Detroit will be ok

Today DETROIT expelled Nain Rouge

Most of us have heard of the Mothman, the winged entity that appeared to the citizens of Point Pleasant, WV right before the collapse of the Silver Bridge in 1967. Well, the city of Detroit has its own harbinger of death, too--although not as well-known. It's called the Nain Rouge, which loosely translated, means ‘red dwarf’ or ‘red gnome.' Many in Detroit simply call it the ‘Red devil’, and every time this creature is seen, a disaster usually hits the city.

Let's take a closer look at how the legend of the Nain Rouge started and the disasters that have been associated with its sightings.

The legend of the Nain Rouge starts with the founder of Detroit, Antoine de la Mothe Cadillac. On March 10, 1701 a party was being held in Cadillac’s honor. It is said that a fortune teller was at this party reading palms and telling fortunes. When she came to Cadillac, she read his palms and told him of his future--how his settlement would become a great city, but under a different flag. She continued to tell him that the settlement would also have many setbacks. She said there would be wars with the Indians and the English. Her last words to Cadillac were, "appease the Nain Rouge."

Cadillac didn't put too much into the fortune teller’s words. He considered her predictions to be entertainment and nothing more. He told his wife about her predictions; they had a good laugh and continued about setting up their settlement, Fort Ponchartrain.

A few years later, Cadillac was walking with his wife through the settlement. It is said that they overheard some townspeople talking about ‘le petit home Rouge’, the red dwarf. Cadillac’s wife immediately remembered the words of the fortune teller from a few years back. While they were still walking, the Nain Rouge jumped out in front of them on the trail. Cadillac took after the Nain Rouge with his cane, hitting it and telling it to leave. It ran away down the trail laughing.

Things got worse for Cadillac. Some time later, he was wrongfully imprisoned and lost all his land here in the ‘New World’. This is only the beginning of the legend of the Nain Rouge.

The Nain Rouge is also said to have appeared on July 30, 1763 before the Battle of Bloody Run at Fort Detroit, where 58 British soldiers were killed by Native Americans from Chief Pontiac's tribe. The small tributary of the Detroit River (which still flows through what is now Elmwood Cemetery) turned red with blood for days after the battle. It is said that the Nain Rouge was seen dancing on the banks of the Detroit River.

The next documented sighting occurred in the Spring of 1805. In June of that year, Detroit had the worst fire in its history, almost completely burning down the entire city.

General William Hull, the only American military officer ever sentenced to death for 'military incompetence', reported seeing the Nain Rouge smiling at him when he surrendered Detroit to the British in the war of 1812.

There are a couple of reports of women being attacked by the Nain Rouge, too. In 1884, a woman reported being attacked by a creature resembling a ‘baboon with a horned head, brilliant eyes, and a devilish leer on its face."

It was also said to have been seen before the 12th Street Riots of 1967.

In 1976, two utlity pole workers claimed to have seen the Nain Rouge climbing one of the utility poles in metro Detroit. They went to investigate, thinking some kid had climbed the pole. As they got closer, the creature jumped down and ran away. Two days later, Detroit was hit by the worst Ice Storm in its history. This was the last credible sighting of the Nain Rouge.

However, in the autumn of 1996, according to an article in the Michigan Believer, the Nain Rouge was spotted by two admittedly drunken nightclub patrons, who claimed to both have heard a strange "cawing sound, similar to a crow," coming from a "small hunched-over man" who was fleeing the scene of a car burglary. The man was described as wearing "what looked like a really nasty torn fur coat."

Even today, the name itself, Nain Rouge, still strikes fear into many Detroiters.

In 2010, a community-based movement started a tradition of a costumed Nain Rouge-themed community parade in the Midtown/Cass Corridor neighborhood. Called the Marche Du Nain Rouge, this event is a revival of an earlier tradition of warding off the Nain Rouge from city during the Vernal (Spring) Equinox. At the conclusion of the parade, an effigy of the imp is destroyed, symbolically banishing the evil spirit from the city for another year. Each year, parade participants and spectators are encouraged to wear costumes so that if the Nain Rouge does return, he will not recognize those who are responsible from attempting to banish him from Detroit.

The 2011 event featured a parade followed by the symbolic banishment ceremony and a party in Cass Park, drawing hundreds of guests. At both the 2010 and 2011 events, an ad hoc organization calling itself "The Friends of the Nain Rouge" actually protested the banishment parade, arguing that the Nain Rouge is not to blame for the city's ills and that considering Detroit's population loss, no one should be banished from the city, particularly those who have been there the longest.

http://www.weirld.com/Paranormal/Cryptids/Nain-Rouge-the-Red-Devil-of-Detroit.html

Really it is a good reason for drink and party after St Patrick's Day