April 01, 2009

Underwater panther in Lake Ann?

Correspondent DMarks reports on a possible Native discovery in his Throwaway Blog:

Annie the Lake Ann MonsterThe illustration [below] is from the Traverse City Record Eagle of the sea serpent seen a hundred years ago around Grand Traverse Bay and Lake Ann.

An excerpt from the article follows: "Lake Ann hotel proprietor J.G. Turk claimed he captured the mystery monstrosity in Lake Ann. He promised to exhibit it in a local bowling alley after it was stuffed. Turk surmised the creature had walked the 13 miles from Traverse City. He described it as reddish brown with sharp tusks that protruded from its mouth."

The descriptions of this monster remind me more of the Underwater Panther of Native American tradition than they do of any sort of sea serpent. The image to the right is derived from a pictogram at Agawa Rock on Lake Superior. In 1673 Father Marquette described other depictions as "...as large as a calf: they have horns on their heads like those of a deer, a horrible look, red eyes, a beard like a tiger's, a face somewhat like a man's, a body covered with scales, and so long a tail that it winds all around the body, passing above the head and going back between the legs, ending in a fish's tail."
Comment:  For more on the subject, see Native Things That Go Bump in the Night.

Below:  Lake Ann monster or underwater panther?

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