I'm Laura Norton, and this is one strange thing, the show where we search the nation's news archives for stories that can't quite be explained. The best stories we tell,

we meaning the big we, humanity, are about our dreamers.

The people who dare to imagine not only what is, but what could be. The possible, not the probable.

Without them, the world would be a gray and plodding place. We want to tell you about one such

dreamer today. We wish we could say that his road was a glorious one, but, alas, well, we'll get to it.

This story has two beginnings. Let's call them the prequel and the main event.

Both are set in the town of Cherubusco, Indiana, which is also known as Busco, a great thing for podcasters

who don't want to receive emails about pronunciations. The first story, the Apertief,

occurred way back in 1898. That's when a farmer named Oscar Falk noticed something odd.

As the Greater Fort Wayne Business Weekly tells it, Oscar Fulke must have been a prosperous farmer for the time because he held plenty of land.

And on that land was a lake that stretched for seven acres. Back then, it didn't have a name, but by the mid-20th century, it would be known as Falk Lake.

Very inventive.

In any case, the details are scarce, but it seems that sometime in 1898, Oscar Falk was out minding his formerly business

when he spotted a huge, knobby and, we imagine, glistening creature emerged from the depths

of the water.

It was a very, very large turtle.

Or, it looked that way.

The Daily Yonder reported that Oscar Falk was, understandably, shocked at this turn of events.

After all, it's not every day you wander out to your placid lake and see a hard-shelled

reptile the size of a plow.

Soon, Oscar began to discuss his strange lakeside neighbor with the other townsfolk.

But as you might expect from a rural population in 1898, they were not receptive.

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