Le Chatouilleur

 Bonjour, MMers! We come with you today with a story out of Belfast. Have you ever heard the tale of “Le Chatouilleur”? It’s a story that’s circulated around Belfast for decades, but recently has gained some serious traction.

Maurice Plumes was born in 1913 and even from a young age was a bit odd. He stared at things for too long, often going hours without moving or speaking. For the first four years of his life his parents thought he was suffering from a mental deficiency. That turned out not to be the case, but perhaps there was something to his parents' initial suspicions that something was off about their son.

In grade school Maurice would often get in trouble for tickling other students. In the middle of class he would reach forward and lightly brush his fingers across some unsuspecting student's neck, causing a gasp or a shiver. Other times he would dig his fingers into their rips or the small of their back, making them jump and howl. Teachers reminded Maurice to keep his hands to himself, but his tickling got so bad he was once sent home from school.

He eventually grew up and got a job in the Fanghorn Textile Mill, specializing in making quilts. He was still known for his tickling. He'd often sneak up behind a distracted co-worker and tickle the back of his knee or reach around and dig deep into the belly. He soon found that the feathers from the quilts made excellent tickling tools, and would always keep one or two in his pocket to tickle the ear of some caught off guard worker. It was mostly harmless, and those close to Maurice just assumed he was an eccentric guy.

We reached out to his granddaughter, Amelia Plumes, to see what she had to say about the story. “Pepere Maurice, well, he was always so nice to us. He would give us, me and my three siblings, a dollar apiece and send us down to the corner store to buy whatever we wanted. As kids we would sleep over their house a lot. Pepere and Memere had the most comfortable down blankets and pillows - I think he got them from when he worked in the factory. But You always had to be careful around Pepere Maurice though. If he caught you walking by, not paying attention he'd reach out and tickle you real quick. It was good fun when we were little, but it got more annoying as we grew up.  Sometimes, in the middle of the night, I would wake up because something was tickling my feet, and there would be Pepre Maurice standing at the end of my bed with one of his big, white feathers, and a huge smile on his face. I know that sounds creepy, but it wasn't. I mean, it was just Pepere, you know? Grandfathers like to play silly games with their grandkids. Right?"

As he got older, Pepere Maurice (as he came to be known by all) would walk around the neighborhood, one feather tucked in his shirt pocket. If he saw anyone in the summer without their shoes on, he'd lean in and whisper. "Oooh, watch those tootsies and footsies or le chatouilleur will get them." Some kids played along, others were scared.

Ben Downs, who grew up three houses down from Pepere Maurice remembers those warnings clearly. "He was old, by then. This would have been 1990 or 91, so he had to be like almost eighty, right? He'd just come down the street. He walked like everyday, I remember that. He'd walk by and if you were out on the sidewalk or your lawn and he saw you didn't have shoes, he'd whisper that tootsies and footsies thing. He always had this smile, you know? At first it was like, oh he's just a kind old man - Pepere Maurice, right? But after awhile you noticed that it didn't look right. I don't know how to describe it, but it was like he wasn't really smiling, just wearing like a Halloween mask of a smile. Do you know what I mean? I started wearing shoes all the time in the 90s. Outside, inside, it didn't matter. I was convinced Le Chatouilleur would get me. I didn't even know what that was until I took French in high school. I thought it was some kind of monster."

Le Chatouilleur. The Tickler. 

Diane Lachance was Maurice's neighbor for thirty-five years. "They were nice people, Cindy and Maurice. At least, I thought so. I woke up one night and Maurice was in my room. I lived by myself ever since my Robert passed. He was standing there at the foot of my bed and he had this long white thing in his hand. It was a feather and he was running it up and down the soles of my feet. It was dark, and all I could see was that big smile. It stretched too far, like a clown. I didn't scream, but I sat up in bed and said, 'Maurice what are you doing here?' I think I was more confused than scared. He took a step backwards, blending in with the shadows so all I could see was that weird grin and the big feather. I heard him whisper, 'Tootsies and footsies,' real low. Then he was gone. The next morning I thought it must have been a dream because when I left the house to go to work, there was Maurice, watering the flowers. He waved and said good morning just like nothing had happened."

Le Chatouilleur made several more midnight appearances over the years. Several children reported boogey men and monsters in their rooms, with big teeth and a long white fingers who tried to grab their legs. Parents just assumed it was typical kid stuff. Said one man we talked to, who had small children back in the early 2000s, "I wish we had known, you know? We just thought it was normal boogeyman stuff. I used to be afraid of a monster under my bed, I assumed it was just that, you know? Looking back, knowing what I know now, yeah I would have done things differently."

Maurice Plumes died in 2011, two years shy of his 100th birthday. He is buried in the local cemetery. His grave reads, "Beloved Husband, Father, Pepere."

But the story of Le Chatouilleur doesn't end there. In 2015 a young woman renting her first apartment in the neighborhood awoke to a man standing at the foot of her bed. "The blankets were off," the woman, who wished not be identified told us. "I wasn't wearing... I mean, I was sleeping, so I had on a tank top and sleep shorts. It was hot, so I must have kicked all the blankets off. He was standing there, this big, huge smile on his face - like, I think they describe it in books as wolfish. He had this feather in his hand and he was tickling my feet. I don't know how long he was standing there before I woke up, but he was whispering, 'Tootsies and footsies. Tootsies and footsies.' Over and over again."

The woman screamed and jumped out of bed. She called the police but there was no sign of the man anywhere in her apartment, no sign anyone but the woman had been in the house at all. They did find one single white feather beneath her bed, but there was no indication that this had been brought in by an assailant.

Over the years reports of La Chatouilleur popped up from time to time. They were always unexplained, always accompanied by a single white feather left behind. They were written off as nightmares, but the long time locals knew. 

"Pepere Maurice," Ben Downs said. "I mena, I was all grown up and moved away by then, but I heard stories. My mom told me about some of them. I knew right away what it was. I mean, I'm not saying he ever tickled me, but I knew kids, right? I knew Pepere Maurice did that stuff. We all did. And no one did anything."

"My grandfather was a good man," Amelia Plumes told us. "He liked to tickle. It was fun and games, you know? My husband loves to play hide and seek with our kids. Some people like to sing songs or do puppet shows or whatever. Pepere Maurice was a tickler. He would never hurt anyone. He was just a tickler."

Stay safe out there, Maine. 

Watch those "tootsies and footsies"!

Rapid Fire - May 2020

 Eyes open, MMers!

This week, we've got a ton of smaller, one-hit stories, we've gathered from our loyal readers. We're coming at you rapid fire! Let's dive right in.

• Tina up near Presque Isle spotted a UFO flying over the Walmart on Route 163. It was a cluster of three lights, moving in erratic motions in the sky. It moved too fast to be a plane or a helicopter, darting first left, then right, then up. She  watched the craft for about five minutes before it suddenly stopped moving completely. It stayed for just a second before flying off. "It moved so fast it practically disappeared," Tina writes.  Definitely fits the mold of a typical Tri-clipper. Any else spot this space craft? Let us know.

What did Tina see?

• Bruce spotted a large, hairy creature in the woods around his camp in Whitneyville. He was out hunting when he heard some strange grunting and growling sounds that he couldn't identify. He followed a trail that led to a stream. There he saw the remains of an animal he identified as a deer. It had been ripped apart, as if by an animal. He spotted the creature he believed had killed the deer. It was "large, bigger than a man, and up on two feet." Sure sounds like Bigfoot to us. Keep your eyes on the woods up in Whitneyville!

• Clara, who only wanted to be identified as living in Franklin Country, sent us the story of the grave of an unknown soldier from the War of 1812. The grave is in a small family plot on Clara's property and every spring she heads out to clear up the little cemetery. For the past five years, she's talked about some sort of stain on the stone that is spreading. No matter what she does, how she scrubs it away, it always comes back a little bigger. Well, this year she was finally able to make out what shape the strange shape was forming. Turns out it's a gentleman's hat. The strange part? Clara tells us that int he early part of the Nineteeth Century, there was a haberdasher (that's a hat maker for you laymen) located on the property where she now lives. Connections? We'd say yes.

  

  How about a close up next time, Clara?

  
  

• We had another sighting of Saco River Sara. That's the fifth one this year. Maybe someone should head up Fryburg and burn some sage. 

• Have you ever heard of a ghost bridge? We hadn't either. That is until Don from Turner sent us this curious story. He claims he was driving along a stretch of Route 4 one foggy evening. Don tells us he's driven that stretch dozens, maybe hundreds of times, but this night was different. All of a sudden, Don felt like he had no clue where he was. "Nothing look familiar," Don writes. "It was like I was in some stretch of road I'd never been to before." Suddenly, Don drove over a bridge - and not just any bridge! He said it was wooden, an old fashioned style, he remember growing up as a kid in the 1950s. Don said he slowed down, suddenly unsure if the bridge was safe for his truck. He soon crossed the bridge, and though quite freaked out, kept driving. Soon the fog parted a little and he recognized the road again. He was home in no time. The next day he went out to check for the bridge, but it was nowhere to be found. He swears he never left Route 4 and in the weeks since, he can't find that stretch of road or that wooden bridge anywhere! Eerie!

  

  Artist's interpretation. NOT the actual bridge!
  
  

As always, MMers, if you encounter something spooky, something unexplainable, something supernatural or otherworldly, send it to us. Who knows, your story might just make the blog?

Stay safe out there, Maine.

Black Tarot Part II

Update, MMers! Back in March we ran a story about a series of disturbing tarot cards appearing in random people's mailboxes. We spoke to four individuals who received these cards with no explanation. You can read about it here. Well, since then we've heard from two more Mainers who have received these packages.

Up first is Brenda Williams. Brenda is the head librarian at the Madison Public Library. Three days ago she received the now familiar to our readers, black envelope addressed to her. Again there was no return address, no stamp. It was as if the envelope just appeared in her mailbox.

The envelope Brenda received

Inside were five cards from the deck we're calling the "Black Tarot." Brenda received The Shaman, the Queen of Wands, the II of Sigils, the V of Blades, and the Knight of Blades. Again, we're unsure of the meaning of these cards or the purpose. We don't know who is sending them or why, but state police have determined that these cards are indeed just paper cards. There are no harmful substances on them and no one has been harmed because of these cards. Still, they can be quite unsettling.

Brenda Williams' spread

"I don't like them," Brenda said. "I don't know who sent them or why they thought this was a good prank. It's not funny to terrorize people. These are disgusting and whoever is doing this is disturbed."

The other set of cards was sent to Kerri Delong in West Paris. Much like the other recipients, her cards showed up mysteriously in the mailbox over night. "I check my mail every day," Kerri told us. "One morning they were just in there, waiting for me." Kerri also sent us a picture of her cards:

Kerri Delong's spread

 "I don't like touching them," she said. "They're... they're not slimy, but they feel wrong. Like cold, somehow. But not paper. They feel like... like cold skin. I mean, I know they're not. It's obvious they're just paper, but still... something about them just creeps me out."

We also have an update on our original four recipients. To a person each of the original four - Larry Gilbert, Sharon Messina, Dominic Stoddard, and Sara Burgess - all of them now claim their cards have disappeared. 

"It's the craziest thing," Larry Gilbert said over the phone. "I left them right in the envelope in a drawer. When you contacted me about them, I went to check. The envelope is still there, but the cards are gone. No one would have taken them. I didn't throw them out. They're just gone, like they melted away."

The other three also confirmed similar stories. The cards are gone, but the envelope remains. We reached out to Brenda Williams about taking possession of her cards and she was more than willing to oblige.

"Get them out of my house," she said. "I never want to see them again."

We now have her set of Black Tarot cards in our possession here at our office. We will monitor them every day and give any updates we may find. For now, we'll keep you updated and stay safe out there, Maine.