Mill Race Monster
Picture this: you’re a teenager and hanging out with your friends at the park to get away from the prying eyes of parents and feel some independence. As you’re talking and laughing with your friends, you suddenly spot the impossible: a large, green, hairy monster. If you believe any of this at all, this is exactly what happened in 1974 in Mills Race Park in Columbus, Indiana.
By the 1970s, Mills Race Park was a gorgeous tree-lined park with winding rivers, two small parks, and expertly placed wooded areas created for family outings, picnics, and picturesque moments. But, as recently as the 1950s this suburban paradise was dubbed “death valley” because before development, the location was absolutely plagued with severe flooding, wild rats, and other not-so-picturesque issues.
Now, let’s get back to the bored teens: in particular, it was 4 girls who are still unnamed to this day (originally, they may have been unnamed due to their age). It was the late afternoon, around 3:00pm, on November 1st when one of the women in the group spotted something strange in between two trees near the boat ramp. The girls quickly gathered their things and raced back to their car. They escaped the park but reported the monstrous creature to the local law enforcement saying they had seen a "green, hairy, and large" monster at Mills Race Park.
Later that same evening, two young women decided to stop in the park to chat and eat the food the take-out they had picked up from a local restaurant. They were unaware of the previous incident and report (likely because it wasn't made public since the police officers probably didn't take the first report seriously).
One of those women was Tyra Cataline, who came out and spoke publicly about the issue as recently as 2014. Unlike the first group who had seen this strange beast, Tyra and her friend's experience was a bit more personal. Tyra describes the moment they spotted the creature as having an almost movie-like quality to it...in the woods right by the car was a green, hairy, creature. She claimed it was at least 7 feet tall and then...it started to run towards their car.
It approached the car angrily and began to beat on the windshield, apparently trying to get into the car. Tyra and her friend were screaming and truly believed they may die. Tyra wasn't driving and her friend's legs were shaking so badly and she was so upset she was having issues starting the car. As the two women screamed, Tyra took in her attacker. It had slime on its face, perhaps from the river or perhaps biological, which was also all over the windshield. It had fangs and was wildly chomping at the windshield. Finally, the car engine started and the pair skidded out of the parking spot, leaving the fanged, green monster behind.
The women, still shaken, drove right to the police station to report the monster. Tyra said the police, unsurprisingly, snickered at them. They asked if the pair had been drinking and took a teasing approach. Tyra, truly worried about the safety of the community, urged the police to take their report seriously. They took the officers out to see their car, and that was something they couldn't deny: something large had damaged their car. It stunk horrifically on the outside, like decomposed animals. There was also damage to the windshield. The police, seeing some evidence, decided to investigate the scene but saw nothing out of sorts and definitely no signs of the monster. They drove off, shaking off the weird reports and hoping that whatever had upset six people that day would just...go away.
But that wasn't the case, thanks to The Republic Newspaper. On November 2nd, a story was published entitled 'Women Report Seeing 'Beast' in Mill Race.' The newspaper story reads: "They sweat it's true. Six young women told city police Friday in two separate reports that they had seen a Mill Race Monster--once in broad daylight. And whatever it is, the six are agreed: 1) green, 2) hairy, 3) large, about six feet tall and walking upright, and 4) has claws."
The Republic would publish a follow-up piece on November 6th, this report read: "“The Mill Race Monster has returned, apparently stepping out of the shadows Tuesday long enough to scare two park-goers… county police reported two men in their 20’s saw a large, hairy ‘thing’ hiding behind trees near the covered bridge about 4 p.m. and again shortly before midnight… The men, who did not give their names, said after seeing the monster Tuesday afternoon, they returned with binoculars that evening to get a better look. They told police that the monster was found, and eventually chased them from the park.”
Then the story went viral(ish) and by viral, I mean it got picked up by another, larger paper: The Indianapolis Star. This story included a THIRD report of the creature. This time it was spotted by two city workers, Rick Duckworth and John Brown. They said they saw the monster in the park while studying ways to rescue cats in the trees of the public park. Rick decided to pursue the beast. When Rick started approaching the beast, it took off fast and disappeared back into the woods. Rick told the Star that he wanted to try and shoot him with a tranquilizer gun that he carries to catch dogs. Of course, some feedback was that perhaps the monster was just a man wearing a large green mask and green blankets to terrorize folks.
This started off a trend…and that trend produced a mob of folks that descended on Mill Race Park to hunt the Mill Race Monster. And it didn't just last a night. For days, would-be-monster-hunters entered the park to hunt the Mill Race Monster. According to reports, one night there were over a hundred cars in the parking lot (and even more folks in the park). In an effort to curb the armed mobs in the park, Robert Gillikin, city park director at the time, ordered the park be completely closed to the public. Press also continued to pour in, so much so that the Columbus police department had to appoint Kenneth St. John to be the spokesperson aka the "Monster Control Officer" to deal with press, monster hunters, and general unrest.
As always, after a while of no sightings and nights of hunting without a monster...the fervor died down and things returned to normal. But, there was never a resolution as to what was in the park.
Of course, as mentioned above, some argue that the Mill Race Monster was a hoaxer dressed up in a forgotten Halloween costume (it was early November, afterall) or a misidentification of an animal, or a sick animal. Some believe it could have been a bear with a disease (or perhaps just covered in moss) or even an escaped exotic pet bogged down by the dense woods of the park.
But, if you believe anything at all…perhaps there was something strange in the woods that week.
The above image depicts Mill Race Park in October 2010. It was taken by Jennifer Harter. This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license.
Thanks to Deborah S. for this blogstonishing suggestion!