- Hi, I'm Mickey.

- And I'm Ryan.

- [Mickey & Ryan] And this is "Hiseerie."

(eerie music) All throughout history, different cultures have believed in the paranormal.

Divine gods, spirits, aliens, shaman, and witchcraft, just to name a few.

Supernatural occurrences are reported all over the world and have become ingrained into pop culture.

Since the beginning of humanity, people have been questioning the bigger picture of existence.

What's really out there?

Aliens, ghosts, Bigfoot?

Well, we wanna try it ourselves in our own backyard.

So come with us and explore the paranormal and macab side of the great Midwest.

Tonight, we're in a pillow fort to tell each other some spooky, scary and weird stories.

- We'd like to be outdoors, but we can't.

Mother nature's a little bit relentless this time of year, and unpredictable.

So we brought ourselves indoors for you.

(spooky music) - All right, Ryan, you wanna start us off?

- I can start us off.

- Let's go, okay.

- With the "Miniwashitu."

It's got a good name.

(Mickey and Ryan chuckle) - It's a good name.

(spooky music) - "The Missouri River runs across the Midwest from St.

Louis all the way to Western Montana.

It notably goes through Theodore Roosevelt National Park," which I have been.

- Wait, where is that though?

- Basically the edge of North Dakota, the western edge.

- Okay.

- "There in this stretch of river, there's tales of a river monster that creeps in its depths.

The Miniwashitu was first reported long before Western colonization.

It was originally a story shared by the Dakota and Mandan tribes across the Dakotas.

Kept alive through oral tradition.

The name Miniwashitu translate to water monster, to dreadful bean in English."

- I don't mess with no water creatures.

(chuckles) - I love the water, to be honest.

- Thought you were gonna say, "I love when there's river monsters."

- Oh, no, no.

Well, I mean, if it's fish, sure.

And I can catch them without them attacking me, even better.

- Bar's on the floor.

(both laugh) If it doesn't attack me, it's awesome.

- Yeah, I mean, if I got a chance to get unscathed by it, I'll do it.

- They're slimy.

I don't know.

Just like, what if you're in the... Okay, here's my thing though.

What if you're in... (laughs) Okay, you're in a lake, right?

First of all, there could be a shark.

Second of all, there's leeches and there's like fishes, slimy fishes.

- Where's the shark?

- There could be a shark.

Because in my brain there's sharks in every water.

(laughs) In all the water there's a shark.

And so, but you're in the lake and then you are standing there, but then the seaweed comes to life and pulls you down.

- Well, you can get caught in seaweed.

- Oh, okay, that doesn't help me.

- It's terrifying, that has happened to me.

It's terrifying.

- How?

- You'll be swimming through it and it wraps around your leg or your arm and.

- So it comes to life?

- It doesn't come to life.

It's the current- - Snatches you.

- It's the current.

- Oh my God.

(Ryan laughs) And then you can just also just drown.

That's the other... There's also just- - [Ryan] Oh yeah.

- You can just drown.

- [Ryan] Yep.

- Anyway, the Miniwashitu.

(laughs) - Back to the beast.

- I'm scared.

I don't even... - Actually, your shark comment, it's very rare that they're in bodies of water like lakes.

But do you- - It does happen.

- Do you know that there have been, I think it's bull sharks as far as Illinois that swam up the rivers?

- That's just way too close.

- I think it happened in the 1920s or early tens.

- So, okay, there's probably so much pollution now that it's not gonna, right?

- Not necessarily.

- Oh God.

- It's possible because they can control the salt levels within their body.

So they can actually live in fresh water for a decent amount of time.

Not completely, but a decent amount of time.

(Mickey kisses her teeth) So yeah, if you look it up- - That's awful.

- Somewhere in Illinois there were shark attacks.

I think it was 1916 or like 1925, something like that.

- I don't do well with sharks.

It just, like" Jaws."

- There's two things that freak me out.

If the water's dirty enough and I can't see the bottom or something.

- Okay.

- I start playing things in my mind that are- - Not real.

- Probably seemingly impossible, but they're still a probability in my head.

Or if it's the clearest water and it's so deep I can't see the bottom.

- That's like a nightmare.

- Yes.

- Dude, even- - So, I can't swim in the middle of the ocean.

As much as I would want to, I can't.

- A six foot pool, like a pool, like at a hotel or whatever, I can't swim in that without freaking out eventually.

It's like I can be fine for 20 minutes, and then all of a sudden I'll be like, "There is a shark under me."

I can see everything 'cause it's six feet of clear chlorinated water, and I'm like.

"It's over, I'm dead, I'm dead."

Okay, this has been a problem.

The lifelong issues.

Okay, we've lost the plot.

We have lost the Miniwashitu.

(both laugh) Okay, so I will not be going to any bodies of water regardless of how the story turns out.

- Come on.

Just water monster to dreadful being.

(both laugh) - But what if a fish is actually a monster?

Or not like that.

I don't know what I was saying.

(laughs) But what if like Nessy, all those are just fishes morphing into a monster?

(feint eerie music) - I still wanna see 'em.

- You're so weird.

- Why?

I'm not saying I wanna be in the water and see them, but I'll drive by Lochness and see it pop up.

- Okay, yeah, that's fair.

I guess as long as it's not near me.

- Yeah.

- But if I go into over here, or if I go to Teddy Roosevelt Park, Theodore Roosevelt Park?

- [Ryan] It's Theodore Roosevelt.

- If I go to that park, right, and then I'm in that water and then he pops up, what am I gonna do?

- Smile and wave.

- (laughs) Okay.

- Maybe if you are friendly, he'll be friendly.

- Okay, okay.

That's right.

Treat other, or do onto others how you want done to you.

(laughs) Forgot the saying halfway through speaking.

So, scary monster in river.

(both laugh) That's what I've gathered.

- All right.

"In 1921, Melvin Randolph Gilmore, a curator for the North Dakota State Historical Society, wrote down the first written record of the Miniwashitu.

Transcribing the stories-" - It's over a hundred years ago.

Okay, sorry.

(laughs) - It's 105 years ago.

- Wow.

- "Transcribing the stories shared by the regional tribes.

The Miniwashitu is said to be an eight foot tall creature that has the appearance like you took a bison, a centaur, and a dinosaur and just like, see what happens.

- Poof.

- Just blend it up, jigsaw puzzle.

- No, I don't like that.

- I think most people don't like it.

(laughs) - Buffalos are so big.

Buffalos already eight feet tall.

I don't know how big a buffalo is.

- They probably stand five, six feet tall.

- Wait, like stand like on all fours?

- On all fours.

They're, yeah, they're.

- And this thing, I mean if it's centaur.

Oh wait.

Well no, I guess it would be... What's it called when you're on two legs?

- Bipedal.

- (laughs) Yes.

It's a funny thing.

Bipedal, that's so dumb.

(both laugh) - Sorry, science.

(both laugh) "The creature notably has a singular eye in the center of its head, and a horn like a rhinos right above it.

Its body is covered in thick, bright, reddish fur that is said to give off a red glow at night."

- Oh.

(laughs) - Is this thing radioactive?

- Maybe.

- From 1921.

- Well, what if a time traveler accidentally got back?

(Mickey laughs) Sorry.

Well no, 'cause that's just the first written record.

So someone or some mad scientist time portaled, whatever.

- Time traveled.

- So time.

Oh, time traveled.

Oh no.

Okay, sorry.

So mad scientists time traveled back to the 1700s, right.

And the time travel machine, the time machine if you will, the time machine, right.

It was radioactive, so then it, like when he landed, or I shouldn't assume it was a man.

When they landed.

You know what.

When they landed- - I'm just gonna take this back.

- But it was radioactive.

And it was like a poor buffalo was just chilling in the field nearby and then it poisoned it, and then that's how it was born.

But if that's what all crypteds are?

Okay, sorry, continue.

- I'm just trying to grasp my mind of what if all crypteds are like that?

All right.

"So it glows at night red, its spine is rigid and protrudes from its back like spiked teeth of a saw."

Which kind of I pictured.

Then that's maybe where the dinosaur comes into play.

- Oh, the like exposed bone?

- Mm-hmm.

The plates, yeah.

- That's so gross.

- That's how I'd imagine it anyways.

Plates.

"And in most of the accounts has the hands of a human, and sometimes it has hooves."

- Oh, it's the bones protruding from the back.

That's so zombie-ish.

- Oh, you wanna talk about zombie-ish?

"Well, its mouth is huge wrapping around from ear to ear, and is filled with long razor sharp teeth."

(both laugh) - Jesus, oh no.

I don't do sharks and I don't do dinosaurs, and that feels like an evil combination.

- "The monster is normally seen in the spring, and does have a service to the river and community by using its rigged back to break through the ice it had formed over the river's surface."

- Okay, I feel bad for making fun of him now.

I guess wasn't making fun.

I feel bad for being scared of him.

- But does it do it on purpose or is it just?

- Hazard of the tree.

- [Ryan] Yeah, right.

- It's like, oh, it's part of the gig.

Well, I think that's nice.

Okay, sorry, continue.

Now, it's gonna be like, oh it's gonna kill everyone, but.

(Mickey laughs) - We'll get there.

- Okay, we'll get there.

- Don't rush.

Don't rush a good.

- [Mickey] A good?

(both laugh) Okay.

Freudian slip there, Ryan.

(chuckles) - "A loud roar announces the monster's arrival as it breaks over the water's surface with a loud splash.

The Miniwashitu has a diet made predominantly of fish and grass.

- Okay.

- So just- - So it does go on land.

- Have a low seafood diet and you should be safe.

(Mickey laughs) - That's my favorite food.

- And don't be only a vegetarian.

(both laugh) - Low vegetable, low fish.

(laughs) - "Humans are safe from the monster unless they wander into its territory."

- Okay, so.

(both laugh) Okay.

- So no one's safe from this thing.

- So as long as you're not there.

- So anyone who doesn't enjoy a good hike should be fine.

- Yeah, you're safe, you're fine.

- Yeah.

Anyone who enjoys indoors should be fine.

- So, no seafood, no vegetables, no nature.

(laughs) - No water.

(both laugh) - Actually, just don't even survive.

(both laugh) - Alright, "If you do cross into its territory, the monster will lash out and try to scare you away.

But rarely has physically harmed humans."

- Okay.

- "Mental harm however," here's the catch.

"Is a common occurrence for anyone who hears or sees the monster during the day."

What type of mental harm?

I'm not sure.

"At night, a sighting of the monster is said to like seeing a red streak as bright as a flame in the middle of the water."

- That'd be cool.

- "During the day, the call of the monster will deafen anyone who's unlucky enough to hear it."

- Okay, I feel like that is okay.

Okay.

(laughs) - So I guess you're getting harmed whether you like it or not.

- Yeah.

- "If you see the Miniwashitu, the site will drive the viewer to instant insanity, while they restlessly wither in extreme pain until they ultimately pass away."

- Jesus.

(laughs) - Yeah, there's no nice way to say it.

- Maybe it would be better if it just bit off your head.

- Yeah, like, make it quick, please.

- Oh, that's so much worse.

Having to just wither in pain and then eventually die.

- Do you know you're going mad?

- I don't know.

I feel like most of the time when people have a psychotic break, isn't part of it that you don't know you're in a psychotic break?

- And that's what I'm wondering.

Is it something you see and then like you- - You have the moment of, or it's just instant?

Like, reality is gone.

- Nothing makes sense anymore, yeah.

- To be fair, even if I wasn't going crazy, if I saw that I would think I was going crazy.

So then I feel like how do... (laughs) How do you even know?

If I ever see it, I'm gonna ask it to just bite off my head.

So I don't have to deal with withering in pain, and psychosis.

You think it'll listen to me?

You think it knows English?

- I don't know.

"One of the few accounts of the monster is from a man who after his experience went blind and managed to stumble his way home in an immense pain."

- It makes you go blind, it makes you go deaf, it makes you go crazy.

- And this guy made it through all of that and still managed to get home.

- Wow.

- "Making it just in time to share what he went through."

- He's definitely dead.

- He died.

- He's definitely dead.

- Before dying, yes, he shared what he could before he died.

- I feel like death does count as physical harm.

- That's the thing, it technically doesn't kill you.

The side effects of seeing it are what puts an end to you.

- Okay, okay.

(laughs) - "His description of the feeling was as if his mind was shattered."

So it broke his consciousness.

- So he did have.

But then that means, but he just, that proves that then you do have conscious awareness that you're going crazy.

- Yeah.

- Yeah, or at least he did.

- At least long enough.

Ooh, that'd be terrible.

(Mickey laughs) Guys, stay away.

- Just don't go.

- Don't do this.

- You know what?

Support national parks, just not this one.

(laughs) - Seriously, and I was at this park.

- This could have been you.

- Alright.

"The community and the region both fears the Miniwashitu because of its disastrous effects on humans, while respecting and honoring the creature for his service to nature and protecting the river and forest."

So it's- - Give and take.

- A give and take relationship, yes.

- Yeah, I don't wanna see it though.

- Don't mess with me.

- That's okay.

See, okay.

So as long as you don't like... The people should just avoid the space.

No, I don't wanna see that thing though.

- No.

No, no thank you.

- No, just nope.

(spooky music) (Mickey laughs) So the next story we're gonna be covering is not scary.

Sorry, everyone, it's just weird and shows why humans are humans.

And why we're just kind of silly and not always the smartest.

- Oh, we are definitely not the smartest.

- All right, so have you ever been to Hibbing, Minnesota?

- [Ryan] I have.

- Okay, this is about Hibbing.

- Another beautiful area.

- You've actually not been to Hibbing, because Hibbing moved.

So- - I think I have heard about the move.

- I've definitely ranted about this before.

I have a lot of opinions about this.

I've never been to Hibbing.

So, basically this decent sized town picked up and moved brick by brick, block by block into a new area because of a foolish mistake that was definitely stoppable.

Or avoidable, whatever.

- Preventable.

- Preventable.

For preventable reasons.

All right.

So, "In northern Minnesota, a town called Hibbing was founded in 1893 by a man named Frank Hibbing."

Anyway, this was the 1890s, so definitely- - Many moons ago.

- Was just going into someone's land and being like, "I wanna own this now."

So, caution.

- Oh, and especially in northern Minnesota.

- Yeah.

- Yeah.

- Hibbing is pretty far up north, isn't it?

- Mm-hmm, yeah.

- Yeah.

- It's a ways.

- But, so.

- I think it's close to the Iron Range, if I'm not mistaken.

- It is the Iron Range.

As the next sentence says.

(both laugh) - [Ryan] I'll be quiet.

(both laugh) - When earlier you were like, "Don't rush, don't rush."

I'm like, slow down.

(both laugh) So, Frank Hibbing was actually a German miner, and he came to Minnesota looking for iron and found a really rich deposit right in where Hibbing was.

And so the town's population boomed due to how much ore there was readily accessible.

So the town's population boomed, and it got pretty big.

And then Frank Hibbing was like, "I'm over this," and moved to Duluth.

Because I don't... I just feel like if I founded a town, or if I started a town and then named it after me, I would live there until I died.

- Yeah.

- Right?

- Yeah, I think that would be most people's situation.

- He was over it.

So he left and he went to Duluth.

But before he left or when he was leaving, he was like, "Okay, guys, I think that we really... Well, no we 'cause I'm leaving.

But I think you should really think about the fact that you're expanding all of these directions and not south.

We should be moving south because all of the mines and the ore are north, east and west.

So, move south."

And so he's like, "Just an idea.

Start thinking, start thinking forward, right."

- Mm-hmm, plan for the future.

- And the people were like, "Shut up."

- [Ryan] You're leaving.

- Yeah, they're like, "What do you know?

Your name might be on our sign, but what do you know?"

- (chuckles) That's a dangerous way.

A dangerous way to go.

- So they just ignored him.

And instead they put all of the energy and money into calling the town the richest village in the world.

Because what else are you gonna do when you're told to not build somewhere?

Is be like, but we're really baller, so who cares?

I'm like, you hear this big problem that's coming up and you're like, "Psst, look at my nickname."

- Guys, we're rich.

- We got money, we got ore.

- We can buy our way out of all these problems.

Come on.

- So then we're moving along, time's passing.

So it's been two decades, and the town found that in fact Frank Hibbing may have been correct.

And that suddenly near mines, it was really nice for the commute.

- [Ryan] Oh yeah.

- You hop in a buggy.

I don't know, I guess there was cars at this point.

It is like 1910s.

- There'd be cars, trucks.

- Yeah, you hop in the truck, you go five minutes, you're at your job site.

That's all awesome.

Except for the fact that a mine is now under your house.

And it was so bad.

That's so... Oh my gosh, I just can't believe that they were, did not have the foresight.

So in the 1910s, the town was surrounded on all three sides by mines.

And they were running out of ore, and the rest of the ore was under the town.

So it was like, the choices were either- Quit mining.

- Quit mining.

- Or move.

- And move.

And they were really attached to the richest village name, so they were not gonna stop mining.

(Ryan sighs) And so at first- - People.

- It wasn't that much of a pressuring issue.

It was like, okay, we don't need to be producing constantly.

Right?

- Mm-hmm.

- But then the, this little thing called the world war broke out, and suddenly steel and iron were really important.

- Yeah.

- So then, first of all, because we needed steel and iron.

Well, you know.

(both laugh) The prices skyrocketed.

And they were like, "Oh my God.

We wanna be the richest village."

So they were like, "We gotta get on this."

So the Oliver Mining Company, who owned most of the mines at the time, they were like, "Oh my god, we need the money."

And they thought, they were like, "Oh, we should have listened to Frank.

We needed to listen to him, this is so bad."

And so they fully funded, the mining company fully funded horses, logs, tractors, steam crawlers, and all of the labor to haul the entire town two miles south.

Which is a lot of money, 'cause that's a lot of things.

- How many buildings were there?

Or doesn't it say?

- It does say.

- Okay.

- And we'll get there.

- I'm just trying to like.

- So the way that they moved it, is they would insert logs under buildings and then tie them together with steel cables and then pull them.

- Like a sled system?

Sure, yeah.

- Yeah.

With the horses or the tractors (indistinct).

- I've moved a building that way.

- But Hibbing was a booming town.

It was not a small town, so it wasn't just one or two houses or small cottages.

So if there was a building that was too big, or like the bank and stuff, like major structures, they would just literally cut it, just cut it down the middle.

They would just cut a house in half and be like, "All right, on your way."

- That's so crazy.

- Which would be so stressful.

Like, oh.

And so the whole moving the entire town took two years.

From 1919 till 1921.

And in total they moved over 200 structures.

(Mickey chuckles) And that includes- - Oh my gosh.

- That's family homes, small little properties, and then major hotels.

- They moved whole.

- They moved every single building.

Not at this point, they moved most of the buildings at this point.

But it was like, yeah, the entire downtown district got moved.

So all the general store, the school, churches, which is insane work.

- I'd be so worried about like a house settling at different times.

- Oh yeah.

- If you put one half here and one half here, and this side's softer.

- Well, how do you reconnect it efficiently?

But not, so not everyone moved.

Some people refused and were just like, "We're not going to move."

- They weren't forced to go.

They could stay.

- Yeah.

I mean, it's like land developers, so it was.

- Fair enough.

- Most people also don't wanna live on a mine, so.

- Fair enough.

- Yeah, but so the people who didn't move, in 1935, so not that long after this, like 14 years, the remaining citizens, they were bought out by the Oliver Mining Company because they wanted to finish mining the entire area.

- Yep.

- And then this time it was 14 years later, and they were like, "That sucked."

And so they just blew all the houses up.

(chuckles) - Well, I mean, if they own the land, why not?

You bought it outright.

- [Mickey] Yeah.

- Why not?

- Well, 'cause technically they bought a lot of the original, or they paid the properties to be moved.

And it's like, I mean, if you have a family home, you're not gonna wanna blow it up.

You're gonna want to be moved.

And if you're not paying for it and it's not a huge hindrance.

And I'm sure that they paid the family's little stipends and stuff.

I'm sure that they didn't.

- I don't know if they would've covered the cost.

- Well, a lot of them were workers.

It was their company.

I feel like they would've moved the hotel and then let the families stay in the.

That type of thing, I guess.

- Yes, yep.

- You wouldn't be out of a home for a month or whatever.

- No, no.

You would have some sort of provisions, but yes, I agree.

- But the second time they were like, "No, that was expensive and..." (chuckles) But that sucks, because if you didn't move the first time, then instead of having the option, "Hey, do you wanna move?

It was just, "Get out, we'll give you a grand.

Get outta your house, we're blowing it up."

They just, so yeah.

So the entirety of Hibbing either was moved or destroyed.

I'm wondering, when they moved to a different area, could you be like, "Oh, I wanna."

Like you know when you're in high school, or not high school, in elementary school and it's like, "I wanna sit by blah blah blah in class."

Do you think they were like- - If they moved the whole city the way it was.

- What if my neighbor's one of the people that decided not to go?

So I was like, "Hey, oh that way do you wanna move next to me?"

- Oh, that way?

Or do you just get double the lot?

- I don't know.

- Or did they build- - Yeah, how would you do that?

- Or they build new?

- How would you deal with property lives and stuff?

- Yeah.

(feint eerie music) - I guess we gotta go back in time.

Hope not sure the buffalo radioactive in the process.

(both laugh) Thank you for joining us around the fire for some spooky and weird stories.

- If you like this episode, like, comment and subscribe down below.

- If you wanna support "Hiseerie" and our PBS station, you can find behind the scenes content and full length investigations on our Patreon at patreon.com/hiseerie.

(eerie music) (eerie music)