Dewey Lake Monster
{{Short description|Creature of Michigan folklore}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=June 2024}}
File:Dewey Lake Monster (Witness Composite) 3.jpg
The Dewey Lake Monster, also known as the Sister Lakes Sasquatch,{{cite web |title=The legend of Dowagiac's Dewey Lake Monster |url=https://k1025.com/dewey-lake-monster/ |website=k1025.com |publisher=WKFR-FM |access-date=11 April 2021 |date=3 April 2017}} in Michigan folklore, is purported to be an ape-like creature, similar to descriptions of Bigfoot, that was allegedly sighted in the summer of 1964 near Dewey Lake and Sister Lakes in Dowagiac.
Description
File:The Dewey Lake Monster (1).jpg
The creature was described as covered in hair, approximately {{convert|10|ft|m|0}} tall, {{convert|500|lbs|kg|abbr=off}}, and had glowing eyes.{{cite web |last1=Robinson |first1=John |title=Michigan Legend: The Dewey Lake Monster |url=https://99wfmk.com/deweylakemonster/ |website=99wfmk.com |publisher=WFMK |access-date=11 April 2021 |date=18 June 2018 |archive-date=7 June 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240607021736/https://99wfmk.com/deweylakemonster/ |url-status=live }}
History
In June 1964, the story gained national attention after local residents reported seeing a large, hairy creature with glowing eyes. Police searched the area of the alleged sightings and found nothing. Nevertheless, the reports caused curious thrill-seekers and monster-hunters to besiege the community that summer. Local entrepreneurs capitalized on the event by selling "monster getaway gas", "monster burgers" and "monster hunting kits" — with a net, flashlight, squirt gun, a mallet and a stake.{{cite news |title=Dewey Lake 'Monster Is Nonexistent' |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/515451103 |accessdate=25 June 2020 |work=The South Bend Tribune |date=12 June 1964 |page=21 |archive-date=29 June 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200629070951/http://www.newspapers.com/image/515451103/ |url-status=live }} Newspapers in Chicago dubbed Sister Lakes "Monster Town USA" and played up the backwardness of the small town's residents.{{Cite web|url=https://www.robert-atkinson.com/monster-town-usa-the-1964-sister-lakes-monster-sightings/|title=The Sister Lakes Monster Sightings|date=29 July 2017|access-date=14 September 2023|archive-date=6 July 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190706073720/https://www.robert-atkinson.com/monster-town-usa-the-1964-sister-lakes-monster-sightings/|url-status=live}}
Several zoologists suggested that people may have misidentified a bear or gorilla. Cass County Sheriff Robert Dool and conservation officer William Rowe dismissed speculations of a monster. Within a week, the hysteria diminished, and the South Bend Tribune reported that "nobody seems frightened anymore".{{cite news |last1=Gard |first1=Ray |title='Hairy Monster' Scare Lessens |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/515451689 |accessdate=25 June 2020 |work=South Bend Tribune |date=14 June 1964 |page=21 |archive-date=27 June 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200627194721/http://www.newspapers.com/image/515451689/ |url-status=live }}
In a 1983 retrospective, the South Bend Tribune suggested that the monster was imagined by intoxicated strawberry pickers.{{cite news |title=Action Line |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/517960040/ |accessdate=25 June 2020 |work=South Bend Tribune |date=18 August 1983 |page=2 |archive-date=7 June 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240607021759/https://www.newspapers.com/image/517960040/ |url-status=live }} Steve Arseneau of the Dowagiac Area History Museum said, "I view it more as a rural legend. Perhaps some people saw something, and their imaginations got the better of them".{{cite news |last1=Kuharic |first1=Joe |title=It came from Dewey Lake |url=https://www.leaderpub.com/2017/02/23/770917/ |accessdate=25 June 2020 |agency=Doawgiac Daily News |publisher=Leader Publications |date=23 February 2017 |archive-date=7 June 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240607021827/https://www.leaderpub.com/2017/02/23/770917/ |url-status=live }}
Popular culture
- In 2016, the annual Dewey Lake Boat Parade celebrated the Dewey Lake Monster legend.{{cite web |title=Dewey Lake boat parade celebrates the Dewey Lake Monster |url=https://wwmt.com/news/local/dewey-lake-boat-parade-celebrates-the-dewey-lake-monster |website=wwmt.com |date=2 July 2016 |publisher=WWMT TV |accessdate=25 June 2020 |archive-date=7 June 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240607021736/https://wwmt.com/news/local/dewey-lake-boat-parade-celebrates-the-dewey-lake-monster |url-status=live }}
- Local brewery Sister Lakes Brewing named a beer after the Dewey Lake Monster.{{cite web |title=Dewey Lake Monster – Sister Lakes Brewing |url=https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/48604/348960/ |website=Beeradvocate.com |publisher=Beer Advocate |accessdate=25 June 2020 |archive-date=7 June 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240607021805/https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/48604/348960/ |url-status=live }}