The Cabbagetown Monster

The following article written by Lorrie Goldstein, which appeared in the March 25, 1979 issue of the “Toronto Sun” is the sole source for the claim that a sinister monster lurks in the sewers underneath the “Cabbagetown” neighborhood of Toronto, Canada--but the story is remarkable enough to be worthy of note.  Make of it what you will.

There’s an eerie city lying beneath the streets of Metro, a city none of us knows much about.

Ernest has been a visitor to that silent world of sewers, drainage pipes and the ruins under old houses, and the memory of what he saw there will haunt him for the rest of his life.

“I wish you’d never come here,” he says as he sits in his small, neat Cabbagetown apartment with Barbara, his wife of 19 years. “If I tell you what I saw, people will think I was drunk or crazy, they’ll never believe me.”

On a summer day last August, Ernest, 51, firmly believes he saw some kind of “creature” while crawling into a small cave near his Parliament Street apartment looking for a kitten from a litter he’d been caring for. But about 10 feet inside he says he saw a living nightmare he’ll never forget. 

“It was pitch black in there… I saw it with my flashlight. The eyes were orange and red, slanted… it was long and thin, almost like a monkey…three feet long, large teeth, weighing maybe 30 pounds with slate-grey fur.”

Ernest speaks reluctantly of what happened next…

He is convinced the thing spoke to him.

“I’ll never forget it,” he said. “It said “Go away, go away,” in a hissing voice. Then it took off down a  long tunnel off to the side…I got out of there as fast as I could. I was shaking with fear.”

 

Ernest didn’t come to the Sun with this story. The Sun found him after hearing about his experience from a reliable contact who works with a relative of Ernest’s, one of the handful of people to whom he has confided the experience.

He would agree to talk about it only if his last name was not revealed.

“I’m in the phone book,” he said. “I couldn’t stand being called by a bunch of cranks.” 

“I believe Ernie saw exactly what he says he did,” said Barbara. “He was terrified when he came back to the apartment and he doesn’t scare easily. Look, he’s been known to have a drink in the past--like most people, and to occasionally tie one on, but he’s not a drunk and he wasn’t drinking at all that day.”

Checks with friends, relatives and acquaintances in the neighborhood supported Barbara’s evaluation of her husband.

I accompanied Ernie to the spot where he said he had seen the creature. 

It is at the bottom of a narrow passage between the building where he lives and the one next door. The only way to reach the tunnel entrance is to clamber 15 feet down the wrong side of a fire escape, which had once served as an exit to the street but today simply leads to a narrow chamber with walls on four sides.

The tunnel entrance runs under a slab of concrete at the foot of the chamber. Inside, there is a narrow passageway, branching off to the left about 10 feet back.

The corpse of a cat lies half-buried in the tunnel, reminding Ernest of the “strange noises, like animals in pain,” he heard coming from the chamber last summer.

The concrete slab has collapsed on one side during  the winter, making it impossible for even a small adult to get inside.

“I saw it where the tunnel turns.” Ernest said.  “The last I saw, it was heading off into the dark. The passage-way seemed to drop down very quickly and go a long way back.”

Ernest believes the tunnel leads to the sewer system that runs beneath Metro and that the entrance beneath his apartment may have been only an access point used by the creature to the surface.

Metro’s sewer department agreed to inspect the tunnel since it could be a safety hazard. Children might try to enter it.

A long-time sewer worker told the Sun it was possible, although not probable, that the tunnel led into the sewers.

He said the tunnel was probably the result of poor drainage over the years which had caused erosion underground, hollowing out the passage.

“Who knows where it leads, or how far it goes?” he said. “You’d have to get in there and the way it is now, it would take a lot of work.”

Despite the strangeness of Ernest’s story, the workers did not scoff at the tale.

“People who work on the surface just don’t know what it’s like down there,” one said. “It’s a whole different world. Who would have thought a few years ago that people would live in sewers, and yet that’s what they found in New York a few years back. Even in Toronto, we’ve occasionally had to pull mattresses from the chambers beneath the manhole covers where the winos have been sleeping.”

Another worker said he’d heard of animals like beavers and raccoons occasionally getting into the system, but never anything like that described by Ernest.

“I don’t know what he saw down there,” he said. “But I’ll tell you one thing. If we could get in there, I sure as hell wouldn’t want to go down alone.”

Whatever you may think about this story, I think we can all agree with that last statement.

The Thing That Went Clawing in the Night

Accounts of haunted dwellings tend to be pretty bog-standard stuff. Spectral figures drifting over the lawn, mysterious rappings at night. Murder victims unable to find peace, or villains with guilty consciences that won’t allow them to rest. To be honest, when you’ve read enough of them, real-life ghost stories can get pretty dull. For that reason, when you come across one that combines unusually disturbing features with an utterly inexplicable cause, one has to sit up and take notice.

In early 1975, two young nursing students, Shirley Brown and Gail Bruce, became roommates in a flat in an old tenement in Dundee, Scotland. It was a modest place: tiny living room, a bedroom, a small bathroom, and a postage-stamp sized kitchenette. Still, it suited their needs, and as the two women were friends who were enjoying the training for their chosen professions, life seemed pretty good.

For ten months, neither woman saw anything unusual about their residence. Then, in January 1976, things began getting very weird indeed. One morning, Shirley had the afternoon shift, so she stayed in bed while Gail got ready to leave for work. Before Gail left, she noticed that Shirley was sitting up and staring at her in a very peculiar way. When she asked if anything was wrong, Shirley just turned over in bed silently.

Later, as the two had lunch together, Gail told her friend that something very odd had happened the previous night. For whatever reason, she found it impossible to sleep. At about 3:30, the hall light came on, followed by the sound of someone slowly moving around in their bathroom. Naturally, her first thought was of burglars...except she was certain the front door was locked. After a moment, the footsteps stopped and the light went out.

Then Gail saw something even more disturbing. There was an old woman in a blue nightgown standing next to Shirley’s bed. Gail felt an intense aura of evil around her. The intruder and Shirley were talking together intently, but the conversation was too whispered and muttered for her to make out what was being said. Gail closed her eyes for a moment, then opened them. The old woman was gone. The next day, Shirley claimed to have no memory of any of this, but she was just as terrified as Gail. Not knowing what else to do, the women agreed that neither would ever be alone in the flat again.

One night about a week later, Shirley lay in bed reading while Gail was getting ready for bed in the bathroom. Then she heard footsteps in the kitchenette, which was adjacent to the bedroom. Nervously, she rapped on the wall between the two rooms, hoping against hope it was just Gail in there. In response, there was the menacing sound of what she later described as “giant talons” violently clawing at the wall. Shirley screamed, which brought Gail running in from the bathroom. When she entered the room, the frightening sounds stopped. As the two women--now understandably scared for their lives--huddled together on the bed, the uproar began again, with even greater intensity. For some fifteen minutes, they heard the sound of wild tearing and scratching, as if some demonic beast was determined to claw down the wall and tear the frantic women to pieces. The pair quickly threw some clothes on so they could escape, but then they realized their keys were on the kitchen table. In order to retrieve them, they would have to confront whatever clawed nightmare thing had taken over their flat.

Staying where they were, however, seemed even more terrifying. With the courage that can come from desperation, the women flung open the bedroom door and switched on the light. With a blinding flash, the bulb fused. Simultaneously, the hideous clawing noises stopped. The pair raced across the room, grabbed their keys, and ran, not slowing down until they reached the safety of a friend’s apartment.

The following morning, Gail and Shirley only returned to their flat long enough to pack their belongings. Despite the uproar of the previous night, nothing was out of place, and the kitchen wall was unmarked.

The two never entered the tenement again. They briefly considered looking into the flat’s history, to see if it provided any clues regarding the horror they had experienced. However, on second thought, they decided it might be best not to know.

Paranormal researcher Peter Moss, who interviewed Gail and Shirley as part of his book “Ghosts Over Britain,” believed they were entirely truthful. Unfortunately, he could not provide any more explanation for this sudden, brief, and extremely disturbing experience than the women could.

There are just some things that defy anyone’s explanation.

The Creature of Charterhouse

"Things that go bump in the night" is a common phrase to describe ghosts or monsters, generally the ones that appear in fiction. However, according to one man, this cliche played out in real life, and in one of the most unusual ways I've ever heard of. If his story, recorded by Betty Puttick in her book "Supernatural England," is to be believed, it gives rise to another cliche: "Truth is stranger than fiction."

The setting for our story is Charterhouse, which was, from ancient to Victorian times, a mining community in Somerset County, England. It has been occupied, in one form or another, since the late Neolithic period. The little hamlet now just consists of a former church and school, transformed by the County Council into an educational establishment focusing on outdoor activities. It is an area rich in natural beauty, with some spots seeming to be unchanged for centuries. It is also rich in caves, archaeological finds, and--according to some people--some very, very strange secrets.

In February 1982, Richard Gardner, a teacher at Bridgwater's Haygrove School, was one of the leaders of a student visit to Charterhouse. He had a group of five 15-year-old girls under his particular watch. When they completed their hike through the area, it was discovered that one of the girls, Maria, was missing. Naturally, a search was immediately launched. In his van, Gardner retraced the group's route. At one point, he stepped outside the car, calling Maria's name. He was disconcerted to hear, not the missing girl, but the sounds of small children playing and laughing.

This was...curious. The nearest village was five miles away. The barren, open landscape showed no sign of life. Besides, it was now a driving rainstorm--hardly the sort of weather for outdoor frolics.

Fortunately, when Gardner returned to the Charterhouse center, he found Maria there, none the worse for her little detour. Apparently she had merely become lost, and so retraced her steps back from where she came. Her disappearance was quickly and easily solved. The voices Gardner heard were not.

After the group had fruitlessly discussed the little mystery, talk naturally turned to ghost stories, with some of them sharing their own brushes with the paranormal. Someone asked a man named Terry, the warden of Charterhouse, if he had seen or heard anything strange in the area.

Terry was a former Marine Commando, and looked the part. He was a tough, no-nonsense sort who immediately inspired respect and deference, even in the rowdiest students. In short, he was not someone who scared easily...but, he had to admit, he had once experienced something at Charterhouse which frightened him very badly.

The school center was also used by the local Cave Rescue Team to store their equipment. About a year before, he had been at the center alone to do maintenance work on this equipment. It was a long, tedious job, so he thought he might as well spend the night at Charterhouse. After having dinner and watching some TV, Terry retired to a bunk bed in the sick bay.

At around 1 a.m., Terry was awakened by the sound of some animal rustling about outside. He shrugged it off as a just a badger and went back to sleep. Then his sleep was again broken by similar noises. Only, this time, they came not from the outdoors, but somewhere inside the building.

Terry was puzzled, as he knew he had locked all the doors, as usual. However, he was too tired to investigate. Muttering to himself that if the animal could find its way in, it could find its way out, he attempted to fall asleep.

The trouble was, the noises continued. And they were getting closer. Within a few moments, he heard the animal coming up the stairs, scratching and snuffling all the way. The intruder was soon right outside his door. Terry was getting deeply unsettled.  It was not normal for any wild animal to break into an occupied building and act like they had the run of the place.

Then Terry's night went from unnerving to flat-out-terrifying. The sounds changed from snorting and scratching to the noise of something large and bristly slowly, loudly, squeezing itself through the half-inch gap on the bottom of his door. Whatever "it" was, it was coming for him.

Terry was trapped. There was no way he was going to head for the door, in the dark, with this...thing blocking his path. The snuffling noises came closer, and closer, until they were within inches of him. Then the bed suddenly began rocking violently. This lasted less than a minute, and then, to his relief, he heard the phantom beast retreat. It squeezed its way back under the door. The sinister sounds made their way back down the stairs and outside the building, where they gradually faded away into the night. Checking his watch, Terry noted that the whole weird ordeal had lasted an hour. In the morning, he saw that his bed was covered in plaster. When his bed had been shaken, Terry had grabbed the electric cabling on the wall for support. The upheavals were so violent, he had pulled the cabling free.

After the students heard Terry's little bedtime story, they all spent the night in the room where they had gathered, sleeping on chairs. There was no way any of them were going out into the night to reach the accommodation building.

The question of what in hell--or, if you prefer, what from Hell--Terry met that night was never answered. There was, however, a disconcerting sequel to the story. A year later, another school group visited Charterhouse. Among them was one of the teachers who had been among the group who heard Terry's story. Terry slipped the teacher a note. It contained only five words: "My visitor returned last week!"

So if you're ever visiting the Charterhouse area, I advise you not to check for monsters under your bed. They just might be there.

Newspaper Clipping of the Day

Some driving commutes are worse than others. If a fellow named Charlie Wetzel is to believed, on one of these drives home he encountered something even more annoying than traffic jams and potholes: a hitchhiking monster. From the "Greenville News," November 10, 1958:

Riverside, Calif.--A funny thing happened to Charlie Wetzel on the way home Saturday night.

A monster jumped out at him.

That's what he told authorities who planned to continue an investigation of the incredible story.

Wetzel, 24, a resident of nearby Bloomington, reported soberly that he was driving on a street near Riverside when a frightening creature jumped in front of his car.

"It had a round, scarecrowish head," he said, "like something out of Halloween.

"It wasn't human. It had a longer arm than anything I'd ever seen. When it saw me in the car it reached all the way back to the windshield and began clawing at me.

"It didn't have any ears. The face was all round. The eyes were shining like something fluorescent and it had a protuberant mouth. It was scaley, like leaves."

Wetzel said he became terrified when the creature reached over the hood of his car and began clawing at the windshield. He said he reached for a .22 pistol he had in the car.

"I held that pistol and stomped on the gas," he said. "The thing fell back from the car and it gurgled.

"The noise it made didn't sound human. I think I hit it. I heard something hit the pan under the car."

Sheriff's officers said Wetzel pointed at some thin, sweeping marks he said the creature made on his windshield. They went to the scene of the claimed apparition but said they could find nothing to prove or disprove Wetzel's story.

The scene is at a point where North Main Street dips and crosses the Santa Ana River bed, which is usually almost dry.

Wetzel said he told the story to his wife and she induced him to phone authorities. "I kept saying no one would believe a story like this," he said.

Sheriff's Sgt. E. R. Holmes said he thought perhaps a large vulture might have flopped on the hood of Wetzel's car--"Sometimes cars hit them when they're in the road eating rabbits cars have killed," he said. So he searched the area himself Sunday. "But," said Holmes, "I didn't even find a feather."

In a later story about the alleged encounter, Wetzel grumbled about the press coverage he had received. "They are trying to make me look like a fool," he complained, "and I don't believe I care to say anything more about it. But I did see something, and it wasn't a vulture, either."

So far as I can find, no one else reported seeing Wetzel's monster. However, as a Californian, I can vouch that far worse things can be seen on our roads.

Newspaper Clipping of the Day

Good news! Spring-heeled Jack likes to go trick-or-treating on Halloween, too! From the "[Greenwood, South Carolina] Index-Journal," October 24, 1985:

Hearne, Texas (AP) A tall, mysterious creature appears appears to have begun trick-or-treating a week early, say police who have been getting reports about something leaping from rooftop to rooftop and gnawing on front porches. The creature also has reportedly reportedly torn screen windows and scared a dog, police Chief James Bundren said Wednesday.

"It's Halloween time and there might be a lot of creatures out there. Every now and then someone calls and says they they think they heard the creature." One resident told authorities last week that something about six feet tall chewed up his porch, screen and railing, Bundren said. The resident beard a noise at the front door during the night and went to investigate. When be opened the door, Bundren said, he saw the "image of a man, but it had a head that was chewing and slapping at the door."

The resident told police he quickly slammed the door. He looked out the window and saw his frightened dog running down the street. Bundren said the pet still has not returned.

Another resident told police she heard something large land on one side of her roof, walk to the other side and leap off the carport, be said. But police found no tracks around the house.

"It raised all kinds of commotion around here after that happened," he said, adding that calls are still coming in from people saying they have heard the creature. Bundren said police have no suspects, but that the first homeowner may have seen a man holding a large dog in front of him.

I haven't found anything more about this story.

Newspaper Clipping of the Day

A pleasantly creepy little tale appeared in the "Logansport Press" on June 9, 1960:

Lynn, Ind.-The monster scare has returned to Indiana. A few years ago it was the giant Churubusco turtle which gathered fame throughout the state but eluded capture until it finally was forgotten. Now it's the monster of Craig's Well. This monster, which is described as "an eerie beast with a dome-shaped head, two bulbous eyes and eight flailing tenacles as long as a man's arm," resides in a cistern on Dan Craig's farm, four miles south of here on the Randolph County line.

Dan Craig, 56, said he first spotted the "thing" about a year ago but has kept it secret until now. Eastern Indiana got the first reports of the monster scare last Saturday when Craig succumbed to curiosity and pumped the 12-foot-deep cistern dry. The bottom, covered with years of debris, disclosed the octopus-like monster crawling among the decaying timbers. "But in the gloom," Craig said, "he was hard to see." Craig described the monster's body as  "mushroom colored" and said the tentacles have gray lobster-type claws on the ends. Many of the visitors who have come to his farm in the last few days have asked. "How did it get there?" Craig's theory is someone brought the odd creature back from the tropics when it was small. "When it grew to the dangerous stage," Craig said, "they looked for a place to get rid of it and picked my well."

Craig said he will have a man uncap the well and pen the narrow top so the interior can be entered with safety. But the job can't be done for two weeks. There is a hole near the bottom of the cistern which may be the mouth of a cave and lead to the outside. Craig reported. Exactly where it might go, he doesn't know. "In the meantime," Craig said, "I keep the well covered to protect the wife and four youngsters."

Another newspaper story added the distressing detail that a farmer lowered into the well a fish on a string. He pulled it up a while later, "slashed to ribbons." He fed the mutilated fish to his cat.

Fifteen minutes later, the cat was dead.

The well was eventually drained, but the "monster" had vanished. Interestingly, later that year numerous people made credible reports of seeing a "monster" in Hollow Block Lake, an abandoned clay pit about 30 miles north of Lynn, leading to speculation that Craig's beast had found a new home.

As for the answer to the mystery of what was in Craig's cistern, well, that seems obvious.

Cthulhu, come on down!

Newspaper Clipping of the Day

Well, this is just plain weird. From the "Caledonian Mercury," December 4, 1794:

In February last, a detachment of mounted infantry, commanded by Captain John Beard, penetrated fifteen miles into the Cumberland mountain.

On Cove Creek, Ensign McDonald and another man, in advance of the party as spies, discovered a creature about three steps from them; it had only two legs, and stood almost upright, covered with scales of a black, brown, and a light yellow colour in spots like rings, a white tuft or crown on the top of its head, about four feet high, a head as big as a two pound stone, and large eyes of a fiery red.

It stood about three minutes in a daring posture (orders being given not to fire a gun except at the Indians.) Mr. McDonald advanced, and struck at it with his sword, when it jumped at least eight feet, and lit on the same spot of ground, sending forth a red kind of matter out of its mouth, resembling blood, and then retreated into a laurel thicket, turning round often as if it intended to fight.

The tracks of it resembled that of a goose, but larger.

The Indians report that a creature inhabits that part of the mountain of the above description, which, by its breath, will kill a man, if he does not instantly immerse himself in water.

So, what to make of this alleged cross between Bigfoot and Spring-heeled Jack?

Damned if I know.