Do You Copy?

Who is on the other side?

Hey, MMers. Today’s news comes out of Damariscotta. Marc Henderson, a husband and father in his late thirties, was playing a game of “hide and seek” with his son over the Walkie-Talkies Marc had bought young Peter for his birthday. We were able to get a hold of Marc over the phone for an interview.

“Yeah, it was weird,” Marc recalled. “We would play hide and seek and give clues to each other on where we were hiding. It was fun. But one day, when Petey was out hiding out in the woods...well, all of the sudden his voice changed. It’s hard to describe, but it honestly sounded like me on the other side of the Walkie-Talkie…”

Though Mark and Peter had played this game countless times, this was the first time something like this had happened.

“So, I kept walking on, but it wasn’t Petey. It was someone, something, else. When I asked for a clue, he said ‘right where you and your wife made that brat of a son of yours.’ - I went out into the woods and found the small clearing laden with birch trees where Maddie and I would go for a nice picnic, sometimes with wine or cocktails…”

The birch tree clearing

Marc went on to describe what he found out there, but the first time it was nothing. No one was there, and he found Peter hiding in a pile of dead leaves on his way back to the house. A week later, Marc had a similar experience. He was led to the same clearing again, hearing himself over the Walkie-Talkie. When he got to the clearing, he saw a blanket laid out with a basket of food. He was trembling with fear and started screaming out to whoever was on the other side of the Walkie-Talkie.

“I kind of freaked out. I was stressed, and I didn’t know where Petey had gone, or who had put out that blanket. So, I turned to go back to the house, and I saw a man, dressed in the same clothes as me, running away towards the house. I ran as fast as I could, but I couldn't catch him, and then I tripped over a rock and fell and scuffed up my arm pretty good. I lost him, but I know he was there.”

Who knows what crossed signals are out there to be intercepted, MMers? Maybe you might even end up talking to yourself…
Stay safe out there, Maine!

Stridda Long Body

Okay MMers, we've got a real tall tale for you, this time from the Newry-Andover-Hanover region of Oxford County. We've got several reports of a giant creature somewhere between the Ellis River Road and the Bear River Road. This area is part of the Mahoosuc Mountain Range, some of the toughest parts of the Appalachian Trail. 

They call the creature Stridda Long Body, and no one is really sure where the name came from. Some stories claim that 'stridda' is a colloquial twist on the word 'stride,' referring to the creature's long legs. Others claim that Stridda is an old Indigenous People word for a tall spirit creature said to stalk the mountain regions. Either way, the name is apt.

The creature is described as being incredibly tall, with long thin limbs. It typically walks on all fours, but can stand and move on just two. Reports have placed it somewhere between twelve and twenty feet tall. Its skin is incredibly pale, nearly snow white. It has glowing bright eyes and a mouth full of jagged teeth.

Stridda Long Body

It's been seen stalking among the trees, crossing the road, even looming over several of the homes around the area. We spoke with Adam Hussey, an avid hiker who claims to have seen Stridda Long Body last fall when he was hiking Bald Mountain.

"I've done a lot of hiking. I try to do at least ten mountains a summer. So I'm coming down Bald Mountain. I got caught in a rain storm that just popped up so I hunkered down for a bit. Two summers I would have pushed through, but I sprained my ankle trying to climb down Mount Chocorua over in Conway, New Hampshire in the rain. Anyways, I'd taken my time, so as I'm coming down the mountain it's starting to get dark. Just dusk, you know? But I decided I really needed to pick up the pace. So I'm coming down the trail, I go around this little bend where there's these big rocks you go between, and bam! That's when I saw it."

What Hussey saw was Stridda Long Body.

"It was sort of creeping through the trees. That's the only way I can describe it. It moved so fluidly for something so tall. I think it was probably sixteen, maybe eighteen feet tall, and those long legs and arms, right? But it almost looked like it was swimming through the air."

The creature sensed Hussey and turned. The hiker was frozen with fear, sure his life was going to end. The creature hissed, "something like a cat crossed with a snake." Then it reared up high, Hussey says, like a gorilla on all fours. 

"It roared. I mean. It didn't sound like a lion or whatever. You know what it sounded like? Like the T-Rex from Jurassic Park. You remember that movie? It was like that - I mean, not exactly, but that's as close as I can get to describing it. I just froze. I didn't move a muscle. I don't even think I breathed. It just kept roaring, like the sound of the world ripping in half."

Finally, the creature stopped and the woods were silent. Nothing moved, not even a bird chirped. Hussey stayed perfectly still. The creature seemed to look at him for a second, to assess whether he was a threat or not, then it moved off, sliding between the trees. Hussey didn't move for another five minutes, until the birds and the squirrels had resumed their normal chatter.

"Then I booked it off that mountain just as fast as I could."

Anne Robbins' best seller!

There have been dozens of sightings of Stridda Long Body over the years. The local convenience store, Manny's Qwick-Shoppe actually sells t-shirts with the creature on them. We talked to the owner of Manny's Qwick-Shoppe, Anne Robbins about the creature.

"They've been telling stories of ole Stridda Long Body since I was a girl at least," she said in between customers. "I'll tell ya though, I spent my entire life up and around these mountains, and I ain't seen him once. Still, the shirts sell pretty good. Every summer I get five or six people stop in specifically looking for him. They have all this hi-tech, fancy gear. They ain't seen nothing. If Stridda's out there, he's too smart for them, you know? Plus another ten or twelve campers and vacationers who just think the shirt's funny. It's a good seller."

What's stalking the forests of Newry? We may never know for sure. Several photographs have been circulating the internet over the past few years, purporting to be of the giant creature. We weren't able to authenticate any of them, but one fan, who sent in a picture taken from their car driving home one night swears by the photo.

One fan's purported proof of Stridda Long Body

"It's completely 100% true," this fan wrote. "I didn't even believe in stuff like this until it jumped out across the road. I used to laugh at those people who told stories about Stridda Long Body. Not anymore. I've seen it and I've got proof."

Be careful on the trails and stay safe out there, Maine.

The Whet One

Good Afternoon, MMers! Today’s story comes from up in Kennebec County. As I’m sure you know, lakes are incredibly prominent in our state, and Kennebec is no different. Even though it’s known for lakes like Messalonksee, and even the mouthful that is Cobbosseecontee, we recently heard a story about a lake that isn’t on any official map. And while we aren’t cartographers here at Malevolent Maine, we wanted to find more information. 

So, Tom and Lucas decided to trek up to Winthrop to meet with Barry Doldorff, a life timer up “theyah.” Barry was the man who contacted us about the strange experience he had while riding around local trails on his four-wheeler. We apologize in advance for the way the dialogue is written, but we wanted to get the tone of the conversation as accurately as possible.

“So you were riding...and then what?” asked Lucas.

“Well I was ridin’ pretty quick on em trails up heyah, and I’ll tell you what. I was passin’ through the normal areas and seein’ the lakes and the ponds ayuh. But I swear to Jesus, I couldn’t friggin believe what I saw when I whipped ‘er around Jackson’s Bend. It was a lake, and I ain’t never seen a lake there before. I thought I was havin’ one of those....what’s that called?"

“A hallucination?”

“Yeah! A halcyonation, or whatevah. Seens I never seen that lake before, and I might've been seein' stuff, I decided to hightail to back into town to get my buddy, Donny Smith. 'Donny!' I screams at the top of my lungs. 'Donny, get your ass out heyah!' Well, you see Donny has a bit of a drinkin' problem and he was passed out on the couch. Luckily for me, the back door was open I was able to go right inna'"

"So, you were able to get Donny to wake up for his stupor?"

"Yeah morealess. I went right inna kitchen and grabbed some cold water fromma faucet. Threw it right on Donny's face. It was 3PM for Chrissakes, and the sonuvabitch was drunk as a friggn' skunk! Well, anyways, I got em up and got em on my back of my wheelah, Donny couldn't ride himself as he was smashed two ways from Wednesday."

"So you got back to the lake, and then what?"

"NOTHIN'! Friggin' nothin'. I went right around Jackson's Bend just like before, but there wasn't nothing theyah. Then Donny got real mouthy about me getting him wet and forcing him to come out heyah with me, so I brought him back before he got reaaal friggin' mad."

"But you said that you saw a creature? That it come from the lake?"

"Oh yuh, but that was aftah. You see after I brought Donny back, I went back to my double-wide and opened up a bottle of Jimmy Beam I got down at the Hannafahds. Well, I bet I bout drank halfa bottle before passin' out on the couch."

"But then you saw something?"

"Friggin' right I did! Right around 2:45 AM I hear something inna kitchen. I was like a slippery slidey sound. By the time I got up and went in and got the light on I couldn't see nothing except for my floor was all wet, like someone just moppedah up real good. Then I got my flashlight and whet out the back door and I was shinin' it on my shed. Now I may have been halcyonating again, but I swear I seens like a man-fish or something. I tried to follow it, but I was too drunk to get on the wheelah, so I went back inna house and locked every lock I got. Next mornin' I woke up with a real killah headache, but that ain't stop me from goin' right back to Jackson's Bend, and there it friggin' was again! Except this time there were lily pads all ovah the place, and there was even a sign nailed to a tree. It said 'Whet Lake.' But not not 'wet' like watah, it was spelled W-H-E-T. Well I decided to walk right up to the watah line and see what was what. I ain't never heard of no 'Whet Lake,' and it sure as hell wasn't heyah when I brought Donny by. I walked right upta water and then I saw some lily pads move. It was like somethin' was under em startin' to come up. Well, I didn't wait much longah. I got right back on my wheelah and started movin'. But then I hear somethin'. It was like a child screechin' but it pierced through my head - I fell offa my rig and it slowly came to a stop by a tree on the side of the trail. I turned around when it stopped and there it was. The friggin' fish-man was staring at me with red eyes and all. I got right back up and got on my wheelah. I heard the scream again but I braced myself and rode as hahd and fast as I could, ya know?"

"Have you gone back since?"

"Frig no! No way. I ain't goin; back theyah. That's why I contacted you guys! I heard about you from my Nephew, Tylah. He's inna that weird intahnet stuff, and I figured why not?"

Well, MMers, we decided that it was time for us to see this "Whet Lake" for ourselves. Instead of riding out on a ATV, we decided to approach Jackson's Bend on foot as quietly as possible. When we arrived at the supposed spot of the lake, we were disappointed, but not surprised, to see nothing there but trees. We looked around for a bit, but there was nothing special of note, until Lucas pointed out something that he found about 50 feet off of the trail. It was a sign, worn down from the elements for many years. Even in its current state, we were still able to manage to figured out what the sign said. "Whet Lake."

While we aren't sure how this sign got there or if a lake could have ever have been located where the trees are now, we'd be willing to bet that this experience wasn't simply a hallucination by Barry, or a "halcyonation," as he would so eloquently put it.

If you are even out on the trails in or around Winthrop and come around Jackson's Bend, keep a close eye out for "Whet Lake," and whatever monster dwells within. Stay safe out there, Maine!

Is this the "Whet One" Barry Saw?