Mussie

{{short description|Monster rumored to live in Muskrat Lake in Ontario, Canada}} {{good article}} {{Infobox mythical creature |name = Mussie |image = File:Mussie sighting.png |caption = A claimed sighting of Mussie from 2010 |Grouping = Lake monster |Sub_Grouping = Local legend |AKA = |Country = Canada |Region = Muskrat Lake, Ontario |Habitat = Water |First_Attested = }} In Canadian folklore, '''Mussie''' is a creature said to live in Muskrat Lake in the Canadian province of Ontario. It is variously described, for example, as a walrus or as a three-eyed Loch Ness Monster-like creature. The legend of Mussie likely began around 1916, though legend claims that Canadian pioneer Samuel de Champlain wrote about it in the early seventeenth century. Mussie has become a part of the local culture and a fixture in the local tourism industry.

==Characteristics== [[File:Loch Ness Monster 04.jpg|thumb|left|A depiction of the Loch Ness Monster, to which Mussie has been compared]] Mussie's name is a diminutive form of the name of its reported location: Muskrat Lake, a large, deep lake near the village of Cobden, Ontario, and about 75 miles northwest of Ottawa.<ref name="sun">{{cite web|url=http://www.ottawasun.com/2014/07/27/the-story-of-muskrat-lake-monster|publisher=Ottawa Sun|date=July 27, 2014|title=The story of Muskrat Lake monster|access-date=November 4, 2014|last=Corbett|first=Ron}}</ref> Muskrat Lake is home to another paranormal phenomenon: local legends state that an Atomic Energy of Canada bus driver saw an extraterrestrial spacecraft landing on a spot atop a hill and leaving. There is indeed a dark-colored, circular outline on this hill where grass does not grow, with no widely accepted cause.<ref name="colombo"/>

There is no single accepted portrayal of Mussie's age, its gender, or even whether it is a single, long-lived creature or a species. Some residents claim that a single, very old Mussie—or a member of its species—first arrived in the area, then covered by the ocean, about 10,000 years ago. In this tale, glaciers and, later, solid landmasses built up around it, forming the lake, and Mussie was trapped. Mussie's diet, according to self-proclaimed observer Donnie Humphries, consists at least partially of cattails found near the edge of the lake.<ref name="sun"/>

Descriptions of Mussie's physical appearance are inconsistent. In local folklore, it has variously been portrayed as akin to a walrus;<ref name="matthews"/> a sturgeon or other fish; or a Loch Ness Monster with three eyes and sharper teeth.<ref name="sun"/> Another oft-cited description from local historian James F. Robison is as follows: {{cquote|It is described as having three eyes, three ears, one big fin halfway down its back, two legs, [and] one big tooth in front, is silvery-green in colour, and stretches for twenty-four feet.<ref name="colombo"/>}}

==History== [[File:Cobdenpic.jpg|thumb|right|300px|Cobden, Ontario, during the winter]] The presence of a large, unusual creature in Muskrat Lake has been the subject of anecdotes since 1916. The creature's name was originally cited as ''Hapyxelor'', alternately spelled ''Hapaxelor'', but changed simply to ''Mussie'',<ref name="colombo"/> short for ''The Monster of Muskrat Lake'',<ref name="sun"/> sometime later.<ref name="colombo"/> Humphries, a man from Cobden, was a well-known proponent of Mussie's existence. Around the area, many people's knowledge of the creature come from his vehement, albeit inconsistent, tales of observing it once.<ref name="sun"/>

Some residents claim that, independent of the truth of the Mussie legend, the legend's origins are older: supposedly, early settler Samuel de Champlain wrote of the creature's existence in the early seventeenth century. However, no concrete evidence of such writings has been uncovered, even though Champlain did write of loud screams from sea monsters living in the Grand Banks of Newfoundland.<ref name="sun"/>

Author Michael Bradley and friend Deanna Theilmann-Beann searched for Mussie in the ''Nepenthe'', a boat with sonar technology. With their sonar, they found two creatures they hypothesized could be two marine mammals, three metres long. Bradley concluded that at least one creature compatible with Mussie's description lived in the lake, though he did not investigate the creatures further.<ref name="colombo">{{cite book|title=Mysteries of Ontario|last=Colombo|first=John Robert|authorlink=John Robert Colombo|isbn=978-0-888-82205-5|publisher=Dundum|date=1999|page=154}}</ref> Scientists have also surveyed the area and found nothing, though the definitive nonexistence of a Mussie-like creature is difficult to establish because some of the trenches in Muskrat Lake extend to over 60 metres.<ref name="sun"/>

==In culture== Mussie has become a cultural mascot of the area, appearing on signs welcoming visitors to Cobden and in front of the Home Hardware store in the village. It is not usually portrayed as fearsome; it is given seasonal accessories to mark holidays, like a Santa Claus hat for Christmas.<ref name="sun"/> The creature's economic value through the tourism industry has caused it to be described as "recession-fighting" in local folk songs.<ref>{{cite journal|journal=Bulletin de Musique Folklorique Canadienne|language=French|volume=33|page=47|date=1999}}</ref>

Every year, visitors in the Muskrat Lake area search for Mussie in the lake. So far, none have yet captured conclusive evidence of its existence.<ref name="sun"/> In the 1990s, a tourism marketing campaign for the area offered CAN$1 million to anyone who could capture a live specimen, but no one did.<ref name="matthews">{{cite book|last=Matthews|first=Rupert|title=The Little Book of the Paranormal|date=2010|publisher=The History Press|isbn=978-0-752-45165-7|page=64}}</ref> Mussie is referenced in travel pamphlets for the Whitewater Region area; one suggests that it can be caught by a fishing rod.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.whitewaterregion.ca/Welcome-to-Whitewater-Region.pdf|publisher=WhitewaterRegion.ca|title=Welcome to Whitewater Region|access-date=November 4, 2014}}</ref>

==References== {{reflist}}

Category:Canadian folklore Category:Culture of Renfrew County Category:Canadian legendary creatures Category:Lake monsters