Awesome or Off-Putting is a weekly delve into cryptozoology, ufology, aliens, medical marvels, scientific wonders, secret societies, government conspiracies, cults, ghosts, EVPs, ancient artifacts, strange facts, odd sightings or just the plain unexplainable.
Detroit, a city best known for birthing Eminem, having thousands of abandoned and burned-out houses and for normally being spelled with a D in the front, really doesn’t have a lot going for it. It used to be the mighty city of motors – taking the wheel while the world sat shotgun. Now though – now it’s fallen. It is but a shadow of it’s former self.
The likely reason why everything there looks so bad is because they have a harbinger of doom on the city payroll. His name is Nain Rouge, and he’s been wreaking absolute havoc in the Motor City since before Henry Ford‘s pappy was a twinkle in his grand-pappy’s eye.
If you’re ever surfing Travelocity and they keep strongly recommending you visit Detroit – don’t go. Their gnome is probably trying to feed you to its distant cousin. And make no mistake – that distant cousin would eat you too. Sure, we imagine he’d at least show you the respect of covering you in a nice garnish and serving you with a side of potatoes, but he’d eat you nonetheless.
You still don’t think that sounds all bad? Well what if we pointed out Nain Rouge is said to have rotten teeth. Is that something you’d like to get chewed by? No really – get a load of this sighting from 1976 (as found on HubPages.com):
“Two employees of Detroit Edison ( the local utility company) are enjoying lunch in their truck. They spot a small child climbing a utility pole, and run from their vehicle shouting for him to come down before he falls to his death. As they reach the pole, the child looks down at them from the top, and leaps to the ground a few feet from where they stand. He runs off under gathering clouds, and leaves the two men in shock. Realizing this was no child, they later described the creature as small in stature and covered in short red fur. He had red eyes and rotted teeth.”
Granted, in this particular encounter the gnome doesn’t sound too scary – he climbed a pole, jumped off then ran away like a hot girl from a nerd during prom season. Nothing particularly dangerous about that, right? Well don’t get comfortable yet – this thing has attacked people. So says Wikipedia:
“A woman claimed to have been attacked in 1884, and described the creature as resembling, “a baboon with a horned head…brilliant restless eyes and a devilish leer on its face.” Another attack was reported in 1964.”
And if that’s still not bad enough – he’s actually been tied to a couple of wars/battles and fires in the area too – also from Wikipedia:
“The creature is also said to have appeared on July 30, 1763 before the Battle of Bloody Run, where 58 British soldiers were killed by Native Americans from Chief Pontiac’s tribe. The small tributary of the Detroit River which still flows through what is now Elmwood Cemetery turned red with blood for days after the battle. It is said he was seen dancing on the banks of the Detroit River.
“Famous multiple sighting occurred in the days before the 1805 fire which destroyed most of Detroit. General William Hull reported a “dwarf attack” in the fog just before his surrender of Detroit in the War of 1812.”
The last sighting of the red dwarf appears to have been in 1996, and involved a couple of drunk men watching him try to steal a car. We’d be more inclined to believe this if the story included the detail that it was a paraplegic’s vehicle, because the thought of a gnome reaching regular gas peddles is simply outlandish.
If Nain Rouge truly is the harbinger of doom, then he’s certainly in the right city. If only he’d danced around on river banks a little more before the auto industry absolutely imploded.
A little warning would have been nice. That’s all we’re saying.
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