Michigan

1Nain Rouge Told story

Humanoid · Detroit, Wayne County · first reported 1883 in print (set in 1701) · also called Red Dwarf of Detroit

The Nain Rouge, French for red dwarf, is Detroit's imp of bad luck. The legend says the city's founder, Antoine de la Mothe Cadillac, struck at the little red creature soon after founding the fort in 1701 and was cursed for it. Later tellers link sightings to the city's worst moments: the Battle of Bloody Run in 1763, the great fire of 1805, General Hull's surrender in 1812, the 1967 uprising and a 1976 ice storm. Historians point out that no 18th-century record of the creature exists, and the first written version appears in an 1883 book of local legends. Since 2010, Detroiters have chased a costumed Nain Rouge out of town each spring in a raucous parade.

• July 30, 1763Told story Tellers say the red dwarf was seen near the stream later called Bloody Run, just before British troops were defeated there during Pontiac's War. Source: en.wikipedia.org
• 1883On the record Marie Caroline Watson Hamlin's Legends of Le Détroit gave the earliest known written account, describing a red face, a glittering eye and a grin full of sharp teeth. Source: en.wikipedia.org
• 1967Told story Retellings say utility workers saw the creature shortly before the July 1967 unrest in Detroit. No named witness is given. Source: en.wikipedia.org

Visiting: Marche du Nain Rouge parade each spring in Detroit's Cass Corridor/Midtown, held since 2010.

2Paulding Light On the record

Lights · Robbins Pond Road near Paulding/Watersmeet, Gogebic County · first reported 1966 · also called Dog Meadow Light

On most clear nights, visitors park at the end of Robbins Pond Road in Michigan's western Upper Peninsula and watch a light glow, flicker and change color in a distant valley. The first recorded report came in 1966, when teenagers told a local sheriff about it. Local legend says it is the lantern of a railroad brakeman killed trying to stop a train, though other tales name a murdered mail carrier or a spirit. In 2010, Michigan Technological University students looked through a telescope and saw car headlights and a highway sign on US 45 miles away. They concluded the light is traffic seen through layers of air, though many visitors still come for the show.

• 1966On the record A group of teenagers reported the light to the sheriff, which is often cited as the first recorded sighting. Source: en.wikipedia.org
• 2010On the record A team of Michigan Tech students studied the light with a telescope, identified vehicles and an Adopt-a-Highway sign on US 45, and recreated the effect by driving the highway themselves. Source: mtu.edu

Visiting: Public viewing spot at the end of Robbins Pond Road off US 45, north of Watersmeet in Ottawa National Forest.

3Sister Lakes Monster On the record

Ape-like · Dewey Lake and Sister Lakes, north of Dowagiac, Cass County · first reported June 1964 · also called Dewey Lake Monster, Monster Town USA

In June 1964, farm workers and residents around Dewey Lake and the Sister Lakes resort area reported a huge, hairy, upright creature. Descriptions put it around nine or ten feet tall and 500 pounds, with glowing eyes and a cry like a baby or a goose. The story went national. Armed hunters poured in, local shops sold monster burgers and hunting kits, and Chicago papers dubbed the area Monster Town USA. University of Michigan zoologists suggested a bear on its hind legs or an escaped gorilla. The county sheriff's office searched hard and found nothing conclusive. A 1983 newspaper look-back blamed tired, tipsy berry pickers, but some longtime residents never settled on an answer.

• June 9, 1964On the record Farm worker Gordon Brown and his brother reported a large creature near the Utrup farm south of Dewey Lake and said they chased it about 300 yards before backing off. Source: robert-atkinson.com
• Summer 1964On the record Paul Parrish, then a road patrol sergeant and later Cass County sheriff, recalled that deputies investigated hard but could not identify what people saw. Large tracks were found in sandy soil. Source: bigfootencounters.com

4Monroe Monster On the record

Ape-like · Monroe, Monroe County · first reported Aug 13, 1965

A year after the Sister Lakes scare, newspapers carried a frightening story from Monroe in southeast Michigan. On Friday the 13th of August 1965, a mother and her teenage daughter said a hairy creature about seven feet tall and 400 pounds jumped onto their car. The daughter reported being grabbed through the window and was left with a black eye. Papers described hair that looked like quills and suggested it might be the same beast seen in 1964. No animal was ever found. The case is rarely mentioned today, but it shows up in old wire stories collected by monster-history researchers.

• Aug 13, 1965On the record Mrs. George Owens, 38, and her daughter Christine Van Acker, 17, reported the attack to authorities. Regional papers including the News-Palladium and the South Bend Tribune printed the story. Source: notebookofghosts.com

5Pressie Told story

Water monster · Lake Superior near the Presque Isle River, Gogebic County · first reported 1894 · also called Lake Superior serpent

Pressie takes its name from the Presque Isle River, which runs into Lake Superior in Porcupine Mountains country. Modern reports go back to the 1890s and describe a long serpent with a horse-like head, a long neck and humps, with lengths from about 25 to 75 feet. A blurry 1977 photo is often mentioned, and skeptics doubt it. Some writers connect Pressie to the much older Anishinaabe being Mishipeshu, though that is a separate cultural tradition. Suggested explanations include giant sturgeon, eels and floating debris on the cold, deep lake. Without clear photos or remains, Pressie stays in the realm of fishing-boat stories.

• 1894 onwardTold story Accounts collected by Michigan radio and cryptid writers describe a back rising several feet out of the water, a long neck and fast swimming. Source: 99wfmk.com
• Memorial Day weekend, 1977On the record Randy Braun said he saw a huge snake-like body with a horse-shaped head near the Presque Isle River and took a photograph. The blurry image is often cited, and skeptics dispute what it shows. Source: folkbestiary.com
• 1990sTold story People at Point Iroquois are said to have watched something large drag a buck deer into the water, leaving only the head. No details are recorded. Source: 99wfmk.com

Visiting: Presque Isle River area of Porcupine Mountains Wilderness State Park.

6Lake Superior Cave Monster Told story

Water monster · Unnamed Lake Superior island (copper country) · first reported Aug 26, 1886 · also called Tentacled monster of 1886

In August 1886 the Manitowoc Pilot in Wisconsin printed a thrilling tale from Lake Superior's copper country. Prospectors were said to have sent a diver in full helmet gear down about 30 feet to look for copper. He reportedly found a cave with a copper vein, guarded by a glowing green creature with huge eyes and more than a dozen tentacles. The story says he stabbed its eye, cut off a tentacle when it grabbed his air hose, and was hauled up as the barge rocked. No island or names were given. Modern writers treat it as an example of the sensational filler stories newspapers of the time loved to print.

• Aug 26, 1886Told story The Manitowoc Pilot ran the story of the diver and the glowing, many-armed creature in an underwater cave. Source: pinebarrensinstitute.com

7Melon Heads of Ottawa County Told story

Humanoid · Felt Mansion area near Saugatuck and Holland, Allegan/Ottawa counties · first reported unknown · also called Wobbleheads

West Michigan has its own version of the Melon Heads legend, centered on the woods near the Felt Mansion between Holland and Saugatuck. The story says children with enlarged heads were kept at a cruel asylum nearby, then escaped or were turned loose and went feral. Locals sometimes call them wobbleheads. Some versions add hidden caves or an old zoo as their hideout. Local historians say no such asylum existed, though the site later held a prison. Like the Ohio and Connecticut versions, it is a teenage scare story, and it draws on cruel ideas about real medical conditions. A 2011 film was based on it.

• UnknownTold story Local retellings place the escaped children in the woods and dunes around the Felt Mansion, warning hikers not to linger after dark. Source: en.wikipedia.org

Visiting: The Felt Mansion in Laketown Township is a restored historic house with public tours; Saugatuck Dunes State Park is nearby.

8Mishipeshu Told story

Water monster · Lake Superior · first reported Indigenous tradition (ancient) · also called Underwater Panther, Great Lynx, Mishibizhiw

Mishipeshu, often translated as the Great Lynx, is a powerful underwater being in the living traditions of Anishinaabe peoples, including the Ojibwe, Odawa and Potawatomi. It is usually described as a horned, cat-like figure with a long tail, and is paired as an opposing force to the Thunderbird. It is closely tied to Lake Superior and its copper, and traditionally to Michipicoten Island on the Canadian side. It can protect or bring danger on the water. This is a sacred cultural figure, not simply a monster, and many community members prefer its deeper meaning be shared by their own people. Modern cryptid writers sometimes link it to Pressie sightings, a connection made by outsiders.

• Ongoing traditionTold story Anishinaabe artists, including the Ojibwe painter Norval Morrisseau, have depicted the underwater panther in Woodlands-style art, and rock paintings along the Lake Superior shore are often associated with it. Source: en.wikipedia.org

9Torch Lake Monster Told story

Water monster · Torch Lake, Antrim County · first reported 1960s-1970s (summer camp legend)

Torch Lake in northern Michigan is famous for its clear turquoise water, and among campers it is also known for a monster. The legend grew up at YMCA Camp Hayo-Went-Ha in the 1960s and 1970s, where counselor Dave Foley is credited with inventing it and fellow counselor Bob Thurston wrote a song about it. The creature has mismatched eyes and drips green slime, and it rises after dark to scare swimmers, boaters and campers. It is an openly made-up campfire monster rather than a reported sighting, and it shows how a good story can outlive the people who first told it. Generations of campers have passed it along.

• 1960s-1970sTold story Counselors at Camp Hayo-Went-Ha told the story around the fire, and a camp song kept it alive for later campers. Source: folkbestiary.com

Visiting: Torch Lake has public access sites; the camp itself is private.

10Michigan Dogman Told story

Humanoid · Wexford County and the northwest Lower Peninsula · first reported 1887 (claimed)

Michigan is the home state of the Dogman, an upright dog-headed creature said to have been seen by lumberjacks in Wexford County in 1887. Radio DJ Steve Cook's 1987 song The Legend, aired on WTCM in Traverse City, made it famous. See the main Dogman dossier for the full story.

Full story: Michigan Dogman →

11Bigfoot in Michigan Investigated report

Ape-like · Statewide, especially wooded northern Lower Peninsula and Upper Peninsula · first reported 1960s (modern reports)

Michigan has a long record of hairy-giant reports, including the 1964 Sister Lakes scare and the 1965 Monroe attack story. See the main Bigfoot dossier for the wider picture.

Full story: Bigfoot →