Ellsworth American., 1908-12-16
SPECTRE MOOSE.
Mysterious Monster Resumes Business
In the Maine Woods.


mysterious Monster Resumes Business
In the Maine Woods.
Maine's famous "spectre moose" which
few years ago created such sensation
among sportsmen, is reported to have
again appeared, after long absence, and
the excitement Of 1902 is revived. Skep-
ticsl have! tried to spoil the story of the
spectre moose, or, as it is oftener called,
the giant moose, by explaining that
'there amt no sich"-that the spectre
was simply big draft horse.
But the explanations didn't agree. One
says that it was a black horse, which
couldn't very well be mistaken for
q white moose; another that it was grey
horse. One says the horse ran away, an
other that he was turned loose as useless
on account Of injuries. Now, no horse
bears any resemblance to moose, and no
horse could survive for long il left to run
wild in the Maine woods-and the phan-
tom moose has been cruising around
between Lobster lake and the Canada line
for years.
Anyway, the spectre moose has again
teen seen, this time by George Fl. Houston,
Of Bangor, who recently returned from .
timber cruise in the vicinity OF Chem
quasabamticook lake. While on his way
to camp, Houston came to an open bog
containing about thirty acres. Standing
within the edge OF the timber he counted
sixteen. moose feeding leisurely in the
opening. He noticed three bulls, aood
large fellows, but he almost had the ague
when he saw the monarch OF the herd,
which he AYERS IL q monster. Being to
leeward Of the herd and within eighty
yards Of them, Houston had . splendid
chance to observe the moose. The big
fellow had . magnificent pair Of horns
twenty points on one side and twenty-one
ON the other, with q palm at least eighteen
inches wide in the velvet. The other bulls
were large, but they looked like pigmies
beside Of the big fellow.
This giant moose has been . wonder and
. mystery Of the Maine woods since 1901
or further back. In the autumn of 1901 .
Boston sportsman named M. A. Cushing
came down from the Katahdin Iron Works
region and reported having seen the big
moose and having tried to get . photo
graph Of him. He had heard stories Of the
white moose, but had refused to believe
them, but when one day near Chairback
mountain he received q visit from the
monster, he was convinced, also 50 startled
that he forgot all about his camera until
too late to get picture. Mr.. Cushing de-
scribed the moose as the largest by far
that he has ever seen, and of a dusty
white color except for brown patch
under the chin. He thought the animal
would be worth at least $500 when
mounted.
Every story that comes from the north
woods concerning this moose makes him q
little bigger than before; but, allowing
for exaggeration, it is reasonably certain
that no moose yet killed in Maine has ap-
preached this in size. 1t was in 1901 that
the moose was first seen in Maine by
Clarence Duffy, an Old Town guide, who
was cruising around Lobster lake. Duffy
did not get near enough to the monster for
a shot, but said he saw him plainly and
gave q detailed description Of the animal
when he came back to town. Everybody
laughed at the story, and Duffy was set
down as the greatest romancer OF his time.
Not many months after that, however,
John Ross, a Bangor lumberman, was at
Lobster lake, where he had camps, and
one day, while crossing between Big Lob
ster and Little Lobster lakes in company
with the foreman of w. L. Maxfield' g
camps, he saw the big moose. Mr.. Ross is
no romancer, and when he told his story
people began to believe that there was
something up there worth shooting at.
For many years hunters searched the
woods in vain for the big moose, for it
would be worth a small fortune to any
man to bring him down. Not until 1905
however, was the monster seen again. In
that year Granville Gray,a Bangor taxider-
mist, got sight of the moose at some little
distance, and since then he has had Sec
ond view. In 1902 Gilman Brown, of West
New bury, Mass, got nearer to the mon
ster than had any OF the others, actually
getting several shots at him. Brown
averred that the moose stood fully fifteen
feet high and that he had antlers ten to
twelve feet across.
Like most of the others who had sight
of the monster, Mr.. Brown saw the moose
at dusk, but the animals gray coats howed
plainly, and Brown got several shots at
him, none of which, however, seemed tc
have any effect. He was SO close that he
could count twenty-five points on one
side of his antlers, and thought at the
time that there were more. This is great
er number of points than has ever been
known on any moose, here or elsewhere.
Last year the only man to get sight oi
the great moose was George Kneeland, OF
Sherman, who had charge of his brothers
lamber camp at Gulliver Brook. in de-
scribing his experience, Kneeland said;
81 had to go to Macwahoc on business
and so got bicycle and started about A
o'clock in the afternoon to go down by
the road thrOugh the woods As | was