Historic monster reports in Minnesota

1. 1839
2. The Hillsborough Recorder. Hillsborough, N.C. · April 11, 1839 · Page 1

   A wild man of the woods brought back from the Mississippi

   St. Peters (Minnesota) River, upper Mississippi approx. · April 1839

   A Boston paper reported that a lumber company agent had returned from the St. Peters River on the upper Mississippi with a living wild man of the woods and two small cubs. The story ran in papers from North Carolina to Vermont.

   Probably a hoax or tall tale A classic newspaper tall tale of its day; no such captive was ever exhibited.

   Also printed in 1 other paper

   • Vermont PhÅ“nix., Brattleboro, Vt., Sept. 13, 1839, p. 4
3. 1886
4. St. Paul Daily Globe. Saint Paul, Minn. · Sept. 7, 1886 · Page 5

   A horned, rainbow-scaled monster at Lake Mazaska

   Lake Mazaska, Shieldsville Township, Rice County, Minnesota · Sept. 1886

   A Faribault man driving home along Lake Mazaska said a 30-foot animal with two long horns and scales that flashed yellow, blue and green swam toward him, then rose on its hind feet and walked into the road. A postmaster and a fishing party had reported it two weeks before.

5. 1897
6. The Saint Paul Globe St. Paul, Minn. · April 14, 1897 · Page 2

   A star that stopped to rest over St. Paul

   Marshall Avenue, St. Paul, Minnesota · April 13, 1897

   James Feeley, his family and other Marshall Avenue residents watched a light that looked like a star making a rapid trip and stopping now and then. Some thought they heard an order to cut away the anchor as it moved off.

   Also printed in 1 other paper

   • The Saint Paul Globe, place not recorded, April 14, 1897, p. 3
7. The Saint Paul Globe St. Paul, Minn. · Dec. 7, 1897 · Page 2

   A locomotive engineer's light in the sky

   Eastern Minnesota railway, between Duluth and St. Paul approx. · Dec. 6, 1897

   John J. Hussey, engineer of the day train down from Duluth on the Eastern Minnesota, reported a strange light in the heavens that people supposed was an airship, months after the main wave had ended.

   Also printed in 1 other paper

   • The Saint Paul Globe, St. Paul, Minn., Dec. 7, 1897, p. 3
8. 1907
9. New Ulm Review New Ulm, Brown County, Minn. · Feb. 27, 1907 · Page 1

   Blazing eyes in a Lamberton barnyard

   Farms around Lamberton, and later Mankato, Minnesota · Feb. 1907

   Something killed sheep and a colt around Lamberton; the local vet saw two blazing eyes and a huge shadowy shape and galloped off to rouse the neighbours. Days later near Mankato a steer was found with its back torn open, and papers decided the culprit was a mountain lion.

   Also printed in 1 other paper

   • The Mankato Free Press., Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn., March 1, 1907, p. 1

Other states

• California 30
• Connecticut 11
• Delaware 5
• Illinois 10
• Indiana 6
• Kansas 8
• Kentucky 7
• Maine 5
• Massachusetts 18
• Missouri 6
• Nebraska 9
• Nevada 5
• New Jersey 19
• New York 18
• Ohio 7
• Pennsylvania 7
• Washington 7
• West Virginia 7
• Wisconsin 7

All historic encounters

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).