Legends 70: Something Lost

We might call them the Great Lakes, but the folklore in and around them is so much greater. And—if the stories are true—much more terrifying as well. Narrated and produced by Aaron Mahnke, with writing by Nick Tecosky and research by Jamie Vargas. ————————— Lore Resources: Get Ad-Free Lore: lorepodcast.com/support https://www.lorepodcast.com/support Episode Music: lorepodcast.com/music https://www.lorepodcast.com/music Episode Sources: lorepodcast.com/sources https://www.lorepodcast.com/sources Official Lore Merchandise: lorepodcast.com/shop https://www.lorepodcast.com/shop ————————— Sponsors: Squarespace: Head to Squarespace.com/lore http://squarespace.com/lore to save 10% off your first purchase of a website or domain using the code LORE. BetterHelp: Lore is sponsored by BetterHelp. Give online therapy a try at BetterHelp.com/LORE http://www.betterhelp.com/lore, and get on your way to being your best self. Mint Mobile: For a limited time, wireless plans from Mint Mobile are $15 a month when you purchase a 3-month plan with UNLIMITED talk, text and data at MintMobile.com/lore http://www.mintmobile.com/lore. Tovala: Get a FREE Tovala Smart Oven when you order meals 6+ times by heading to Tovala.com/LORE https://www.tovala.com/lore with offer code LORE. ————————— To report a concern regarding a radio-style, non-Aaron ad in this episode, reach out to ads @ lorepodcast.com with the name of the company or organization so we can look into it. To advertise on this podcast please email: [email protected]. Or go to: https://advertising.libsyn.com/lore ————————— ©2026 Aaron Mahnke. All rights reserved.

Speaker names marked ? are inferred from speaking time and the show’s known hosts — they are not voice-verified.

• 0:00Speaker 00

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• 1:39Aaron Mahnke?

  We've always been afraid of the dark. It makes sense, doesn't it? When we can't see beyond the reach of the campfire or don't know what lies between us and home, we often tell ourselves stories as a way to control our fears, to explain both the visible world and the one we cannot see. In the process, folklore becomes the fabric of our culture and a guide to how we interact with the world. Take the tale from the Washto tribe of a man-faced bird, Ong, who would take his victims far into the sky before dropping them into rivers to drown. Or the dear lady of the Great Plains with her antlers and cloven feet, whose beauty lured men to their demise.

• 2:22Aaron Mahnke?

  And who of course could forget the legend of the Wendigo, who features in many stories in the Great Lakes region and beyond. Frequently depicted as a starving giant, gaunt and bloodthirsty, the Wendigo is doomed to relentlessly hunt to satisfy its terrible, unending hunger. But these tales weren't just superstitions. They were travel guides, moral lessons, and explanations for why the world behaved the way it does. When a storm rolled in, or a river shifted its course, that wasn't just the weather, it was a conversation between a land and its people. You respected the world around you, or you paid the price. And so that's where we will begin today, with one of those old warnings from the Great

• 3:06Aaron Mahnke?

  Lakes region, passed down for centuries. It starts with two villages on opposite sides of a lake, a dangerous shortcut, at a moment when the world reminded people exactly why those stories were told in the first place. And from there, it only gets stranger. I'm Aaron Mahnke, and this is Lore Legends.

• 3:42Aaron Mahnke?

  It's a tale as old as time. The Ojibwe people of Wisconsin told a story about two villages built on opposite sides of a large lake. Travel between the two villages was difficult due to a large mud flat in the center of the water that struck fear into the hearts of all. Anyone who knew better would avoid it like the plague, paddling along the far edges of the water, instead to reach their destination. If they didn't, something in the deep might just take notice. One day, one of these villages hosted a medicine dance, and so the people on the other side began their tedious journey along the lakeshore to join them. But two women, sisters-in-law actually, were running late.

• 4:25Aaron Mahnke?

  The younger of the two was steering from the stern, and to cut travel time she pointed the boat straight toward the middle of the lake. Although the older sister pleaded with her to change course, the younger could not be swayed. After all, if they didn't take a shortcut, they would miss everything. As they reached the middle of the lake, the sisters-in-law saw that in the center of the mud was a whirlpool of perfectly clear water. It was too late to change course, and so they paddled on, hoping that they wouldn't be sucked down. But the whirlpool was the least of their problems. With a deep, deep rumble, a massive panther emerged from the whirlpool, swishing its great copper tail at the women, trying to upend the small boat.

• 5:07Aaron Mahnke?

  The younger sister thought quick, picking up her paddle and swinging it at the beast, screaming, "Thunder is striking you!" And as a result, the paddle cut the tail clean off the beast, dropping it into the boat between them. The great panther ran, screaming across the mud flat as it went. He would trouble them, no more. When they picked up the tail from the floor of the boat, they realized that they were holding pure copper, two inches thick and incredibly valuable. And when they finally reached the other side of the lake safely, the younger woman delivered the copper to her father. The metal was thought to have special powers, and the father grew rich, trading small pieces of it to the men who wished for good luck on the hunt. Now, the creature that faced off against the women in the story was called Mishipeshu,

• 5:52Aaron Mahnke?

  and tales of it can be found all over the eastern half of North America, from Canada and the north all the way down to the southern US. It's likely that the large cat was based on cougars, who were once found in the Great Lakes region, and are well-known swimmers. Mishipeshu was thought to live underwater, traveling underground through rivers throughout the Great Lakes region, guarding the rich deposits of copper found there. It was blamed for floods, rapids, and whirlpools, which it created with its long tail. In their stories, Meshipeshu was the great enemy of the mighty Thunderbird, and these two beings were diametrically opposed to one another. One, a ruler of the skies above, and the other of the waters below.

• 6:34Aaron Mahnke?

  But indigenous beliefs didn't assume that the violent Meshipeshu was inherently evil. It could be reasoned with too, and with some coaxing through offerings of things like burnt tobacco, it could even be helpful. In Granville, Ohio, this deep respect for the supernatural creature can be seen in an effigy known as the Alligator Mound. Its strange name may have come from a misunderstanding between white settlers and the local tribes. When asked about the mound, the tribe representatives explained the concept of an underwater panther, but the European settlers assumed that they were just describing an alligator. The mound, by the way, dates back as far as 1,200 years ago, and it is still visible today. Although it is shrouded in the tall grass, you can see the distinctive form of the mound

• 7:19Aaron Mahnke?

  standing out, keeping its watch over the valley below. Archaeologists think the mound served a ceremonial purpose, making it a key element in the spiritual life of the people who lived there. And this powerful creature isn't a relic of the past. The stories are still passed on to new generations of the Potawatomi peoples, teaching of the continuous war between the Thunderbird and the Meshipeshu. They feast in its honor, offer tributes, and perform songs and dances in the hopes that the underwater panther will one day grant its blessings again. A cycle that continues between the people and the Meshipeshu to this very day.

• 8:08Aaron Mahnke?

  The stories are both terrifying and serve a purpose. Among the Sioux, Blackfoot, Crow, and Iowai people, there is an ancient story of a creature known as the Shankawaricon, which translates in English as "something that carries off dogs in its mouth." Wolf-like in appearance, with glowing red eyes that would appear in the dark before the creature could be seen in whole, it struck fear into anyone who beheld it. One tale from the Iowai concerns a village whose dogs kept disappearing. The young men of the tribe decided to gather a war party to hunt the beast responsible. So they mounted their horses and set out to find it. When the beast revealed itself to them in the night, they fired upon it.

• 8:51Aaron Mahnke?

  And although it was struck by a number of shots, it managed to escape into the trees. The party followed it for over a day and a half before they were finally able to finish the job. And as it died, it cried out with what sounded like a human voice. And because it had been so hard to kill, the hunters believed its carcass possessed a special sort of spiritual power. So they painted the hide of the Shankawaricon and placed it in a sacred bundle to carry to war. Whoever possessed the hide would, like the creature itself, be difficult to kill. Now, as it turns out, there may be some actual evidence that the creature is more than just a story. You see, in the late 1800s, Mormon settlers were laying down roots in the Madison River Valley in Montana.

• 9:35Aaron Mahnke?

  And led by a man named Amen Hutchins, one family built a ranch there where they could farm crops and raise their cattle. The trouble was, a predator seemed to be stalking the farms of the valley. Unlike normal attacks by wolves or mountain lions, these attacks seemed to be more deliberate. Dogs were taken away, and cows were found with strange wounds, which was a very bad thing for early settlers, when even the loss of just a couple heads of cattle could financially ruin a rancher. And so, one member of the family, Israel Hutchins, decided to take action. It's said that he took to the habit of standing watch over the ranch at night. Out there alone in the dark, he would hear the strangest sound:

• 10:16Aaron Mahnke?

  long cries that seemed less like the howl that you'd expect from a wolf than a keening whale. It was like nothing he had ever heard before. And then, early one morning, he awoke to the sound of the ranch's dogs furiously barking. He sprang from his bed and he ran outside, gun in hand, only to discover something that would haunt his memory for the rest of his life. A creature larger than any wolf he had ever seen before, with tall, sloping shoulders that gave it an almost hyena-like appearance. And this beast was chasing after Hutchins' geese, so he raised his gun and he fired. The shot missed, killing one of his cows instead, and then the creature escaped into the dark woods. The second time they met, the beast wouldn't be so lucky.

• 11:00Aaron Mahnke?

  Hutchins shot it on sight. Mortally wounded and enraged, the creature moved to attack the Hutchins' family, but its strength gave out before it could reach them. And as it bled to death, it let out another of those keening wails. Israel's sons would later recount it as an eerily human, feminine scream. As the news spread of the creature's death, a man named John Sherwood came calling on the Hutchins' ranch. Sherwood ran a business in Henry's Lake, Idaho. That was a sort of catch-all general store, sawmill, and museum. He also happened to be an amateur taxidermist and a collector of curiosities, and he saw potential in the dead beast. So he offered to buy the carcass for the price of one cow, and Hutchins agreed to the deal.

• 11:44Aaron Mahnke?

  Sherwood stuffed and mounted the creature, snarling mouth and all, and named it the Ringdocus, for reasons that were never fully explained. The beast was displayed in his shop until 1980, and now resides at the Madison Valley History Museum, not too far from the ranch where it first made its appearance. Of course, there have been many theories over the years about this particular Shanka Warakin. Some have suggested that it was a prehistoric meat-eating beast called an Amphician, or a type of hunting hyena known as the Chasmaporthetes. Others suggest that it might have been a hyena escaped from a traveling circus, but since its DNA has never been tested, we may never know for sure.

• 12:26Aaron Mahnke?

  What we do know is that the Shonka Warakian holds symbolic meaning in Native American folklore, frequently portrayed as a guardian of the wilderness, punishing those who exploit its bounty, and serving as an omen of bad harvests and harsh winters. Which adds a new layer to the stories. Perhaps in the end the beast that hunted the Hutchins family was a warning, a call against the arrival of settlers, who would eventually steal the native land, and change it, and its inhabitants, forever.

• 13:09Aaron Mahnke?

  We've all seen their pictures before. Tall, hairy, and armed with massive tusks. The woolly mammoth roamed the Earth back in the Middle Pleistocene, all the way up to the Holocene epoch. Think hundreds upon hundreds of millennia ago, when they were around these megafaunica be found across most of Europe, Northern Asia, and the northern half of North America. The vast bulk of the mammoth population had disappeared by 10,000 B.C., victims of climate change and overhunting by humans. Although, small pockets still survived long after that. On Russia's Wrangell Island, for example, a group of them survived until nearly 1650 B.C., almost 1,000 years after the Pyramids of Giza were constructed.

• 13:52Aaron Mahnke?

  They were similar in size to modern elephants too, with a coat of coarse brown hair, a slender build, and tusks, as well as a camel-like hump that stored fats and water for long travels. Like many long-dead species, what we know about the mammoth is largely from their fossilized remains. Scientists believed that they were seasonal wanderers, which meant that the typical mammoth could cover thousands of miles during its lifetime. We also know that humans directly interacted with them. Early drawings like the Love Heart Mammoth in Spain, or the Rufinha Cave Paintings in France depict great hunts. And the remains have been found in permafrost right alongside human tools, showing us the importance of the great beast to prehistoric society.

• 14:35Aaron Mahnke?

  Naturally, these creatures made their way into folklore. For instance, there's a story among the Chittagah people in Louisiana about a long-nosed beast that could pull up entire trees. Further north, the Cascadina people told tales of nocturnal monsters called the Nuiti, described as elephant-like with a howl that could rattle the night. And in northeastern Alaska, Inuit stories tell of a huge creature with long curved ivory tusks. By the early 1800s, frontier folklore included tales of massive terrifying monsters that seemed to wander straight out of a primeval world. One of the more vivid accounts came from a fur trader named Cola Fowler, who was working for the Alaska Fur and Commercial Company.

• 15:19Aaron Mahnke?

  Fowler had been posted at the company's northernmost outpost in Kodiak, Alaska, a place that was still then easily blank on most maps. According to Fowler, he had traveled up the Snake River to an Inuit village, where the chief welcomed him and showed him a massive cache of bones and ivory. While inspecting the biggest tusks, Fowler noticed blood and bits of partially decayed flesh, proof, he claimed, that the ivory was relatively fresh. When Fowler pressed the chief for details, he was told that a group of the tribe's young hunters had been tracking animals along a dry riverbed when a chorus of trumpet-like calls filled the air. Suddenly, an enormous creature burst out of a thicket, its massive steps shaking the

• 16:04Aaron Mahnke?

  ground. The hunters fled in terror, except for the chief and the scout who had first spotted the tracks. Armed with large-caliber muskets, they opened fire, managing to shoot one of the creatures directly in the head, killing it instantly. And then, on the way back to the village, they encountered a second beast, and they killed it as well. When Fowler asked the surviving hunter to draw the monster, the sketch they made showed a massive elephant-like creature, but with smaller ears, larger eyes, and a long slender trunk. And it sported six tusks, four short ones, like a warthog, and two massive spiraling ivory pillars. Most surprising of all, though, was that its body was covered in coarse hair.

• 16:49Aaron Mahnke?

  Today, some scientists believe that the creature Fowler learned about actually resembled an extinct Miocene-period elephant from millions of years ago, one which was not yet known about in the 1890s. Illustrations up until that point showed only two tusked mammoths. It's an intriguing clue that has left many people scratching their heads. Whether Fowler's account was a genuine glimpse of a creature thought extinct, or simply a vivid embellishment to sell a bit of ivory, it remains one of the late 19th century's most colorful and compelling pieces of frontier monster lore.

• 17:39Aaron Mahnke?

  We all have this strong desire for stories to be true, for the tales we pass along generation after generation to be narrative time capsules that preserve and protect some long-lost truth. And one of the more common items passed along in that way has always been monsters. In fact, Fowler's account of the mammoths is far from the only one in modern history. Just four years after his story became popular, another report was published in a Sitka, Alaska newspaper about a hunter coming across a massive set of tracks sunk deep in the tundra moss. This hunter, it's said, tracked them to discover a massive animal with yellow-white tusks,

• 18:21Aaron Mahnke?

  similar to those whose fossils had been discovered all over the area. In another tale from an 1811 expedition in the French-Canadian territory, we learn of an explorer named David Thompson and his guides coming across similar fresh tracks that were heading south through the snow before turning toward a nearby forest. They were described as "circular, with four large toes and short, thick claws."

• 18:46Aaron Mahnke?

  In a third story, a witness named Dr. JP Frizzle wrote an almost sheepish account of finding tracks in the Aleutian Islands. Although he worried that it might make him a laughingstock, he described following the distinct tracks for a long distance, tracks that he believed couldn't have been made by any other animal but the mammoth. And then there's the 16th century story from the Cossacks of Siberia, where one of their ranks saw something strange in the Ural Mountains. And if you guessed it was, and I quote, "a large hairy elephant", then give yourself a prize. Apparently, the local indigenous people there told him that it was part of the wealth of the Kingdom of Siber, that they referred to as, and I quote, "a giant mountain of meat." One last encounter that's worth remembering.

• 19:31Aaron Mahnke?

  A Russian hunter exploring Siberia happened upon tracks that were larger than any he had ever seen before. Tracks which moved across a clearing before turning toward the nearby forest. Following them, he came upon a massive pile of fresh dung made up of vegetable matter. Above him, he noticed the branches had been broken by something massive. He followed those tracks for days before finally spotting the creature that had made them. It was a huge, elephant-like animal with curly chestnut hair and massive yellow tusks. Oh, and this story? It doesn't date from the early 1800s or some pre-colonial encounter.

• 20:12Aaron Mahnke?

  No, it happened at the very end of the First World War, in 1918.

• 20:30Aaron Mahnke?

  Everyone loves a good cryptid story, even more so when the monster in question shouldn't exist at all. Whether that's because they should be extinct by now or are only known about from myths. Hopefully, today's journey through some of these darker stories has left you with a better understanding of how terrifying and enlightening these monsters can be. But we're not done just yet. I have one last tale of mysterious monsters to share with you. Stick around through this brief sponsor break to hear all about it.

• 21:00Speaker 03

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• 22:01Speaker 05

  What's that?

• 22:02Speaker 06

  My fresh detector.

• 22:03Speaker 05

  Uh, your what?

• 22:04Speaker 06

  There it is.

• 22:05Speaker 05

  What is it detecting?

• 22:07Speaker 06

  Fresh produce, fresh meat.

• 22:09Speaker 05

  Okay, what happens if it detects something really fresh?

• 22:15Speaker 06

  Apparently, we celebrate.

• 22:17Speaker 05

  At Food Lion, you can count on fresh food at fresher prices when your fresh detector is going off. Head to your local Food Lion or shop at foodlion.com.

• 22:28Speaker 07

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• 23:08Aaron Mahnke?

  The year was 1887. Deep in the pine-filled woods of Wexford County, Michigan, a crew of lumberjacks was busy felling timber when one of them caught sight of what looked like a dog running through the underbrush. And maybe they were particularly bored that day, because they decided to follow it. After a quick chase, the animal darted into a hollowed-out log. As the men approached it, an unearthly scream filled the air, and the creature ran out the other side. And then, it stood straight up like a man. Of course, the lumberjacks all ran away, and never visited that part of the forest again. When pressed for a description of the creature that they had seen, they painted a vivid picture.

• 23:50Aaron Mahnke?

  It had been at least seven feet tall, with a dog's head, eyes that glowed amber or blue, a human-like torso, and it walked upright on its hind legs. It was the very first sighting of the Michigan Dogman, but it wouldn't be the last. Ten years later, a farmer was plowing his field near Buckley, Michigan, when he suddenly collapsed. His body was found lifeless, slumped over his plow. And although the coroner declared it a heart attack, there was something chilling about the scene of his death. Surrounding his body were massive dog-like tracks. Locals, of course, knew what that meant. The Dogman had returned, and scared the poor farmer to death.

• 24:31Aaron Mahnke?

  Another ten years later, in 1907, an elderly widow reported that she had dreamed of dogs circling her house during the night, screaming like banshees as they walked on hind legs. In the morning, tracks were found, just where she dreamed they would be. Ten years after her sighting, a local sheriff made a gruesome discovery when he came upon a four-horse wagon team, all dead on the side of the road. Tracks were found circling the corpses, so he concluded that a pack of wolves had somehow taken down the horses. But why had it they eaten them? And where was the driver?

• 25:07Aaron Mahnke?

  The Dog Man would make his next appearance, you guessed it, 10 years later, in 1927. Robert Fortnoy was out walking along the banks of the Muskegon River when a pack of wild dogs cornered him. To scare them off, he fired his rifle over their heads, chasing all but one off, a massive black dog, which stared him down menacingly. He sent a second warning shot over its head, but instead of running away, the creature stood up on its hind legs, eyes locked on Fortnoy, and then walked away into the brush. In 1957, churchgoers were horrified to find the front of their church damaged, far too high up to be from a normal animal.

• 25:47Aaron Mahnke?

  And in 1967, a group of hippies reported a wolfman scratching at their car doors. Authorities back then chalked it up to marijuana, and they wrote them off, but the reports continued, each strikingly similar to the one before. Most reported the beast as seven feet tall, with a human torso, and a terrifying scream. There were, of course, theories, maybe the Dog Man was a hybrid between a dog and a wolf, or a leftover relic of a bygone era. Heck, maybe it was just some guy in a wolf costume who enjoyed walking through the woods. Still, others, though, believed in a more folklore-centric origin tale, that the creature was one of the legendary shape-shifting skinwalkers of indigenous lore, stuck mid-transformation

• 26:32Aaron Mahnke?

  between a man and a dog. And of course, there is no way to prove any of these theories, as there was never any physical evidence of the creature itself. No fur, no bones, no concrete proof that would suggest that it had in fact ever even existed. It honestly, all just sounds like one big joke, right? Well, hold that thought. You see, the disc jockeys at the radio station WTCM in Traverse City had gotten in the habit of playing April Fool's Day pranks on their listeners. And in 1987, station producer Steve Cook came up with a new idea. As a fan of folklore, he decided to create a creature from an urban legend, drawing on old Michigan traditions, and making them his own. So, he wrote-

• 27:16Aaron Mahnke?

  wrote a poem about a mythical Dogman that would appear every decade to "strike terror" into the hearts of local people in Michigan. The station even put it to music and then played it on the radio on April 1st. What they did not expect was the reaction they got. Calls began to flood in from people all over the state claiming to have friends or family who had seen the Dogman, or to have even seen it with their own eyes. In all, the station received over 500 reports. And the strangest part, even after they came clean about the gag, some people still stubbornly believed that all the stories were true. Some folks think that the hoax's success was based entirely on its setting.

• 27:58Aaron Mahnke?

  The narrative largely took place in the romanticized area of Michigan's frontier, where lumberjacks, farmers, and early settlers wrestled with the untamed wilderness. And it resonated with the local mythology that existed for thousands of years. Just by putting the Dogman into his historic context, it made it feel more authentic and more real. And what's amazing is that even all these years after the prank was exposed, the Dogman has still persisted, appearing in songs, tourism brochures, and even on podcasts. A perfect example of how even the tallest of tales can work its way into a public consciousness, becoming a part of a community's identity.

• 28:39Aaron Mahnke?

  And in their own way, all of these stories, whether they're about underwater panthers, extinct mammoths, or a radio prank gone awry, show us how powerful folklore can truly be. These tales are not just campfire scares, they're the way that communities explain the mysteries around them, pass down values, or make sense of a beautiful and terrifying world. Because even fiction can tap into real anxieties and fear. Maybe in the end it's fair to say that folklore lasts because it speaks to something deep inside us all. Our curiosity, our imagination, and our never-ending need to belong to something bigger.

• 29:34Aaron Mahnke?

  This episode of Lore Legends was produced by me, Aaron Manke, with writing by Nick Takoski and research by Jamie Vargas. Don't like hearing the ads? I've got a solution for you. There is a paid version of Lore available on Apple Podcasts and Patreon that is 100% ad-free. Plus, subscribers there also get weekly mini-bonus episodes called Lore Bites, and Patreon backers specifically get discounts on Lore merchandise and access to my inbox. It's a bargain for all of that ad-free storytelling and a great way to support this show and the people behind it. For more information about those ad-free options, head over to lorepodcast.com/support. And of course, Lore is much more than just a podcast. There's the book series available in bookstores and online, and two seasons of the television adaptation on Amazon Prime.

• 30:19Aaron Mahnke?

  Information about all of that and more is available over at lorepodcast.com. And last, you can follow this show on various social media platforms like Threads, Instagram, Blue Sky, and YouTube. Just search for Lore Podcast, all one word, and then click that follow button. And when you do, say hi. I like it when people say hi. And as always, thanks for listening.

• 30:52Speaker 03

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• 31:22Speaker 05

  What's that?

• 31:23Speaker 06

  My fresh detector.

• 31:25Speaker 05

  Uh, your what?

• 31:26Speaker 06

  There it is.

• 31:27Speaker 05

  What is it detecting?

• 31:29Speaker 06

  Fresh produce, fresh meat.

• 31:31Speaker 05

  Okay, what happens if it detects something really fresh?

• 31:36Speaker 06

  Apparently, we celebrate.

• 31:39Speaker 05

  At Food Lion, you can count on fresh food at fresher prices when your fresh detector is going off. Head to your local Food Lion or shop at foodlion.com.