Possibly the best ghost story and legend to come out of Maine, is that of the Specter Moose or the Ghost Moose haunting Maine. Yes, you read that right. The Specter Moose is exactly what it sounds like – the ghostly apparition of a moose. It just doesn’t get more “Maine” than that!
This spooky, majestic, creature has been spotted in clusters over the years, all throughout Maine since 1891.
Described as a tremendous beast, it stands 10 to 15 feet tall. It’s dusty white and gives off a faint glow. It has gigantic antlers and supernatural hearing and a heightened sense of smell. He tends to vanish and reappear so fast, that he appears to blink in and out of existence.
It has the uncanny ability to anticipate the moves of its opponent, out-maneuvering them at every turn.
Like all ghosts, Specter Moose can pass through solid objects – but that doesn’t stop hunters from trying to shoot him. Bullets won’t have the desired effect though, they usually result in rage or a scowl if you’re lucky.
The way folks tell it, hunters have come from across the country to take a crack at the phantom moose. Some say L.L. Bean wore out his first pair of boots searching for the great Specter Moose of Maine!
The ghostly goliath of a moose was seen near Lobster Lake in 1891.
The witnesses were Clarence Duffy (a town guide) and John Ross (a lumberman from Bangor). The sightings were a few months apart, so Clarence Duffy’s story wasn’t greatly received at first. Once word got out about another gigantic white moose sighting, eyebrows started to raise.
There was yet another sighting that year.
This time at Sourdnahunlt Lake, a hunter up from New York said shooting the beast had no effect. Every slug fired only seemed to enrage it. He ended up taking refuge in a cave for an hour after the moose charged at him!
Howard Van Ness also said he shot this mythical moose several times back in 1892.
He too, became the hunted after his bullets only incited fury. He slid under some fallen trees as the enraged animal circled and jumped over the area before giving up.
There were sightings in 1895, 1899, and 1901.
In 1901, M.A. Cushing, a hunter from Boston saw the spirit moose near Chairback Mountain (in the Katahdin area). According to legend, he first thought he’d happened upon a rare albino moose. The creature’s vanishing act proved this theory wrong.
Years passed before another influx of sightings occurred.
It seems the beast just likes to hibernate for long periods before rearing its head once more. Each time Specter Moose resurfaces, it’s an event that makes headlines. There were waves in 1906, 1917, 1932, and again in 1938.
One darker tale of an unsettling moose encounter…
A group of hunters claimed to have killed a large white moose near the Molunkus Stream in east-central Maine. Its throat was slit and it was strung up overnight, so they could skin and dress it in the morning.
They awoke to find the moose gone the next day. Even more disturbing, it sauntered back through their camp that night – with its throat still cut!
They shot at it again, it simply trotted off. The zombie-ghost-moose was later spotted in the same condition, roughly 90 miles north. Once again, attempts to put it down had no effect.
So what do you guys think? Is there really a ghost moose haunting Maine?
Just what is Specter Moose? A cryptid with cool teleporting or “blinking” abilities? A good old fashion ghost? Or just a series of tall tales blown out of proportion by possibly inebriated hunters that are just shitty shots?
Personally, I hope Specter Moose really is out there. Blinking beautifully in the night, scaring the bejeezus outta each and every hunter with a mind to make a trophy out of him.
~ Lyra Radford
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