Posted
on June 13, 2014
Check
out the official website for Churubusco's four-day Turtle Days
festival, and you will see that there is a fish fry and an
all-you-can eat dinner, a poker run and a cancer walk, a parade and a
fireworks show, dances and BINGO, a tractor pull and cornhole
tournaments, plus rides and entertainment and loads of food booths.
What
does any of that have to do with turtles? you may ask. Well, I left
out one activity: a turtle race.
But
that one turtle race isn't the reason why this annual festival
is held, and it's not why Churubusco, Indiana, is linked in people's
minds with turtles.
No,
the real reason for the turtle connection is the Beast of 'Busco:A turtle named Oscar.
A
giant turtle, as big as a dining room table.
A mysterious lake monster!
It
all began in 1898, when a man named Oscar Fulk claimed he saw a giant
snapping turtle living in a 7-acre lake on his land. Nobody seemed to
believe his story. I guess he didn't have the best P.R. people.
Way
later, in the summer of 1948, two men out on that same lake claimed
that they saw a giant turtle, larger than their boat. They told the
current owner of the lake what they saw.
Soon
the lake owner spotted the huge turtle, too, and then more and more
local people came to the lake, and some of them reported seeing a
giant turtle as well. Newspapers and radio began to run stories on
the lake monster, and people came from far and wide.
Many
people didn't want to just see the beast – they wanted to capture
it!
It
was a simpler time, I've read – a time when there was no television
broadcasts in the area, and certainly no internet! In the winter of
1949 there was a lot of interest in finding the turtle, who had been
named Oscar after the original farmer who said he'd spotted the
beast. People came up with all sorts of schemes for catching a giant
turtle – from nets to traps to contraptions. People even brought up
a female sea turtle from Florida to try to lure Oscar (who may or may
not have been a female, especially given the fact it may or may not
even have existed!!!). But none of the schemes worked.
Either
Oscar was one smart turtle...or he / she / it didn't exist. I know
which explanation I'd put my money on!
Read
more about the hunt for Oscar here.
If
you live near a lake...
...Think
ahead and start a rumor about a lake monster. The fabled Oscar put
Churubusco on the map, and of course the Loch Ness Monster made Loch
Ness super famous.
You can do the same for your local lake! Start some rumors—the bigger, the better! Your children and your children's children will thank you!
You can do the same for your local lake! Start some rumors—the bigger, the better! Your children and your children's children will thank you!
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on this date:
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ahead:
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