Mishipizhiw
Mishipizhiw is the Ojibwa deity also known as the "great Water Linx" or "Water
Panther". At home in rough or swift water, Mishipizhiw would aid those who sought to cross dangerous water, provided a suitable offering was made. Some modern Algonquian still leave offerings
-- including tobacco, clothing, and bundles of colored sticks -- at petroglyphs depicting Mishipizhiw as a horned,
clawed animal with a serrated tail. The face is usually shown in full profile. To modern eyes, it looks like some sort
of dragon.
An Ojibwa pictograph
of Michipizhiw was described in 1673 by a missionary named Father Marquette:
"While skirting
some rocks, which by their height and length inspire awe, we saw upon one of them two painted monsters which at first made
us afraid, and upon which the boldest savages dare not long rest their eyes. They are as large as a calf: they have horns
on their heads like those of a deer, a horrible look, red eyes, a beard like
a tiger's, a face somewhat like a man's, a body covered with scales, and so long a tail that it winds all around the body,
passing above the head and going back between the legs, ending in a fish's tail. Green, red, and black are the three colors composing the picture."
These figures have been
lost to the ages and no drawings or photographs survived. By 1838 only one figure was left. By 1847
the entire rock face was removed for use as construction material.
Mishipizhiw is still sighted in the Great
Lakes area and is considered a Cryptid. It is interesting how
so many "mythological" creatures are sighted by early explorers only to be later discounted as "native superstition"
later. Is Mishipizhiw an actual creature or a spirit animal? You'll have to visit the Great Lakes and see for yourself...
