Post B2I7DNZ97o2PzPEWiO by pepsi_man@poa.st
(DIR) More posts by pepsi_man@poa.st
(DIR) Post #B211pnJZG8YqO2FLCS by BanditoWalrus@cawfee.club
2026-01-06T17:52:28.343718Z
3 likes, 1 repeats
Illustrating every legendary creature in Wisconsin folklore: EVERYTHING that's in Devil's Lake.Yesterday I posted the monsters of Long Lake and mentioned it has one of the largest varieties of monsters in the State. That got me thinking that today I should present THE lake with the MOST monsters and spirits in or around it according to local lore: Devil's Lake.Some of today's entries are repeats, things I've posted before. But I think it's worth putting together something with EVERYTHING that Devil's Lake has to offer, to show just how deep the lore of this one lake goes!To start, there is a flying ghost canoe seen hovering over the lake from time to time. Not much is known about it, apart from it being a modern legend and similar to many other ghost canoe legends found statewide.There is also a belief among the Native Ho-Chunk that various large boulders around the state which are shaped like human faces had powerful, protective spirits dwelling within them. One of the cliff faces surrounding Devil's Lake is one such rock.The Lake was also believed by the Ho-Chunk to be the dwelling place of the wakcéxi, or water-spirits. Hodag-shaped creatures analogous to both the underwater panthers and the horned serpents in the legends of other Native groups. The wakcéxi used the lake to travel to different worlds in the cosmos, as the lake was both bottomless and thought to bridge the worlds.The thunderbirds were believed to do battle with the wakcéxi at the site of the lake from time to time. The thunderbirds would drop their eggs like bombs down at the lake-dwelling wakcéxi, and the wakcéxi would conjure up waterspouts to fire boulders back up at the thunderbirds. This was said to be the reason why the land around Devil's Lake is covered with boulders.Eventually the son of a wakcéxi chief captured the son of the thunderbird chief in battle, and the wakcéxi forced the thunderbirds to agree to a peace treaty. As part of the treaty, the thunderbird chief's son married the wakcéxi chief's daughter. The couple had a son, which for reasons of "spirit genetics is just weird like that" ended up being a merman. The merman was thought to still dwell in the lake.One green-colored wakcéxi in specific was said to have dwelled in Devil's Lake and to have demanded virgin sacrifices from the Ho-Chunk living near the area.In later times, American pioneers in the area had a legend of a seven-headed green dragon which dwelled in the lake and which demanded virgin sacrifice from the Natives. A pretty clear instance of the earlier wakcéxi legend transforming. The dragon could only be killed if shot in the left eye of its central head.Americans in the late 19th century also thought the lake contained plesiosaur-like monsters known as the "hokuwa," which allegedly originated in earlier Nakota legends. The hokuwa was witnessed several times in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.It's perhaps worth mentioning that there are a LOT of plesiosaur legends in Wisconsin... and most of them suspiciously emerged after Nessie got popularized. However, the hokuwa of Devil's Lake is an exception to this, as the legend was around long before Loch Ness became popular.In more modern times, people have also reported seeing a kraken-like octopus monster in the lake. The Devil's Lake kraken is one of Wisconsin's three kraken legends, along with the Lake Superior kraken and the Whitewater kraken.Finally we get to Cthulhu and the Deep Ones. See, there's this sex cult in Chicago which not only unironically believes that H.P. Lovecraft was writing factual truth disguised as fiction, but they believed H.P. Lovecraft's friend, the author August Derleth when Derleth claimed that Devil's Lake was a "Cthulhu Power Zone." The cult, known as La Couleuvre Noire, believes that the lake is a portal to R'lyeh, and from time to time they perform rituals on the shores of the lake to commune with the deep ones.Pretty much no lake in the state of Wisconsin has as much legends as Devil's Lake, apart from MAYBE the Great Lakes, and that's ONLY if you count the non-Wisconsinite legends tied to those lakes.In terms of Wisconsin lore, this lake is the deepest, which is perhaps fitting given the Ho-Chunk belief that the lake is bottomless.
(DIR) Post #B2FaR6Ufi5DQI99oTg by MelGibsonafter4Beers@poa.st
2026-01-13T18:26:11.184673Z
6 likes, 1 repeats
@BanditoWalrus Years ago, a couple of Scottish madlads made an fully aquatic animatronic Nessie for a TV special. I would honestly have a heart attack if I was swimming underwater and saw this.
(DIR) Post #B2FhJs3bgZdRAZzorQ by Bunsen@poa.st
2026-01-13T18:29:41.735177Z
2 likes, 0 repeats
@MelGibsonafter4Beers @BanditoWalrus Same. I would probably think that it was real. 😱
(DIR) Post #B2Fhi7aBc7kgGrnYoK by MelGibsonafter4Beers@poa.st
2026-01-13T19:47:38.443496Z
10 likes, 3 repeats
@Bunsen @BanditoWalrus The inherently White urge to domesticate dangerous wild animals is stronger than any primal fear.
(DIR) Post #B2FiklHf4oPvw3xMO0 by Elliptica@poa.st
2026-01-13T19:59:23.218487Z
2 likes, 0 repeats
@MelGibsonafter4Beers @BanditoWalrus You can tell it's british by the teeth.
(DIR) Post #B2Fioumjh2ykYrTJ0C by bebe@poa.st
2026-01-13T20:00:06.321048Z
0 likes, 0 repeats
@MelGibsonafter4Beers @Bunsen @BanditoWalrus Yes she is very cute.
(DIR) Post #B2Fl4PL8ZazFZs4tGa by MantisMD@poa.st
2026-01-13T18:34:55.991788Z
1 likes, 0 repeats
@MelGibsonafter4Beers @BanditoWalrus If i saw that thing in the water, I think I'd just die of a heart attack.
(DIR) Post #B2I7DNZ97o2PzPEWiO by pepsi_man@poa.st
2026-01-13T19:58:46.188952Z
2 likes, 0 repeats
@MelGibsonafter4Beers @Bunsen @BanditoWalrus When you're white everything is a pet or a place to go hiking and that's what made us great and what got us in our current mess.