Bigfoot's Bizarre Cousin Sighted in Michigan

Early on a mid-summer morning, the air fragrant with the scent of lush greenery and flowers, my brother and I were at the edge of a large, uncultivated field covered in thick overgrowth. In front of us was a stand of tall reed-like pigweed that grew up to seven feet high. The rough, pithy stems of the plants grew very close together, not more than two or three inches apart, and formed a dense thicket that stretched for perhaps a quarter-mile ahead of us. There were only a few trails through the thicket leading to the wood-lined meadowlands beyond.

We stood on a mowed clearing that served as a fire-break between the overgrown field and the housing tract where we lived. As we were about to head for one of the trails, we heard something or someone forcing its way through the thicket, smashing through the pigweed. It was making guttural noises almost as if muttering under its breath, disgruntled from having to force its way through the raspy barrier of stems. In fact, I mentally pictured an old farmhand in overalls tramping through the overgrowth. We paused because it seemed to be headed directly towards us.

It was thrashing the weeds vigorously, snapping the pithy stems and stomping the ground as it thrust its way forward. We instinctively froze in our tracks.

Suddenly it reached the abrupt end of the thicket, and stopped in surprise at the clearing which it didn't see until the very last moment. We were directly in its path.

The bizarre creature that suddenly appeared before us had thrust his large head forward of his thickset, furry body, and we could clearly see the surprise and amazement on his face. He looked like a cross between a baboon and a gorilla, with grayish black skin on his face and reddish-tan fur on his whole body. He gazed at us incredulously with his huge, reddish-amber eyes. He seemed to be about four-and-a-half to five feet tall and stood on two legs. He had long, burly arms, and the skin on his palms was the same grayish-black.

The face was rather flat, and did not have a pronounced muzzle like a baboon. But the weirdest features on his face were patches of bare skin directly below the eyes that were a vivid green, like spring leaves. The patches were somewhat leaf-shaped. At first I thought they were leaves, but they were too symmetrical and evenly placed. I immediately thought of a mandrill baboon, which has vivid blue patches in a similar location. But this creature did not have the brilliant red nose that a mandrill has, or the white stripes and fur on the muzzle. Also the features of the face were arranged more in the proportions of a human, except for the nose, which was flat with broad nostrils. It also had lips that were configured a bit more like a human.

We all paused, regarding each other in amazement from about fifteen feet away. In the clear morning sunlight I could see every detail. The fur was a dense coat of stiff bristles, about and inch-and-a-half long, thick at the base and tapering to a slim point. Around the face it was a little longer, almost like a beard. It was difficult to keep from focusing on the green patches under the eyes. But the piercing eyes were also remarkable with the bright color, large size and expressive depth. It seemed to be a rather intelligent, alert creature, and emotions flickered across its features.

After about fifteen to twenty seconds of staring at us, the creature quickly turned around and bolted back into thicket. The fur on the broad back and shoulders was an even coat down to the legs. There it was shorter and less dense, but evenly distributed on the legs, which were short and muscular.I did not see a tail. It scrambled away very swiftly.

We stood a few seconds longer, looking down through the swath it had cleared through the weeds. Then we turned toward each other, and still in a state of somewhat dazed bewilderment, each simultaneously pointed beneath our eyes and said: "Green!" Apparently we were both mystified by the green facial patches on the creature. The experience was both shocking and surreal. Without speaking any further, we just turned around and headed back home.

This was the type of situation that was difficult to make any sense of. The emotional shock left me feeling numb, and I found myself wanting to just put the whole episode out of my mind. It was just too bizarre. At the time I had absolutely no desire to tell anyone else about it because it was so peculiar that I was convinced no one would believe it, and they would certainly treat me with disparagement for telling about the event. I suspect that my brother felt the same way, because neither of us mentioned it again for quite some time.

Last week I began the illustration posted with this article, with the intention of telling the tale, in the hope that someone else would report a similar experience in that area. Today I saw a mention of "cryptids" on the Internet. Cryptids are unknown or scientifically unclassified animals that are reported in anecdotal sightings. Since "cryptid" was the working filename for my illustration, it piqued my curiosity and I followed a few links until, amazingly, I found the story of a creature reported in Michigan, near Detroit, where sightings by European settlers go back for about 300 years! (Native Americans also had a long oral tradition that described the creature) I had never heard of it previously, but more searching turned up older, printed resources.

The written accounts going back to the 18th century are a bit garbled and include fantastical embellishments, but several well known and key historical figures have encountered the creature. French Canadian trappers first called the creature the "Nain Rouge" or, in English, "Red Dwarf". The creature was referred to by the Huron and Ottawa tribes as the "Demon of the Strait" referring to the narrow strait on the Detroit River where the city of Detroit is now located.

In 1701, the renowned French explorer and founder of Detroit, Antoine du Cadillac, was surprised while sitting on the riverbank by the creature, which suddenly leapt in front of him brandishing a stick. Cadillac defended himself by blocking the blows and beating the creature with the flat of his sword until it ran off, cackling and howling. There were several witnesses to the event.

On July 30th of 1763, British Captain James Dalzell, in pursuit of Chief Pontiac, saw a Nain Rouge following him along the banks of the Detroit River.

During the War of 1812, on a military expedition, the American General William Hull saw it peering at him through an early morning fog.

Accounts from Detroit's early history as a fort in the mid 1700s report that Nain Rouges would leap or scale the high walls of the stockade and steal corn and watermelons. There are sightings mentioning it on Presque Isle, Gross Isle, and in Gross Pointe.

Two brothers, named Tremblay who were fishermen on the Detroit River in the 1800s also encountered the Nain Rouge. One of them, who apparently had a bad reputation for his many misdeeds, actually grappled with a Nain Rouge and came away with a foul-smelling odor on his clothes. He was so shocked by his experience that he mended his ways and became steadfastly religious thereafter.

Accounts also report an attack in 1884 and another in 1964. In the 1884 attack the woman involved described the Nain Rouge as baboon-like, with brilliant eyes and a devilish leer. In the 1964 attack, a man from Niles, Michigan was in his car when a Nain Rouge smashed through his windshield. The man defended himself by kicking at the creature with its legs before he fainted. The Niles attack was reported in local newspapers.

In 1976, two linemen working for Detroit Edison were taking a lunch break when they saw what appeared to be a child climbing up a telephone pole. Concerned for the child's safety, they called out to it, and the Nain Rouge then leapt from the twenty-foot pole and glared at them before running off.

In summary, I believe my report to be accurate and supported by the historical accounts. The illustration is also as accurate as I can reconstruct from the very vivid and indelible memory. I hope you enjoy them both. My encounter occurred in the Detroit suburb of Warren, Michigan in about 1963.

Resources:

Myths And Legends Of Our Own Land, Complete c.1896
Author: Charles M. Skinner
available online as free e-book : http://www.gutenberg.org/files/6615/6615-h/6615-h.htm#2H_4_0209

Mythic Detroit by David A. Spitzley
http://www.davidaspitzley.org/MythicDetroit/

Legends of Le Detroit
Marie Caroline Watson Hamlin.
Thorndike Nourse, 1884
scanned by Ohio State University
online: http://library.osu.edu/sites/rarebooks/ohio-mich/framepage.html

Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nain_Rouge