St. Catherines, Ontario
A HOME-MADE GORILLA.
A correspondent of the Cleveland Plaindealer, wring [sic] from Manitou Island, Lake Michigan, under the date of June 10th, is responsible for the following story: —
Many of your readers are aware that in Lake Michigan, between fifty and sixty miles from Sleeping Bear Point, is a cluster of islands called the Manitou. There are four of them; they have been used by the Indians as their home, during the fishing season, for years. When, in the progress of time, the white men filled the whole country, the Indians took their departure, and ever since the islands have been inhabited by lumbermen and fishermen.
Early this spring I, with others, took up my abode on one of the islands, and intend to remain here all the season. Some ten days ago, one of our party took his boat and started for the Little Manitou, one of our group of islands, about 4 miles distant from the one on which we are encamped. He returned about 3 o’clock in the afternoon, and related that after he had landed upon the island he heard what he supposed was a man halloing loudly as though in distress; that he proceeded to the spot from whence the noise seemed to come, and, when within ten or fifteen feet of it, he said he saw a form that had the appearance of a man, at least eight feet tall, entirely, with his body covered with hair.
His face had the appearance of intellectuality, his brow being quite high. His beard extended nearly to his stomach, and his hair was disheveled and coarse. As the monster saw the approach of my informant, he gave a loud shriek and at once fled. Knowing that it would be impossible to overtake him, my friend returned to his boat and came home.
After relating his story, we held a consultation and decided to make up a party on the next day and hunt the monster up. At 10 o’ clock we landed on the island and commenced our search. In choosing our positions I took the one which led me to the west, on the shore of the lake. I had not proceeded far, when I beheld the unknown sitting upon the beach, washing his feet in the pure water of the lake.
I approached him gently and hoped to be able to capture him without trouble, but when within at least twenty feet of him, he heard me approaching, and at once springing to his feet commenced to run. I fired upon him with my gun, but failed to bring him down. I then endeavored to overtake him, but my efforts were fruitless. The rest of the party were unable to get a sight of him, and it is yet unknown where he succeeds in hiding. We start out again tomorrow in the hopes of catching him, and if possible finding out who and what he is.
There is a story afloat among the other fishermen of the island that some twenty years ago a woman lost a child here about four years of age, that efforts were made to find it, but that all efforts were unsuccessful, and that the bereaved mother came to the conclusion that her boy had been stolen and carried off by some of the wandering tribes of Indians then inhabiting the islands. As I said before, we start out tomorrow in search of this strange character, and I will, as soon as possible, give you the result of our trip.
Unfortunately, it appears, there seem to have been no successful results of their future hunts.
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.
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