Back when ‘Frankenstein’ terrorized (and thrilled) Clarkston, Utah

Clarkson is just south of the Idaho border in Northern Utah, as seen on the Utah State Highway map.

 “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.

(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.

                                           Clarkston, Utah is very rural, even in 2021.

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.

NOTE 2: Clarkson is most famous today for its every other year “Clarkston Pageant – Martin Harris: The Man Who Knew” (performed again in August of 2019).

                                                Martin Harris grave in Clarkston, Utah.