Most of us have spent a lot of time in the woods. So what is the strangest things you have seen in the woods?

Saw a waterspout on Brule lake north of the portage to Wench Lake in the mid-1990's or so. Very loud hissing sound, but too small to be dangerous. It was a clear, sunny day.

Tom

Had a moose wander through my campsite mid-day on the western shore of Phoebe Lake in the early 1990's. I just stared at it. Could not believe it! It just wandered off and paid no attention to me.

Another one: I was camped on a point on Long Island Lake around 2005. Had a big bunny come really close by the firepit one morning. I just watched it and thought maybe it had rabies or something, as it acted like I was was not there. Suddenly, there was a lot of noise from something running towards camp on the latrine trail. It was a big pine marten! It chased the bunny a couple of times around the firepit where I was standing. The bunny finally took off down the shore. Not long after, there was quite a scream, which I assume was the end of the bunny. Never found any sign of the kill, even though I searched quite a bit. I think the marten likely carried it off.

Tom

While camped at Iron Lake Campground off the Gunflint Trail in 1976 I saw a strange glowing in the woods. I took a flashlight and walked back to where it was but it was gone. I turned the flashlight off and an eerie white glow began to appear before my very eyes from a wet log!
It was Foxfire or bioluminescence but we didn’t know that. We believed it was a lost soul buried there whose spirit was rising. Then we smoked some more grass and got scared.

There are strange things done in the midnight sun..Wait wrong story!

One summer afternoon I was sitting on the shore of a local lake which has stocked muskies. There is an old tree stump sticking out of the water just off the shore. In the span of 30 minutes I saw a muskie swim up to the stump and nudge the log at the waterline several times. Several years later I was fishing along that shoreline from the bank. There's a corrugated metal pipe where water passes under a road crossing the lake. A large frog was perched on the edge of the pipe and didn't hop away as I approached. I thought it was really strange it sat there. Another fisherman passing by above me on the road pointed out there was a musking suspended in the water at the opening of the tube. Going back I think the muskie nudging the tree stump was trying to flush a frog.

Early morning I was paddeling across Wood Lake, last day of a two week solo trip. The sun was rising and casting long, early morning shadows across the glass-still water. I look about 500' in front of me and I see something swimming, crossing the lake at a narrow point. At first I thought it was a beaver, but as I got closer it looked different and I couldn't see a tail. Then I saw two, sharp, triangle-pointed ears and a rounded forehead. It was a lynx, swimming. I paddled quick and got up next to it, within 5 feet, and paralleled it to shore, where it exploded out of the water and crashed through the underbrush in less then a blink.

Hiking the Kek a few years ago, I came upon two kill sites right on the trail. Both looked to be grouse that had exploded on the trail, violently. Then, less than a mile later, coming down a rock ledge I saw a huge Lynx (which had just turned to run away) slipping into the underbrush. Right then I knew what had happened to those grouse. The lynx vanished after slipping into the trees, didn’t make a sound.

Tony

I saw a squirrel swim across a river . . .

A guy walking barefoot on a portage,.A newly placed headstone and a half empty bottle of Jack Danials cemented into the the ground overlooking Pipestone

Guy canoeing on the Namekagon in a full Spider Man suit, complete with mask. As he passed us, he did the spidey web thing with his hand.

1) Four bull moose on Horseshoe close to Vista portage. Blocked access for our canoe. Had to wait until they decided to leave.

2) Watched a fisher chase a rabbit for two hours in circles around the fire grate area. Rabbit found some tall grass and sat quietly - fisher gave up and left.

3) Had three otters circle thru a large rock on our campsite with water around. They were playing leap frog in the water with each other at dusk with fun on their minds.

Some sightings from Wisconsin, most from western rivers, national forests.

Laudanum bottles with oriental characters in a dugout in an old mining district

A vacuum cleaner. Took it home, it worked. LEO said no reports of a theft.

An empty grave. Sheriff wasn't interested as it was empty.

Parts of old whiskey stills. Later learned I knew the family.

Old whisky bottles. Collectors dated them for me to gold mining, post Civil war era.

Old, rusty steel trap discovered after a fire.

Shovel from the empty grave above. Found it a year later a few hundred ft away.

Campsite with a whole elk carcass abandoned with a pile of trash.

Moose skull with small antlers.

Abandoned tent site w/ tent, moldy sleeping bags, cook gear, and a tin with MJ .

Svea 123 stove.

Bong made from 105 MM shell.

Parts of old wagon gear, single trees, etc.

In a wash in the desert, a pile of empty obsolete black powder rifle, pistol cartridges spread out over several feet. Mystery, but wash could be a good defensive position and there were Indian fights, also cattle wars in that region. Butch Cassidy was known to have hung out in the area between robberies.

Too many old cabins, homesites, sawmill sites to count.

One of our group climbed to a ledge, found a pack rat nest with a wallet with ID, money, etc. Returned to owner.

Teepee rings.

Axe

Mountain lion with kits, was seen by many that day.

Three Griz, numerous black bears.

Buffalo swimming the river where I was fishing with clients.

A badger swimming a river landed between me and fishing partner, shook himself off and wandered up the bank.

Five wolves in a row, across a snowy flat spot.

A kid stuck under a canoe, crosswise in the current, hung up on a snag. We got the kid out, but that's a long story for another time.

List is long, but I'm 81 yrs old, spent decades guiding, fly fishing, hunting, hiking,
which is why I have lots of memories, not lots of money.

ATV trail north of Two Harbors - Giant (life sized) purple stuffed animal bear, set back in the woods about 10 yards deep.

Remote "Hike in" lake in the superior national forest - large wooden tiki mask small fox and wizard wood carvings.

Superior National Forest Literally middle of nowhere - cement Virgin Mary Statue.

Remote trail near Ryan Creek & So Branch Whiteface - Literally hundreds of plastic bottles and aluminum pop cans hung from the trees, with a sign that read simply - "Closed for the Season". This was down a trail off of a road that was barely passable with a high clearance 4x4.

Superior National Forest Rough Logging Road Near Cloquet Lake - Giant Texas Long Horn Steer standing in the middle of the road.

North of Brimson/Toimi - Really old and Really skinny man wearing only torn up coveralls working a garden with a hoe in the middle of nowhere.

Superior National Forest NW of Silver Bay - Rusted out old auto, looked like possibly from the 40's based on style. Many miles from any known roads.

Campsite on the island River/Comfort Lake - Film container, containing a folded up piece of tinfoil, containing a single white tab of paper (most likely a hit of acid or LSD)

A US fighter jet, so close we could see the rivets. I swear it was not more than 150 feet above us. A perfectly still May morning, 1980, in the middle of Big Saganaga, the only time I ever remember it being without a ripple. We were luxuriously crossing out in the middle paddling from the old Canadian border stop toward Cache Bay. The jet came from the east, behind us, and was going so fast that it was right up against the edge of its own roar. It was over us and gone just as we heard it and instinctively ducked. We did a reality check, dipped our tin Sierra cups (no filters in those days) and paddled on.

Not the nicest scene but a barber chair in a deer stand in the middle of the woods, public land.

Grouse hunting by the BWCA walking a trail. I look up here is a pure black wolf 20 yards away coming from the opposite direction. Weirder yet, it flushed a grouse, and it landed in a tree. I didn't have the heart to shoot it. Wolf just took a right turn and walked away.

Watched a loon dive for a fish, surface struggling to get it eaten. Two seagulls swept in to steal the fish from the loon. As soon as one of the seagulls got it in their mouth and eagle swept down and grabbed the fish chasing the gulls off. Then the eagle dropped the fish in flight down to the loon who ate it.

Family grave site 200 yrds of a logging road in the middle of nowhere. Near Birchwood WI. Multiple wooden crosses with a family name on them and mounds.

Found an ornate carved and painted mask wrapped in canvas on the cliffs of spice lake. It was modern but just stashed up there under a rock.

Northern about 24" long swimming with its head out of the water on Round Lake. Looked like he was scoping me out.

Whitish/ blue lights in the woods at night on the western shore of Fourtown lake. Not near a portage or campsite. See them from about 1/2 mile away.

I see the topic is in the woods-- but this is in the BWCAW. (I might have crazier - in the woods , but this one comes to mind right away for BWCAW)

2019- on the Kruger challenge with Beav and 9 people total going literally as fast as we can from Rainy Lake to Lake Superior. Woke up at 1am on campsite on the way to Basswood (Horse Portage) after a 3-4 hour rest (you really don't "sleep" on these deals as your body doesn't have time to come down knowing your about ready to push yourself to the limits once again-- and this might led into us not being with it- but I don't think so.

Got to Basswood about 1:45AM. Made our way around US Point and in epic conditions-- little wind/ clear skies and mainly glass. The stars were unreal. (more on this later) Headed SE around US Point and then made the jog E still in rather big water on our way to PP. All of sudden - about 1.5 miles before Bayley Bay ( West) - I saw a extremely bright light flash several times at our zenith or slightly to the SE. We were basically zombies at this point and physically shot - in fact my bowman literally feel asleep for a second while paddling as his body hunched over to the right until he recognized he was sitting upright. It happens. Now most would attribute this to being tired and all--- UNTIL the next year when with the same group in the same spot I brought up to my canoe (3 guys) -- " did you guys see something strange here last year?" I couldn't even finish what I was saying and MCpipes and Deke ( at the time commercial pilot for Delta) both were saying "YES". All 3 of us recalled basically the same "bright / flashing light". No one had mentioned it the previous year for the likely reason of fatigue and possible hallucinations - and not wanting to be that "guy". So we saw something odd and it was not astronomical ( normal) in my .02.

I have 26 years of being a professional weather observer (paid to look at the sky-- mainly at night) and nearly the same as a amateur astronomer with countless hours looking at what I know this was not. I know my shooting stars/ satellites / and even what a SR71 would appear like in the night sky. This was nothing like it. It was moving way to fast at near the zenith and way too bright. As a group we talked about it more and have totally no clue what it was. It was not a meteor/variable star/aircraft that I know of including military /satellite / drone/ laser/ or a airport beacon (the ELY airport beacon CAN be seen from this location but is obviously near the horizon ) .

Have no clue what we saw. Just thought I would share.

Someone here probably knows what I'am talking about- and/or can bring up the thread-- but BIG MOOSE lake has had several reports of crazy lights about 10-15 years ago. Never been on Big Moose.

Strange lakes I've been on-- not something I've seen- but rather "felt". Something was "off".

Home Lake
Tuscarora.

65+ trips in my quiver. Home Lake-- I will not visit again.

WhiteWolf: "Someone here probably knows what I'am talking about- and/or can bring up the thread-- but BIG MOOSE lake has had several reports of crazy lights about 10-15 years ago. Never been on Big Moose.


Strange lakes I've been on-- not something I've seen- but rather "felt". Something was "off".


Home Lake
Tuscarora.


65+ trips in my quiver. Home Lake-- I will not visit again.


"

Curious if you'd share the Home Lake story.

Alright here we go again,, when i first join this site i shared this story/sighting and many or most doubt what i saw ,But a lot of good jokes came out of my posting. most are telling me it was a piebald moose , but it wasnt , it was a Holstein dairy cow(spotted Black & White) just right of the portage from kingfisher to ogish. it was dead and being fall time it didnt crash through any ice which does happen to moose-deer , half in the water at the shoreline , other half was expose above the water line , And it was nasty smelling. many turkey Vultures were feasting on what was above the water , and didnt like us interrupting their meal. For the doubters my uncle owned a dairy farm in Wisconsin i know what a Holstein looks like , ribs are a lot wider too on a cow compared to a moose. and we came back that way like 2 or 3 days later and the whole carcass was gone , i'm sure the wolves could smell that thing from miles away. i've looked at maps to try and figure out where it actually could have came from, only thing i can think of is a homestead on the Canada side ???

OgimaaBines: "Family grave site 200 yrds of a logging road in the middle of nowhere. Near Birchwood WI. Multiple wooden crosses with a family name on them and mounds.


Found an ornate carved and painted mask wrapped in canvas on the cliffs of spice lake. It was modern but just stashed up there under a rock.


Northern about 24" long swimming with its head out of the water on Round Lake. Looked like he was scoping me out.


Whitish/ blue lights in the woods at night on the western shore of Fourtown lake. Not near a portage or campsite. See them from about 1/2 mile away.


"

i've seen musky do that mouth/head out of the water thing cruising around.

shock: "

OgimaaBines: "Family grave site 200 yrds of a logging road in the middle of nowhere. Near Birchwood WI. Multiple wooden crosses with a family name on them and mounds.



Found an ornate carved and painted mask wrapped in canvas on the cliffs of spice lake. It was modern but just stashed up there under a rock.



Northern about 24" long swimming with its head out of the water on Round Lake. Looked like he was scoping me out.



Whitish/ blue lights in the woods at night on the western shore of Fourtown lake. Not near a portage or campsite. See them from about 1/2 mile away.



"

i've seen musky do that mouth/head out of the water thing cruising around.
"

They do that sometimes when they ate a big fish and it gets lodged in the throat area and also their air bladder sometimes gets out of Wack, and they have trouble going deeper in the water. I have seen it dozens of times.

Samsquatch: "There are strange things done in the midnight sun..Wait wrong story!
. "

My husband has been reciting this poem at campfires for the last 30 odd years!

Pinetree: "

shock: "

OgimaaBines: "

Northern about 24" long swimming with its head out of the water on Round Lake. Looked like he was scoping me out.

"

i've seen musky do that mouth/head out of the water thing cruising around.
"

They do that sometimes when they ate a big fish and it gets lodged in the throat area and also their air bladder sometimes gets out of Wack, and they have trouble going deeper in the water. I have seen it dozens of times. "

There it is! Thanks for the explanation.

We got lucky enough to see an unusual rainbow on Gebe in 2021. Still one of my favorite BWs memories!

Deeznuts: "We got lucky enough to see an unusual rainbow on Gebe in 2021. Still one of my favorite BWs memories!


"

That is amazing!!

Gunwhale: "Some sightings from Wisconsin, most from western rivers, national forests.

Laudanum bottles with oriental characters in a dugout in an old mining district

A vacuum cleaner. Took it home, it worked. LEO said no reports of a theft.

An empty grave. Sheriff wasn't interested as it was empty.

Parts of old whiskey stills. Later learned I knew the family.

Old whisky bottles. Collectors dated them for me to gold mining, post Civil war era.

Old, rusty steel trap discovered after a fire.

Shovel from the empty grave above. Found it a year later a few hundred ft away.

Campsite with a whole elk carcass abandoned with a pile of trash.

Moose skull with small antlers.

Abandoned tent site w/ tent, moldy sleeping bags, cook gear, and a tin with MJ .

Svea 123 stove.

Bong made from 105 MM shell.

Parts of old wagon gear, single trees, etc.

In a wash in the desert, a pile of empty obsolete black powder rifle, pistol cartridges spread out over several feet. Mystery, but wash could be a good defensive position and there were Indian fights, also cattle wars in that region. Butch Cassidy was known to have hung out in the area between robberies.

Too many old cabins, homesites, sawmill sites to count.

One of our group climbed to a ledge, found a pack rat nest with a wallet with ID, money, etc. Returned to owner.

Teepee rings.

Axe

Mountain lion with kits, was seen by many that day.

Three Griz, numerous black bears.

Buffalo swimming the river where I was fishing with clients.

A badger swimming a river landed between me and fishing partner, shook himself off and wandered up the bank.

Five wolves in a row, across a snowy flat spot.

A kid stuck under a canoe, crosswise in the current, hung up on a snag. We got the kid out, but that's a long story for another time.

List is long, but I'm 81 yrs old, spent decades guiding, fly fishing, hunting, hiking,
which is why I have lots of memories, not lots of money."

Old timer, I bet you have some interesting stories, let’s hear some more.

With my father paddling in Sylvania in the UP on a still overcast day. We hear a low, ominous rumble that we can’t identify. It keeps getting louder and more ominous until it becomes so loud it is hard for us hear each other. Suddenly over the tree line to the west comes a B-52 bomber quite low and appearing to continue to descend. It was probably in a landing pattern for KI Sawyer AFB located near Marquette MI to the east.

South central Oregon, deep in the national forest, came around a bend to find a small clearing in the woods. There was a guy, all by his lonesome, banging away on a full drum set.

This is something I heard but didn’t see.

I was on Shade lake in Quetico 2011 laying in my hammock just after dark. I was about 10 feet from a small bay and suddenly heard a loud splashing in the shallows nearby. It soon quieted and was gone.

I thought it was odd but tried getting back to sleep. Then, a few minutes later I hear very loud breathing out in the bay. This was concerning and a little frightening at the time. Something very big was inhaling and then exhaling in huge deep breaths. Then it was gone. “What the heck was that!?”

This repeated itself maybe 4-5 times before I again heard the loud splashing near shore next to me and then a big “shake” before hoof clomping off into the trees.

Yep, I just experienced a diving moose feeding on the bottom of Shade Lake. It was strange because it was only sound and no visuals to reference what I was hearing. A very cool experience and I was so glad it wasn’t a bear.

After a tough portage into Kahshahpiwi on a hot day I paddled to some smooth rocks for a quick swim. As I was finishing up I heard a protonged rustle and splashing a ways up the shore and a little while later some disturbance out in the water, a broad area of ripples and wake that I could not id heading across the lake. I set out in the canoe to see what it was.

I paddled up to a group of five least weasels in the midst of crossing a pretty big lake, a weasel fleet. I floated a little way off taking pictures, at some point dropping the cameral to see how close I was. The weasels spotted me and screamed and turned towards the canoe, there was also a straggler off my stern that I hadn't seen that screamed and joined the assault. I stowed the camera, grabbed my paddle and got out of there, if they would have boarded it would have been all over, six tiny weasels tearing at my flesh.

Fearlessleader: "South central Oregon, deep in the national forest, came around a bend to find a small clearing in the woods. There was a guy, all by his lonesome, banging away on a full drum set. "

I don't want to work
I want to bang on the drum all day
I don't want to play
I just want to bang on the drum all day

I was solo canoeing and camped out on an Island on Isabella Lake in September of 2007. I was enjoying my early morning cup of coffee, there was slight mist dancing above the calm water that morning as I reflected on my life and the beauty of the BWCA.
All of the sudden I heard this blood curdling scream.

I tried to focus my sleepy eyes off in the distance when I saw what appeared to be a woman with blond hair swimming across the lake a couple hundred yards away. Her neck and head were completely out of the water, but I could not see any part of her body, she was swimming at an unbelievable speed.
I hurriedly got in my canoe and began to paddle toward her, but I was making very little progress.
When she got to shore and walked unto the beach. I was about 150 yards behind her.

I can not get the sight of what I saw emerge from the water out of my head to this day.

It was a woman's head and neck on a deer's body.

I left immediately headed for the landing at Forest Center, leaving all my gear at the campsite.
I went back to Isabella and stopped by the Stoney River Cafe.
When I entered the owner said to me. "What in the Hell happened to you"? You are as white as a ghost.

I relayed my experience to him and he did not seem all that alarmed, and simply said.
"Oh you saw the She Devil"
I asked him "what in the hell are you talking about" and he told me this story.

Years ago in the mid 50's the loggers at Forest Center were suffering through a brutal winter and were holed up in the tar paper shacks, unable to get out in the woods and cut pulp wood.
Idle time is the Devils Workshop as the saying goes.
Anyway, the loggers children used a Ouija Board and accidentally conjured up an evil spirit that winter, who still roams the woods around Isabella Lake to this day.
The spirit is known as the "She Devil", she has a woman's neck and head on the body of a deer.
I have not been back to Isabella Lake since.

Kind of spooky around the old Forest service logging center. What tales-secrets that location could tell, that we will never know.

At least you didn't see the One eyed Purple people eater.

Well, I saw the thing comin' out of the sky
It had a-one long horn and one big eye. (Ooh!)
I commenced to shakin' and I said, "Ooh-eee!
It looks like a purple people eater to me!"

It was a one-eyed, one-horned, flyin' purple people eater
(One-eyed, one-horned, flyin' purple people eater)
A one-eyed, one-horned, flyin' purple people eater
Sure looks strange to me (One eye?)

LindenTree: "

Fearlessleader: "South central Oregon, deep in the national forest, came around a bend to find a small clearing in the woods. There was a guy, all by his lonesome, banging away on a full drum set. "

I don't want to work
I want to bang on the drum all day
I don't want to play
I just want to bang on the drum all day
"

I saw Todd Rungren do that song live at Radio City Music Hall, circa ~1993. Todd, a drum, and the audience. That's all. Coolest thing ever.

MT

Last year I was paddling upstream along the shore on a local river and I heard a single sound that I could not identify that seemed to come from a tree I was passing. But it was not a crack or a creak...more like a single click. I was still wondering what the sound might have been when a full size oak tree fell in the river right behind me, close enough that I thought the wave might swamp me. The wave didn't even come close to swamping me but I had no way of knowing since this had never happened before.

One time I was walking the dog on a dead still, damp day and heard a big crack and the sound of limbs breaking right above me so I jumped towards the base of a tree and a big branch landed about 20-25 feet away with a thump that you could feel in your feet.

One time I was paddling downstream at a pretty good pace and when I glanced over at the shore, the shore was stationary. My vision kind of flickered, it was weird. Then I realized that a tree that had stuff growing on it was cruising down the river parallel to me at the same speed as me and blocking my view of the shoreline.

Last year I was paddling upstream around a fallen tree with a hollow end and just as I passed something shot out the end and startled me. It looked like a furry bowling pin as it passed under my boat but I think it was a big muskrat.

I've come to think of trees as dynamic individuals with a broad range of skills.

Okay, this is a pretty strange one, long story too.
Back on an October Saturday in the late 1980s I was bowhunting and sneaking my way along a trail that was sometimes used by horse riders. I was all camouflaged head to toe, face painted and all.
I looked ahead on the trail and saw someone on a horse riding my way.
As I stepped off to the side, I was a bit startled to see the rider was a teen looking girl riding the horse in the absolute skimpiest of underwear, nothing else. I think I scared her because, being all in camo, she didn't see me until she was within a few yards of me. We didn't exchange any sort of hello or greeting. I think we were both in shock as to what we were seeing.

So, fast forward to the following Monday at work and I was relating the encounter to the guys in the lunchroom at work. I could see the skepticism in the eyes of a couple of them. They were sure I was making it up.

Then one guy pipes in and says "Was that YOU?". I was a little confused until he explained. Turned out he knew the girl on the horse and she related the same story to him over the weekend. The only thing I didn't realize on that day in the woods was the girl was on an LSD trip when she saw me! Turns out she and her family lived on the adjacent farm and were "Dead Heads" (followers of The Grateful Dead) and Dead Heads are known to enjoy psychedelic substances from time to time.
A nearly naked girl in the woods on a horse doing acid. Is that strange enough to qualify for this thread? LOL

In 1819 American naturalist, John James Audubon, described four separate squirrel migrations in detail. Audubon was also impressed with the squirrels’ ability to swim across the Ohio River. Mass migrations were reported numerous times in the 18th and 19th century and most recently in 1968.

I watched a squirrel swim across the Seagull River at Voyageurs late last September - was the first time I'd ever seen it.

Long ago I learned to not think of anything related to humans as strange but I recall two incidents thtat were at least unusal. The first was on a backpacking trip in either Maine or New Hampshire, I forget which. The straggler of a group we encountered was using a golf bag as his pack. It must have been an interesting experience getting his gear in and out of that. The second was in the BWCA on the portage bewteen Sawbill and Alton during the summer of the pandemic year (2020). If you have been on that portage you know tht it is fairly flat and very short, but is mostly upturned very sharp rocks. I encountered a very large gentleman wearing only shorts and bare footed with a bundle of fire wood, that he most likely bought at Sawbill Outfitters, under one arm and a fairy large cooler under the other arm. I guess that kind of thing was fairy common that year.

Gunwhale: "List is long, but I'm 81 yrs old, spent decades guiding, fly fishing, hunting, hiking,
which is why I have lots of memories, not lots of money."

Lots of memories are better than lots of money (assuming there's at least enough money to be clothed, fed, and housed).

Air Jordan poster velcro-strapped to a canoe on a portage

WHendrix: "Long ago I learned to not think of anything related to humans as strange but I recall two incidents thtat were at least unusal. The first was on a backpacking trip in either Maine or New Hampshire, I forget which. The straggler of a group we encountered was using a golf bag as his pack. It must have been an interesting experience getting his gear in and out of that. The second was in the BWCA on the portage bewteen Sawbill and Alton during the summer of the pandemic year (2020). If you have been on that portage you know tht it is fairly flat and very short, but is mostly upturned very sharp rocks. I encountered a very large gentleman wearing only shorts and bare footed with a bundle of fire wood, that he most likely bought at Sawbill Outfitters, under nd of thing was fairy common that year."

Same year at a portage along LIS a couple of guys portaging a full keg of bear

Yep, there's more stories. Don't want to cause thread drift. Am enjoying reading the stories posted here.

Canoe camping on a small remote lake in northern Wisconsin back in the 70s, my brother, father, and I were sitting around our campfire telling stories and eating surprise "treats" my father had brought along (things my brother and I had never had - like oysters from a can). When it was time to go to bed, we extinguished our fire and walked over to our tents. On the way there, we noticed light coming from spots on the ground. None of us had headlamps (we hadn't even seen headlamps back then). We didn't have our flashlights turned on, so I turned mine on to see what was there. There wasn't anything there. Then, I turned the light off, and the glow continued to shine on the ground. My dad came over for a look. We scooped up some of the debris from the ground and put it into a bag. My dad worked at a high school where he told the biology teacher about what we had seen and showed him the debris in the bag. That's when he and we learned about bioluminescence. The fungus that was on the dead wood chips was glowing!

More recently, I saw freshwater jellyfish near the BWCA. I didn't know there was such a thing.

Canoe camping on a small remote lake in northern Wisconsin back in the 70s, my brother, father, and I were sitting around our campfire telling stories and eating surprise "treats" my father had brought along (things my brother and I had never had - like oysters from a can). When it was time to go to bed, we extinguished our fire and walked over to our tents. On the way there, we noticed light coming from spots on the ground. None of us had headlamps (we hadn't even seen headlamps back then). We didn't have our flashlights turned on, so I turned mine on to see what was there. There wasn't anything there. Then, I turned the light off, and the glow continued to shine on the ground. My dad came over for a look. We scooped up some of the debris from the ground and put it into a bag. My dad worked at a high school where he told the biology teacher about what we had seen and showed him the debris in the bag. That's when he and we learned about bioluminescence. The fungus that was on the dead wood chips was glowing!

More recently, I saw freshwater jellyfish near the BWCA. I didn't know there was such a thing.

Remy: "In 1819 American naturalist, John James Audubon, described four separate squirrel migrations in detail. Audubon was also impressed with the squirrels’ ability to swim across the Ohio River. Mass migrations were reported numerous times in the 18th and 19th century and most recently in 1968.


I watched a squirrel swim across the Seagull River at Voyageurs late last September - was the first time I'd ever seen it. "

I have seen mice swim across the lake. Did a big old northern pike get him or her. I have seen snakes and once a mouse in a northern pike stomach.

Some good stories here, keep them coming.

A perfect bat skeleton in about 3/8 inch of water at landing of Smite Lake portage to Beaver Lake. It was perfectly clean and laid out like a museum specimen. I don’t understand how it could have been so clean and intact. It gave me the creeps! I didn’t have a camera with me but it looked exactly like this.

LindenTree: "I was solo canoeing and camped out on an Island on Isabella Lake in September of 2007. I was enjoying my early morning cup of coffee, there was slight mist dancing above the calm water that morning as I reflected on my life and the beauty of the BWCA.
All of the sudden I heard this blood curdling scream.


I tried to focus my sleepy eyes off in the distance when I saw what appeared to be a woman with blond hair swimming across the lake a couple hundred yards away. Her neck and head were completely out of the water, but I could not see any part of her body, she was swimming at an unbelievable speed.
I hurriedly got in my canoe and began to paddle toward her, but I was making very little progress.
When she got to shore and walked unto the beach. I was about 150 yards behind her.


I can not get the sight of what I saw emerge from the water out of my head to this day.


It was a woman's head and neck on a deer's body.


I left immediately headed for the landing at Forest Center, leaving all my gear at the campsite.
I went back to Isabella and stopped by the Stoney River Cafe.
When I entered the owner said to me. "What in the Hell happened to you"? You are as white as a ghost.


I relayed my experience to him and he did not seem all that alarmed, and simply said.
"Oh you saw the She Devil"
I asked him "what in the hell are you talking about" and he told me this story.


Years ago in the mid 50's the loggers at Forest Center were suffering through a brutal winter and were holed up in the tar paper shacks, unable to get out in the woods and cut pulp wood.
Idle time is the Devils Workshop as the saying goes.
Anyway, the loggers children used a Ouija Board and accidentally conjured up an evil spirit that winter, who still roams the woods around Isabella Lake to this day.
The spirit is known as the "She Devil", she has a woman's neck and head on the body of a deer.
I have not been back to Isabella Lake since."

A few weeks ago i watch one of those "B" rated movies about the she-devil , if any guy meet her , his friends would say "did you see her feet ?" (meaning she would have hooves) , so this is no bit you really saw this ?

shock: "

LindenTree: "I was solo canoeing and camped out on an Island on Isabella Lake in September of 2007. I was enjoying my early morning cup of coffee, there was slight mist dancing above the calm water that morning as I reflected on my life and the beauty of the BWCA.
All of the sudden I heard this blood curdling scream.



I tried to focus my sleepy eyes off in the distance when I saw what appeared to be a woman with blond hair swimming across the lake a couple hundred yards away. Her neck and head were completely out of the water, but I could not see any part of her body, she was swimming at an unbelievable speed.
I hurriedly got in my canoe and began to paddle toward her, but I was making very little progress.
When she got to shore and walked unto the beach. I was about 150 yards behind her.



I can not get the sight of what I saw emerge from the water out of my head to this day.



It was a woman's head and neck on a deer's body.



I left immediately headed for the landing at Forest Center, leaving all my gear at the campsite.
I went back to Isabella and stopped by the Stoney River Cafe.
When I entered the owner said to me. "What in the Hell happened to you"? You are as white as a ghost.



I relayed my experience to him and he did not seem all that alarmed, and simply said.
"Oh you saw the She Devil"
I asked him "what in the hell are you talking about" and he told me this story.



Years ago in the mid 50's the loggers at Forest Center were suffering through a brutal winter and were holed up in the tar paper shacks, unable to get out in the woods and cut pulp wood.
Idle time is the Devils Workshop as the saying goes.
Anyway, the loggers children used a Ouija Board and accidentally conjured up an evil spirit that winter, who still roams the woods around Isabella Lake to this day.
The spirit is known as the "She Devil", she has a woman's neck and head on the body of a deer.
I have not been back to Isabella Lake since."

A few weeks ago i watch one of those "B" rated movies about the she-devil , if any guy meet her , his friends would say "did you see her feet ?" (meaning she would have hooves) , so this is no bit you really saw this ?
"

If you have been a good male human, you have nothing to fear: Native American Deer Woman

Read this...so creepy.

The Bell Lake Mystery

BWCA.com thread from a few years ago

And...I just noticed, occurred 25 years ago to the day (of this post.)

Mike