Comments on: Wisconsin Rapids Lion

By: Loren Coleman

Loren Coleman — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 12:10:10 +0000

I certainly appreciate Ms. Rhonda Whetstone Neibauer following up with the added details.

Needless to say, the “circus train wreck” explanation is often heard regarding these old cases, but the train derailments are sometimes as elusive to track down as the mystery cats.

If anyone can find and forward the drawings to me at lcoleman@maine.rr.com ~ I’ll post them here.

Thank you for all the extra insights Ms. Neibauer.

By: RhondaWriter

RhondaWriter — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 05:43:19 +0000

I am the columnist for the above story.

Had I not been limited by words for my column, I could have filled in more details.

Regarding the sketch: Grim Natwick was born and raised in WI Rapids, and everyone knew him. He just happened to be home visiting his family and was as close was they could come to a “sketch artist.” I get the impression that he seriously drew what was described, but when you ask a cartoonist to draw something, you will not get 100% realism. While follow-up stories did mention derision regarding the sketches, one sketch was, in actually, not as cartoonish. Both Natwick’s sketches appear on the front page of the Wisconsin Rapids Daily Tribune, Thursday, June 23, 1949. If you have access to the Newspaper Archives, you can see them.

The area was divided. Most thought there was “something” out there, but many thought that it was just people’s imaginations running wild. Previous stories I have done on other things, like UFOs and other oddities are that way too. If you were not the one who saw it, you were a scoffer.

One of the things done early in this investigation was to check with Baraboo and also places with zoos, to see if any animals had escaped, or if there had been a train derailment, or other accident which would have caused a lion to be released. There was nothing.

I grew up here on a main highway and as a kid we often heard bobcats back in our woods. There are still sightings from time to time. My father was always of the opinion (he grew up in PA where mountain lions were common in the mountains) that some of them can grow quite large. If anything was seen, I would guess it was that.

I could tell you more about the Bray Road Beast though, since my cousin married one of the Bray sons who grew up on Bray Road.

–Rhonda Whetstone Neibauer/Rhonda’s View Rendezvous

P.S. Just an added note, there was a circus train derailment here many years previous to this. –Rhonda

By: jtmkryptos

jtmkryptos — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 13:36:14 +0000

the atrox theory is what comes into mind.
i live in WI, and i can see how a creature could remain cryptic.

bigcat news: there have been 10+ sightings of mountain lions in the state of WI, hopefully the species is making a comeback.

By: TimB

TimB — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 19:45:25 +0000

I haven’t heard anyone bring this up, but Barnum and Bailey had their winter grounds 60 miles directly south of Wisconsin Rapids in Baraboo, WI. I’d imagine 60 miles wouldn’t be a lot of land for a hungry lion to cover. And it would make sense that the lion felt comfortable eating out of a trough if here being fed on a regular basis by humans. Just what popped into my mind when I read that.

By: SIRUPAPERS

SIRUPAPERS — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 17:03:35 +0000

Excellent point Mr. Coleman, it was that line that made me think either Mr. Natwick didn’t buy into the story or was even asked to create an image that would bring scorn and derision and make “wiping” the story even easier. Obviously we’ll never know why he created the images he did, but as a professional editorial cartoonist my broader point is two fold: we don’t yet have the pictures so we don’t know how “animated” the drawing actually was (he could have been rendering the animal in a style that would reproduce cleanly in a newspaper). And secondly, Mr. Natwick could not have been as influential an artist as he was and work for the studios he did on the projects he did and be unable to create accurate, realistic sketches of the cryptid. So if these were “cartoons” then there was a bias either on the part of Mr. Natwick, or more sinisterly, the authorities who wanted the story to go away (which we have seen on more than once).

By: Loren Coleman

Loren Coleman — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 16:39:16 +0000

The article does give a clue to the reaction to the images produced:

“Natwick, being a cartoonist, turned out cartoon-like sketches, to the delight of those already doubting it was anything but a large dog.”

I have attempted to find the drawings, without luck.

By: SIRUPAPERS

SIRUPAPERS — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 16:19:41 +0000

One other possibility for using Mr. Natwick is a lack of police sketch artists. Seeing Mr. Natick’s pedigree I have no doubt he was an artist of the highest caliber and it would make perfect sense that the authorities would turn to him. Not seeing the images I wonder just how cartoon-like the drawings actually were (he could have been trying to create a simple image that the newspaper could print without distortion) but if he created “cartoon” versions of the animal then there are several possibilities:

1) Despite his extensive training he felt that doing the work in the style that made him famous would actually lend credibility to the story (not the smartest idea, I agree).

2) He didn’t buy the story and didn’t take it seriously so he used a style that wouldn’t reflect poorly on him.

3) He used a familiar style that would allow him to finish the artwork quickly so he could get back to VISITING HIS FAMILY.

4) The authorities wanted the story to lose credibility and be forgotten so they requested Mr. Natick render the lion in an animated style to help descredit the story as part of the “wipe”.