the Portage · the carry between watersLA BAIE DES PUANTSthe Bay of Stinking WatersTHE LAKEsunrise waterTHE LEDGEPointe SableLe Mieux Chapelthe Bay of Whispering Wavesto the north country and the Hodagto the Manitowoc wall, a day's walk southup the bay to Escanaba, where the wagon restswestward to the mill cities · a five years' sojournsouth and west to the ruins of the MidwestThe Way Westwardthe leaving and the coming home, five years apart201320122011201020092013 · home to the Bayback across the water to teach the foundations2008 · out from the Baythe last showing struck, the road running westthe river valleythe walk kept hereHighpointthe printing housethe fallsthe ruin kept herethe Stone Archthe walk kept herethe chain of lakesthe walk kept hereLyndalethe walk kept hereBay SettlementWequiockRed BanksBendervilleDyckesvilleBrusselsNamurRosiereChampionLuxemburgCascoAlgomaKewauneeShoemaker PointDuvallBay ViewLincolnEurenThiry DaemsTonetFrog StationWalhainGreen Baythe Old Holdingthe still point · the cosmogonyNTongue of the Archivist · chamber I of sixIKnuckle Reliquary · chamber II of sixIILoam Gospel · chamber III of sixIIIMurk & Ember · chamber IV of sixIVMycelial Threadwork · chamber V of sixVThe Unknot · chamber VI of sixVIthe Wheel0510 milesTHE GROUNDSsurveyed in the naturalist's handWiddershins Project ArchiveThe Sounding-pod of Point au Sable · Pointe Sable, where the creek gives out into the bayaThe Ledge-Sleeper and the Rock's Own Time · the Ledge, where the creek runs cold off the rockbThe Crow Mage of the Ledge · past the Ledge and up, where a maple and a hemlock stand closecThe Skep-Goblin of the St. Anthony Shrine · the woods behind Le Mieux Chapel, Bay SettlementdThe Tidgetrotters of the Stinking Waters · the shallows of the Bay of Stinking WaterseFinnegan, the Tidgetrotter Cartographer · outbound over the Bay of Whispering WavesfThe Rimewrights of the Under-Ice · the frozen creek, at the under-icegThe Cap-folk of the Field-Margins · the hardwoods toward CascohLe Loup d'Eau · Algoma, where waters meetiwiddershinsthe holding goes deeperTHE OLD HOLDINGthe farmstead, as it was kept in mindplaceholder sheet · every shape a slot for the handNthe north woodsthe ponda few yearsthe NW hedgerowthe hedgerowthe corralthe gardenalways therea few yearsthe eastern fieldgarden, pasture, hay, and meadow by turnspasture, in its yearsVan Lanen Rdthe drivewaythe barnthe garagemachine shedpig pensmoke housethe granarychicken cooppump house (gone)the housethe climbing treehay mowmind the holes in the floorkitchen wingthe sidewalkred back stepsfalse doorpropane tankwood and junkthe little pondsBig Wheel hillthe ditchasparagustall grass, the open middlethorns · berries underneathlilacgrass up the middlewest to the creek, the bike path, and the poolfarther west, a tree fort in the big woodson through the woods, a tree fortsouth across the road, a tree fort in the woodsback up to the county sheetThe Cedar House · by the road, north of the ditch · a stand of close-grown cedars KITCHEN UPSTAIRS LIVING ROOM BEDROOMthe Cedar House KITCHEN UPSTAIRS LIVING ROOM BEDROOMOUR HOUSEthe Cedar Housevignette · placeholder KITCHEN UPSTAIRS LIVING ROOM BEDROOMOUR HOUSEthe Cedar Housefull drawing · placeholderThe Thresher · out in the eastern field · a wreck in the grass the Thresher A DERELICT SHIPthe Threshervignette · placeholder A DERELICT SHIPthe Thresherfull drawing · placeholderThe Fort · in the hedgerow's south tangle · under the thorns ?the Fort ?THE DOUBLE IS NOT YET RECORDEDthe Fortvignette · placeholder ?THE DOUBLE IS NOT YET RECORDEDthe Fortfull drawing · placeholder

Unearthed · mark i

Le Loup d'Eau

Algoma, where waters meet

The leaf lies where it was filed. What the ground held at this mark is recorded in the archive; the survey only fixes the where.

Research

Le Loup d'Eau: The Water-Wolf of the Ahnapee Mouth

How a settler scare-story went down into the lake

June 12, 2026

Widdershins Project Archive · 4L-1

cryptidlake-michiganalgomafolklorele-loup-deau

The town was Wolf River before it was Algoma. Folks think it is named for the timber-wolf they used to scare the children with, a great gray wolf that would get them if they strayed toward the water. The fishermen knew it was not in the woods. After the tug John Evenson rolled over in the canal in June of 1895 and they never brought Boswell, the engineer, back up, the men working the Ahnapee mouth started saying the wolf had gone into the water, to take what the lake takes.

It carries a cold light it offers like a lantern, and the men who rowed toward it did not always row back. The fishermen called it the Loodoo. The proper name, worn down from the French, is Le Loup d’Eau, the Water-Wolf. Its form is three legible parts and no more: a drowned gray wolf’s head, a single anglerfish lure on a stalk rising from the brow between the ears, casting a cold blue-green light, and a long eel body armored with lake-sturgeon scutes. Along its flank it wears brass ship’s portholes lit warm from within. It wears the boats it took, their drowned lamps still burning inside it.

The name is not one word but a stratigraphy, the same sound-law that turned Ahnepee into Ahnapee and Beaudoin into Bodoh a township over. The fish-house ledger spells it Loopdo. The parish register has Loudeau. The children just said the Loodoo. Folks figured it was a kid’s word, but it is a worn scrap of French, loup d’eau, and the name remembered what the thing was after the men forgot.

Everything before the creature is a matter of record. The tug, the canal, the June that took the engineer. The creature is the one thing openly invented, set down among the facts so that the seam does not show. That is the whole method. You never have to pretend it is real for the lake to keep its cold light.

the leaves lie in order; turn them back to the rock · drag to pan · scroll to zoom · past 3× the ground gives up small things · the ⊕ marks go down · the marks, listed below ·

the farmstead · drag to pan · scroll to zoom: a stamp far off, a drawing up close · lay the haunting and the doubles appear · zoom all the way out to surface · the ground, listed below