10/14/2026
Beware of the Long Lake Monster!
It's October and time to recall those timeless stories of the supernatural in Wabash County. Remember the headless boy searching for his head on Higgley curve, blood dripping from the Speicher Cemetery gravestone, Hobbit Land, the grave of an infant in a downtown building, Okie Pinoke, the hanging tree or the snake cave near Dora???? Well, it's getting closer to Halloween and here is an unusual tale of Wabash County for you said to have occurred here in 1880. The events were sworn to by Laketon locals and the justice of the peace and were reported in the Wabash Plain Dealer. Pictured here is what the LONG LAKE MONSTER may have looked like EXCEPT much, much larger. In August of 1880, about fifty members of a Methodist Sunday School class were enjoying a picnic at Long Lake. All were having a great time. A group of ladies were wading in the lake while a group of men stood around smoking and talking about local events of the community. Young children running here and there chasing each other. Young couples sitting under the shade of a tree. When suddenly things began to change. The ladies wading noticed it first as the water began to hit their legs harder. Turning their attention to the middle of the lake they noticed A DARK OBJECT rising out the middle of the lake. They began to point with their hands to the object and those milling on the beach began to watch and shout to one another as the dark object became larger and larger. The dark object at first was the head of a creature, having been disturbed by the noise, rising from the depths of the lake. None could identify it. Whatever it was, it was it was described as about 190 feet long; 5 foot between its oval red eyes, with a 45 foot, sea green girth. It had six crocodile type legs and wings outstretched like those of a bat. It gave a shrill whistle, spread its wings and flew out of the lake! The creature then circled the lake several times and then dove back into the lake. The crowd below watched in amazement. Some of the men even drew pistols they were carrying and fired at it. Lew Keagle, local justice of the peace, swore to what had happened and the Wabash Plain Dealer reported the incident then. Five years later the monster reappeared. According to local newspapers, Keagle contacted the great showman P.T. Barnum who along with 60 men caught the monster in Round Lake (they thought the two were connected by an underground passageway). 800 swarmed Laketon to watch all the excitement. A wire net and two cannon were used to capture the creature. The next time you are swimming in Long Lake and something touches your toes and seems to be nibbling on them, ask yourself: Is the LAKETON MONSTER a myth? Or is it just waiting for the right moment to reappear? When at the Long Lake festival take the pontoon ride and while riding look for signs of the monster yourself. Mathias Lisa recalls “Omggggg I swam across this lake twice in high school and swam there almost everyday when we were little never saw anything and used to fish on Round lake. Back in the 70s when the oil slick from the refinery was still there hahahaa.” Sheri Helton adds “well, I'm sure this thing survived on Hawaiian Tropic and baby oil, because Ruthann Baxter and I poured enough in Long Lake to fuel a small country.”
