Towering Pines Blog

Every TP man who has ventured across the lake in a canoe has heard a ghost story or two. Towering pines is host to all manner of mythical creatures, ranging from the real to the improbable. I myself have seen Moses, the giant snapper of Turtle Bay, with my own eyes. Other beasts sound like the stuff of legends: Water Panthers, Hodags, and even rumors of Velociraptors have come echoing through the woods. When you look at each of these stories and reports, however, an interesting pattern emerges. Most of these TP legends are centered around one place: Lost Lake.

If you follow the horse trails along North Nokomis, you will eventually find yourself straddling a culvert with Turtle Bay to one side and Lost Lake to the other. Lost Lake barely even registers on a map, and in certain years it looks more like a bog than a lake. Our riders venture out there very frequently; it’s a beautiful piece of nature… by day.

Sometimes we will send Canoe trips out to that little isthmus between the bay and Lost Lake. It is a great place to take in the sights and sounds of the forest and enjoy each other’s company around the fire. When the sun sets, however, it’s not uncommon for one to start feeling somewhat unsettled. You may hear some strange animal noises- perhaps just a squirrel rustling in the bushes, or a somewhat sickly sounding bullfrog, you might tell yourself. But as night wears on, those sounds start to sound a little less natural- least of all the sharp clanging of metal on metal, echoing across the lake. 

According to legend, somewhere in Lost Lake (either beneath the still surface of the lake or somewhere near the farther shore), a sinister being lurks- the Witch of Lost Lake. Many a traveller has heard the clanging as her sullen servants forge the very chains that bind them, as well as the chains that will bind her next unsuspecting victim. They say that she has the power to summon flies and mosquitoes. The witch conjures swarms of these pests to keep people away while she lays her plans to abduct her next victim.

The Witch of Lost Lake isn’t the only ghost story you’ll hear around a TP campfire. I’ve heard stories so frightful that I couldn’t commit them to paper, else I might become the next victim of the specters who haunt any poor soul fool enough to record their names. 

Of course, our brave men take these stories in stride. The lads listen to the morbid stories with glee, shadows dancing across their sticky faces bathed in firelight and marshmallows. Maybe they find comfort and security knowing that most of our supernatural stories at TP are well and away from cabin grounds… but I can’t help but wonder how they might feel if those stories hit as close to home as the Woodland girls’ stories do.

Will Dellinger