Three Bear Island

USER: ArtLoman | POSTED 11-6-1990 6:16:37

SUBJECT: Three Bear Island

When you've been on the road for a while, you end up spending a lot of your evenings in bars. Now, some people sit at a bar and keep to themselves, but not me. I'm a salesman; I like people, and I like to talk to them, and I like to hear what they have to talk about. So I start up conversations when I'm sitting there, with a beer and a bowl of pretzels in front of me. And once you get a conversation started for them, most folks like to continue it. They like to have someone who listens to them. I'm a good listener.

That means I've heard a lot of stories. Told a bunch too, but that's for another day. People like to tell stories about themselves, about the places they've been and the people they know, and they love to tell stories about the strange things they've seen or heard of. I'd guess that maybe half the stories I've heard are that sort, local legends and ghost tales. Well, now that I've decided to find my way back to Miltown, I've found myself pondering those stories. There are a lot of vanishing places in them, sometimes as small as a grave, sometimes as big as a whole world, but I figure there has to be something in common with all the places that are there one moment and gone the next. And since I don't have a good way of finding Miltown right now... well, I can look for the other places. Maybe they'll have clues to how it all works.

That brings me to Three Bear Island. It's an archipelago out in Lake Superior. According to Chippewa legend, the big island was once a giant bear, who swam in the lake and was turned into islands along with her cubs (who make up the two smaller islands nearby). So we have Mama Bear Island, Big Cub Island, and Little Cub Island. Collectively they are called Three Bear Island, never Three Bear Islands, for some reason. Make it plural and you'll be showing that you're not local.

Anyway, this bear swam out into the lake with her cubs, and they became three islands. Then, much later, a bunch of French fur trappers and loggers set up a town, more a village or a trading post really, on Mama Bear Island. The Chippewa told them it was a bad idea, but they did it anyway. And for a while it was fine, and then it wasn't. One day, one of the French trappers came back to Mama Bear, and the town was gone. Just vanished, with all the people in it, looking like it had never been there. It was a big mystery.

But that little town didn't stay vanished. Every few years, someone would claim to see it. They'd see lights on the island at night, or even stumble right into the town when visiting the island. Some people have vanished mysteriously near Three Bear Island too, but that could be anything. It's a pretty classic ghost story round those parts. But it might not be ghosts. Maybe it's a place like Miltown, trapped outside of time.

Well, I'm going to go find out. I'm a good day's drive from Lake Superior now, in the middle of nowhere Indiana. I've got clients I can visit out there. I'm going to hit the road soon, talk to some people, and then get a boat out to Mama Bear. Walk where that old French trading post is supposed to be. And maybe I'll find something. I'll let you know.

-Art /:\ / : \ / : \ / : \ / : \ / o---o \ / /_[ ]_\ \ / |o - o| \ / 0=======0 \ / : \

USER: Horatio | POSTED 11-6-1990 6:24:51

SUBJECT: RE: Three Bear Island (ArtLoman)

I haven't heard of Three Bear Island, but there are stories of vanishing places from all over the world. This one makes me thing of Roanoke, although it might just be the early-colonization connection. How are you planning to investigate? Isn't it just an empty island most of the time?

************************ * "There are more * * things in heaven and * * earth, Horatio, than * * are dreamt of in * * your philosophy." * * * * -Hamlet * * Act 1, Scene 5 * * ---------------------* * Horatio * * System Operator * * Threshold BBS * ************************

USER: ArtLoman | POSTED 11-6-1990 6:29:30

SUBJECT: RE: RE: Three Bear Island (ArtLoman) (Horatio)

I'll poke around the site, sure. But mostly I plan to talk to people, and listen to what they have to say. You'd be amazed how often people don't bother to do that.

-Art /:\ / : \ / : \ / : \ / : \ / o---o \ / /_[ ]_\ \ / |o - o| \ / 0=======0 \ / : \