Wisconsin Rapids Lion
Posted by: Loren Coleman on November 5th, 2009
Not sure why Cryptomundo vanished for a day, but it’s back, so I’m in catch-up mode for a bit today.
Sometimes good stories do get buried in the Halloween rush to publish the weirdest stories. One I don’t want to miss is another one for the “Maned Mystery Cat” file.
Take the following from the Wisconsin Daily Tribune by Rhonda Whetstone Neibauer in her “Rhonda’s View Rendezvous” column. The original accounts of this Mystery Cat were declared the “Best Story of the Year” – for 1949.
Also, as a marginal note, it must be told, the artist that they brought in to sketch this cryptid was Grim Natwick (pictured above), who is best known for drawing the Fleischer Studio’s extremely popular character, Betty Boop. At Disney, he worked on Mickey Mouse, Snow White, and Fantasia. I don’t know why anyone would think they won’t get a cartoonish outcome with Natwick behind the drawing pen. It seemed a decision based more on the fact he was locally important.
Here’s the new story on the old case:
Lion on the loose in area!
Seen a lion around Wisconsin Rapids lately? Back in 1949, more than one person did.
It all started at 11:30 p.m. one March night when Lester Ress and wife were northwest of Rudolph, traveling home. They watched a lion leap a fence and head south on Highway S. Both agreed it was a lion and not a large dog, as they noted the coloring, a bushy mane and tuft on the tail.
Sheriff Art Berg was notified, but nothing came of his investigations.
Two days later, “big game” hunters from Rudolph decided to see if they could track it after Undersheriff Art Boll and Officer Don Caylor found four-inch clawed paw prints and a stride of 49 inches at the scene.
The Daily Tribune kept readers apprised of the hunt and the fact that until it was again spotted, nothing could be done to track it, although Deputy Sheriffs Walter Wittenberg of Wisconsin Rapids and Anton Kundinger of Auburndale planned a safari in the area.
The Heart of Wisconsin Sports Show was just opening at Lincoln Fieldhouse, and arrangements were made to display the beast if captured alive.
Just a week after the initial sighting, the Wood County Conservation League offered a $10 reward for the lion, dead or alive. A hunter with a “thick Scandinavian accent” claimed to have it, but would not produce it.
One month later, the lion was seen in Plover by Anton Sankey when he pulled into his driveway.
On June 9, the animal made its way back to Wood County. According to Sheriff Berg, Byron Moody saw it in Saratoga on the shoulder of Highway Z, six miles south of Wisconsin Rapids. Ronald Owens also reported seeing it June 8, and a week earlier, Cecelia Jensen told Deputy Pucker that it was eating from a pig trough out at her place in the same area.
Berg spent two days trying to track the lion, described as about 3 feet high, with a large head and wide-set eyes. Tracks indicated the animal was clawed and of the cat family.
Finally, time for a “suspect” sketch, former local artist Grim Natwick, who was visiting family here, was contacted and sketches made. Natwick, being a cartoonist, turned out cartoon-like sketches, to the delight of those already doubting it was anything but a large dog.
Three-and-a-half months after the initial sighting, law enforcement was nearly “hysterical” with no solution in sight, but it did not take long for merchants to cash in.
Diebel’s Grocery ad, incorporating Natwick’s sketch, stated, “No ‘Lyin’ Here. There’s no ‘lyin’ about it when Diebels Grocery says it delivers the best.” They also offered a year’s supply of pencil stubs to anyone bringing in the lion, preferably dead.
Finally, lion mania disappeared, until Dec. 24, when it was voted the Best Story of the Year by the Tribune.
Although never seen here again, it should be noted that shortly after, an Associated Press dispatch mentioned the appearance of such a mysterious animal in an area in southern Wisconsin.
About Loren Coleman
Loren Coleman is one of the world’s leading cryptozoologists, some say “the” leading living cryptozoologist. Certainly, he is acknowledged as the current living American researcher and writer who has most popularized cryptozoology in the late 20th and early 21st centuries.
Starting his fieldwork and investigations in 1960, after traveling and trekking extensively in pursuit of cryptozoological mysteries, Coleman began writing to share his experiences in 1969. An honorary member of Ivan T. Sanderson’s Society for the Investigation of the Unexplained in the 1970s, Coleman has been bestowed with similar honorary memberships of the North Idaho College Cryptozoology Club in 1983, and in subsequent years, that of the British Columbia Scientific Cryptozoology Club, CryptoSafari International, and other international organizations. He was also a Life Member and Benefactor of the International Society of Cryptozoology (now-defunct).
Loren Coleman’s daily blog, as a member of the Cryptomundo Team, served as an ongoing avenue of communication for the ever-growing body of cryptozoo news from 2005 through 2013. He returned as an infrequent contributor beginning Halloween week of 2015.
Coleman is the founder in 2003, and current director of the International Cryptozoology Museum in Portland, Maine.
One other possibility for using Mr. Natwick is a lack of police sketch artists. Seeing Mr. Natick’s pedigree I have no doubt he was an artist of the highest caliber and it would make perfect sense that the authorities would turn to him. Not seeing the images I wonder just how cartoon-like the drawings actually were (he could have been trying to create a simple image that the newspaper could print without distortion) but if he created “cartoon” versions of the animal then there are several possibilities:
1) Despite his extensive training he felt that doing the work in the style that made him famous would actually lend credibility to the story (not the smartest idea, I agree).
2) He didn’t buy the story and didn’t take it seriously so he used a style that wouldn’t reflect poorly on him.
3) He used a familiar style that would allow him to finish the artwork quickly so he could get back to VISITING HIS FAMILY.
4) The authorities wanted the story to lose credibility and be forgotten so they requested Mr. Natick render the lion in an animated style to help descredit the story as part of the “wipe”.
The article does give a clue to the reaction to the images produced:
“Natwick, being a cartoonist, turned out cartoon-like sketches, to the delight of those already doubting it was anything but a large dog.”
I have attempted to find the drawings, without luck.
Excellent point Mr. Coleman, it was that line that made me think either Mr. Natwick didn’t buy into the story or was even asked to create an image that would bring scorn and derision and make “wiping” the story even easier. Obviously we’ll never know why he created the images he did, but as a professional editorial cartoonist my broader point is two fold: we don’t yet have the pictures so we don’t know how “animated” the drawing actually was (he could have been rendering the animal in a style that would reproduce cleanly in a newspaper). And secondly, Mr. Natwick could not have been as influential an artist as he was and work for the studios he did on the projects he did and be unable to create accurate, realistic sketches of the cryptid. So if these were “cartoons” then there was a bias either on the part of Mr. Natwick, or more sinisterly, the authorities who wanted the story to go away (which we have seen on more than once).
I haven’t heard anyone bring this up, but Barnum and Bailey had their winter grounds 60 miles directly south of Wisconsin Rapids in Baraboo, WI. I’d imagine 60 miles wouldn’t be a lot of land for a hungry lion to cover. And it would make sense that the lion felt comfortable eating out of a trough if here being fed on a regular basis by humans. Just what popped into my mind when I read that.
the atrox theory is what comes into mind.
i live in WI, and i can see how a creature could remain cryptic.
bigcat news: there have been 10+ sightings of mountain lions in the state of WI, hopefully the species is making a comeback.
I am the columnist for the above story.
Had I not been limited by words for my column, I could have filled in more details.
Regarding the sketch: Grim Natwick was born and raised in WI Rapids, and everyone knew him. He just happened to be home visiting his family and was as close was they could come to a “sketch artist.” I get the impression that he seriously drew what was described, but when you ask a cartoonist to draw something, you will not get 100% realism. While follow-up stories did mention derision regarding the sketches, one sketch was, in actually, not as cartoonish. Both Natwick’s sketches appear on the front page of the Wisconsin Rapids Daily Tribune, Thursday, June 23, 1949. If you have access to the Newspaper Archives, you can see them.
The area was divided. Most thought there was “something” out there, but many thought that it was just people’s imaginations running wild. Previous stories I have done on other things, like UFOs and other oddities are that way too. If you were not the one who saw it, you were a scoffer.
One of the things done early in this investigation was to check with Baraboo and also places with zoos, to see if any animals had escaped, or if there had been a train derailment, or other accident which would have caused a lion to be released. There was nothing.
I grew up here on a main highway and as a kid we often heard bobcats back in our woods. There are still sightings from time to time. My father was always of the opinion (he grew up in PA where mountain lions were common in the mountains) that some of them can grow quite large. If anything was seen, I would guess it was that.
I could tell you more about the Bray Road Beast though, since my cousin married one of the Bray sons who grew up on Bray Road. 🙂
–Rhonda Whetstone Neibauer/Rhonda’s View Rendezvous
P.S. Just an added note, there was a circus train derailment here many years previous to this. –Rhonda
I certainly appreciate Ms. Rhonda Whetstone Neibauer following up with the added details.
Needless to say, the “circus train wreck” explanation is often heard regarding these old cases, but the train derailments are sometimes as elusive to track down as the mystery cats.
If anyone can find and forward the drawings to me at lcoleman@maine.rr.com ~ I’ll post them here.
Thank you for all the extra insights Ms. Neibauer.