forward and read further for more nuances and see if they make any sense. In 1963 two years prior to the Monroe incident a nine-foot creature set off a flurry of excitement and angst in Dowagiac, Mich. Reports say one little girl completely fainted upon seeing the beast and several farmers reported livestock eaten or missing while others reported their pets gone period. Many described it as being a 9-foot hairy beast. In one instance when asked, a Conservation Officer claimed he did not believe any such reports and denied locating any footprints that would change his opinion. Although it was reported that he accompanied police on their search for evidence of the being and sheriff’s deputies did locate a large 18 inch footprint six inches wide. An 18 inch x 6 inch foot print?
Cass County Residents Still Remember Monster
DOWAGIAC (UPI) — “Conservation Officer William Rowe Sunday said he doesn't believe there was one. He said he went along with the cops but couldn't find any tracks. However, the sheriff's department reported on another occasion they found a 6-by-18-inch footprint.” THE HOLLAND, MICHIGAN, EVENING SENTINEL, Tuesday, October 6, 1964, page 8
Now there is a formula used to determine the approximate height of a subject if you know the length of the in-step, which in this case was not reported. For example: A 48 inch stride multiplied by 2 equals 96 inches plus 10 inches gives you 106 inches. Now divide that by twelve and your answer should be about 8.3 feet 3 inches or thereabouts. The size 23 prints in a 1989 Hillsdale, Co., print, had a 72 inch instep which would place the animal at approximately 12 foot! In this 1963-64 case the foot size was 18 inches and smaller than the example above so you decide.
And finally, in both versions (1963-64 Dowagiac and 1965 Monroe) of the elusive beast described as a hoax, the words of “berries” were mentioned, “briar patches,” and “scratches” and so forth. Once again these are significant because many sightings in state and across the lower 48, also point out the same relationships. In fact, for those reading the Missing 411 publications you will be surprised to see the same odd relationships…
Fact or Fiction?
Do you believe in Monsters? Was it hoax?
Potawatomi tribe still remembers original name Lake County Discovery Museum
About the year 1600, Native American tribes living in northern Wisconsin and Michigan began hearing rumors of strange creatures to the east. People who had traveled east told of the arrival of creatures who in some ways looked like humans, but dressed oddly, smelled bad, and had thick hair on their cheeks. The Native Americans came to call these beings "Hairy Faces." In 1634, they had their first opportunity to meet one. By Diana Dretske, Daily Herald, Neighbor Section, March 18, 2001, page1
The largest of the cave pictures (I do not have pictures) is the "Big Man," a reddish human shape standing two feet high. The land now belongs to the State of Michigan and is closed to public. Since the bluff contains the only known Indian cave paintings in Michigan, it is vital to protect them. In 1963 and again in 1965, University of Michigan archaeologist, James H. Fitting, studied the caves and shelters of the 140 foot Burnt Bluff. They excavated two caves, Spider Cave, and Cave B-95. Over 100 projectile points were discovered in Spider Cave, all with fractured tips, suggesting they were shot or thrown into the cave. These points were all Middle Woodland in style (300 BC to 800 AD). The theory is that passing canoes used the drawings in the cave for target practice. James H. Fitting has published his findings in a book titled "The Prehistory of the Burnt Bluff Area."
http://fayettemichigan.com/burntbluff.html