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Monster Hunting Keeps Teenagers on RunTinHlt;Sfeintha! AreaPerfect Settingfor New SportRumored AnimalSeven Feet Tall,So Youths SayBy SYD HERMAN Staff Writer STEINTHAL — Hollywoodcouldn’t have picked a better spot to film a horror story with aU the impact of the originalFrankenstein picture. There are youngsters in the immediate and surrounding areas who head for the house when the sun drops behind the curtain of hills around this valley and the fog begins to drift across the roads from the swamps. A hound howling between the echoing hills is the signal to send the tiny ones to bed and to send the teenagers into their cars on another monster hunt.A sort of mass hysteria has swept the teen-age clan and there are those who claim to have seen it, some who imagined they saw it and those who believe the legend and roam the roads nightly in tightly-dosed cars hoping to see it.What is it? No two descriptions are alike. Originally it was supposed to be a monstrous hairy three-eyed animal seven feet tall whose eyes shone like twin green moons anywhere from six inches to two axe-han-dles apart.Abundance of TracksAn outdoorsman, experienced in tracking, went over the property Saturday afternoon searching for tracks. The ground was soggy from recent rains and there was an abundance of! tracks — hundreds of imprints of the hooves of deer coming to the isolated farm’s lush apple orchard to feed and to the springs to drink. There were a few fox tracks, a small dog’s tracks and one spot where a lone racoon had crossed. Nothing else!An archer hunting deer on the back 40 said he had seen the green eyes often at night — that they belonged to a wounded deer which swayed as it walked and which jumped fences, making the eyes look seven feet In the air at times.Steinthal is a quaint village built in a setting which could do justice to the tales of Bram Stoker. Heading west from St.Nazianz or southeast from Kielyou wander over winding roads that snake their way around the deep kettle holes of the moraine country left hy the glacier and then suddenly you top a rise and there is a winding road leading down into a deep ravinewhere, at night, wisp3 of mistswirl across the road. The area Is full of springs, bubbling quagmire, deep swamps and loose quicksand. One unfamiliar withthe territory had best stick to the road.Vandals Smash Windows The farmhouse where the monster is most frequently seen belongs to Lee Schweitzer, a welder, who moved away when his bam burned mysteriously last year. Monster seekers have since vandalized the farmhouse, smashing the windows from theInside with rocks, damaging thewalls and scattering personal belongings still stored there. Schweitzer doesn’t mind the monster hunts but intends doing something about persons who destroy his property. He has asked for sheriff department protection of the premises. Some one even went inside, found a dressmaker’s dummy, dressed it in a white nightgown, placed green reflectors in the head and placed it at the head of the stairs. Now the local lads take their Kiel and St. Nazianz high school girl friends there nights to scare the daylights out of them when they round the corner and focus their lights oo the white robed, greeneyed monster. The farm is set about a quarter mile back from the road through a marshy area that would make some Scottish moors look like museum imitations.What do the adults think about it? They gather at Adam Franzen’s crossroads tavern in the bottom of the ravine and laugh. They point out the window to a typical HoIlywoodTook* tag swamp lake from which the monster is supposed to rise and they make jokes. But, Adam says, every once in a while someone will come tearing down the road, skid to a stop on the graveled road and holler that they just saw the monster up the road.Good for Business “Then they almost tear the front of the place off trying to get out the front door for a look,” Adam says. Cars are parked three deep around the tavern as the curious stop for information, a beer or two and some talk about the monster.“Why don’t you put up a big sign saying ‘Come in and try our monster beers?' ” one of the wags suggested. There had been some talk about setting up a vegetable stand across the road in an empty lot to sell the villagers surplus garden crop.“If it has eyes is the back ofIsSTAMPING GROUNDS — The weird monster reported roaming the swamps at Steinthal, Manitowoc County, is seen most frequently in this deserted farmyard, at the end of a quarter mile dead end road leading into the swamp. The bam burned mysteriously at theLee Schweitzer farm and the family moved to a newer, more modem home in the village. Since then the place has been rumored as the abode of the monster described as seven feet tall, hairy and with three large green glowing eyes. (Photos by staff photographer)Class for WomenWASHINGTON (AP) — The Organization of American opening a specialStates is opening a course in Puerto Rico in January, 1966, for training of women for civic and community leadership from 10 Latin-American nations.VANDALS TARGET—The deserted farmhouse, formerly occupied by the Lee Schweitzer family at Steinthal has become a shambles since teenagers reported seeing the “Steinthal monster” there. Visitors have disregarded the “private property—no trespassing” signs and have gone into the housewhere household goods are still stored, throwing rocks at the plaster walls and knocking out windows. Schweitzer has asked for protection from the sheriff’s department. The side of the house was blistered by the barn fire.BLACK LAGOON—Nestled between the hills of Steinthal are a myriad of springs and quagmires, including this backwater from a dam which once operated a mill and later“monster” reportedly comes from the fringes of this swamp where it is supposed to hide during the daytime. Muck and quicksand make searches here practically impossibleserved as a trout planting reservoir. The and help perpetuate the legend.its head I know who it Js. It must be my foreman,” one of the visitors quipped.The juke box is going, everybody is laughing, there is a hubbub. Then suddenly a car squeals to a stop and somebody shouts out front. Suddenly the place is empty. Everybody is outside. Adam mops the bar and picks up the glasses. He grins.“Gives me a chance to clean up the place. Ain’t had a minute’s rest since this thing has started. Don’t even get time to go fishing any more,” he said.Telephone Co., Union Extend PactMILWAUKEE (AP)—A one-year contract extension that the Wisconsin Telephone Co. said would provide 6,500 workers with $1.75 million additional in wages and benefits was reached Tuesday by representatives of the firm and the Communications Workers of America.The agreement would be retroactive to Sept. 2? if ratifiedby the union Oct 18.A spokesman said that the extension provides for basic wage increases of $2 to $5 a week and an increase in the company’s portion of the premium payment for employes’ medical insurance.- AI* A! 1* ax,,■ '* * H4 $■- s* %iA Complete SporU Section! ISPECTRE?—In the dark at the top of the stairs in the deserted farmhouse, this weird figure was encountered. Turning a corner and entering a steep stairway leading upstairs the flashlight lighted up two large green eyes at the top of the stairs and a white draped figure which almost appeared to float there. The bright flash of the photographers’ strobe, however, showed it to be a pranksters creation designed to frighten prowlers. Someone had dressed a dressmaker’s dummy with a white gown, fashioned a head of foam plastic and set it with two green reflectors for eyes. Teen-agers in the area use the “monster” tales as a thrill gimmick and roam the fog-shrouded roads at night in the swamps looking for the “beast.” The oldsters merely shake their heads and laugh at the legend
Newspaper Details
Manitowoc Herald Times
Manitowoc, Wisconsin, US
Wed, Sep 29, 1965
Page 14
Full Page
Clipped by
Madison P.
WI, USA 30 Sep 2022
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