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Historic encounters / Maine

Historic monster reports in Maine

5 old newspaper reports of strange things in Maine. Sea serpents and lake monsters (3); Wild men (1); Phantom lights (1). Each links to the original page.

  1. 1896
  2. The Portland Daily Press place not recorded · July 21, 1896 · Page 2

    Minot's wild man

    Minot, Maine · July 20, 1896

    Half a dozen people near Minot said they saw a ragged, heavily whiskered wild man close up in broad daylight before he vanished into the woods. Weeks later he appeared to a South Auburn farmer carrying a long butcher knife, and a woman from Aroostook County came forward thinking he might be her missing husband.

    “Like all wild men he has more whiskers than clothes.”
    Also printed in 2 other papers
  3. 1897
  4. The Portland Daily Press. Portland, Me. · June 5, 1897 · Page 7

    The steamer Shark meets a 100-foot serpent

    Off Pumpkin Rock, near Boothbay Harbor, Maine · June 4, 1897

    Captain Handy McKown's fishing steamer Shark, returning from herring fishing near Pumpkin Rock, passed an immense sea serpent 80 to 100 feet long with a head four feet across, swimming with part of its neck out of the water.

  5. 1899
  6. The San Francisco Call place not recorded · June 26, 1899 · Page 4

    A serpent blamed for the vanished menhaden

    Off Muscongus, Maine approx. · June 1899

    When the menhaden (pogy) fleet couldn't find a single school along the New England coast, the crew of a small Canadian smack insisted they had seen, sober and in daylight, a serpent over 60 feet long and as thick as a keg of nails, lashing the water to foam and carrying off the fish.

  7. 1901
  8. The Republican Journal. Belfast, Me. · May 23, 1901 · Page 1

    A 90-minute look at a serpent off Mark Island

    Penobscot Bay off Mark Island, opposite Camden, Maine · May 1901

    The master and mate of the schooner Kitty Lawry said they watched a sea serpent through a glass for 90 minutes off Mark Island. A doubting crewman changed his mind once he looked. More than eight feet of body thicker than a stovepipe showed when it raised its head.

  9. 1909
  10. The Marion Daily Mirror Marion, Ohio · Nov. 2, 1909 · Page 6

    Bowdoinham's ghost house and phantom light

    Bowdoinham, Maine · Nov. 1909

    A widely reprinted Maine item said Bowdoinham had a house where the chairs gathered in groups at midnight, a cane that tapped from room to room by itself, a phantom light and a mystic woodchuck.

    Probably a hoax or tall tale Local ghost lore, written for fun.

    Also printed in 7 other papers

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Newspaper pages: Library of Congress, Chronicling America (US newspapers published before 1927 are in the public domain). Text search: American Stories (Dell, Bryan, Carlson and others, CC BY 4.0). Summaries are our own. Place data: GeoNames (CC BY 4.0).