“FRANKENSTEIN” is an
iconic fictional monster that was first unveiled in a British novel by Mary
Shelly in 1818. Decades later, some plays and several silent movies were made
about the creature.
Then, in 1931, Boris
Karloff starred as the monster in a major Hollywood movie, “Frankenstein” and
the fame of the imaginary beast spread.
Clarkston, Utah, a
small town northwest of Logan, in Cache County, had its own version of
“Frankenstein” too, or rather a “Frankenstein Masquerade” in the 1940s.
These “sightings” sparked both excitement and fear in the community.
These “sightings” sparked both excitement and fear in the community.
(Surprisingly, a
detailed search of Cache Valley newspapers in the 1940s found not a single
mention of this “Frankenstein.” Perhaps, no one wanted to encourage an
escalation of the sightings?)
Essentially, Dennis
Griffin, a young teenager at the time, ordered through the mail an elaborate
rubber Frankenstein mask. He and friends would take turns in the evening
darkness putting the mask on and frightening mostly persons walking alone.
The boys were wise
enough to perceive that frightening groups was somewhat dangerous in too many
unpredictable things could happen …
One time Dennis was
chased by a policeman rushed home, slipped through his bedroom window, and
pretended to be asleep.
Dennis and friends
only wore the mask – and only had regular clothes on otherwise.
At one point of time
in the 1940s, some youth were so afraid of the monster appearing that they
would not attend the LDS Church’s MIA activities at night for a time.
Local leaders did
receive complaints of the monster sightings, but Dennis’ recollection was that
most knew it was youth pranking and looking for a quick scare.
The neighboring town
of Newton also heard of the monster and some were afraid it would appear there
too.
Dennis only
remembers wearing the mask about 4 times. However, he loaned to friends and
eventually other, old boys. One of those boys never returned the mask and
Dennis failed to ever get it back. Where it went was a mystery.
He recalls some sightings
continued into the late 1940s and perhaps even early 1950s – with or without a
mask. Some may have been copycats.
Still, Dennis recalls
this pranking lightened some of the mood during World War II and even the
concern about nuclear weapons afterward. For a small, dull farming town, the
sightings also sparked a little excitement.
-As related on
Ancestry.com, Dennis Griffin and his wife, wrote an account of his masquerade
of Frankenstein, that must go down in history as one of the best on-going
pranks ever in the Beehive State.
-Access the full, original report of “CLARKSTON’S FRANKENSTEIN MONSTER OF THE 1940s"
at:
http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~utcache/clarkston/stories/index.htm
-NOTE 1: It should also be mentioned too that a
few decades later, the town of Clarkston might have had a visit by a real
monster, Bigfoot? --- As
something both strange and terrible stomped through town late one night in the
early 1970s. Some residents were awakened and frightened by weird screams, according to one resident at the time.
No comments:
Post a Comment