Balladeer’s Blog presents another neglected American horror legend for Halloween Month.
THE MARQUETTE MONSTER
Near what is now Alton, IL a monstrous man-eating monster was first sighted by Jacques Marquette in the 1670s. Sightings of the creature continued until the 1860s. The celebrated drawing of this monster by Native Americans was dated to around the year 1200 CE.
The monster is also known as the Piasa Bird, named after Native American terms for dragon-like creatures that supposedly inhabited the region in the ancient past. Over the decades the description varied but overall the Marquette Monster was said to have the body of a horse-sized cougar, the wings of a bat and the head of a human but adorned with antlers like a deer. Continue reading
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