Nain Rouge, Detroit's Red Gnome

[MrRING]

I had never heard of this story before:

The Nain Rouge, French for red dwarf or red gnome, is a mythical creature that haunts Detroit, Michigan. Its appearance is said to presage terrible events for the city. The Nain Rouge appears as a small child-like creature with red or black fur. It is also said to have "blazing red eyes and rotten teeth."

The creature is said to have been attacked in 1701 by the first white settler of Detroit, Antoine de la Mothe Cadillac who soon after lost his fortune. The creature is also said to have appeared in 1763 before the Battle of Bloody Run where 59 British soldiers were killed by Chief Pontiac's Indians.

Famous multiple sighting occured in the days before the 1805 fire which destroyed most of Detroit. Gen William Hull reported a "dwarf attack" in the fog just before his surrender of Detroit in the War of 1812.

A woman claimed to have been attacked in 1884, and described the creature as resembling, "a baboon with a horned head...brilliant restless eyes and a devilish leer on its face." Another attack was reported in 1964.

Other sightings include the day before the 12th Street Riot in 1967 and before a huge snow/ice storm of March 1976, when two utility workers are said to have seen what they thought was a child climbing a utility pole which then jumped from the top of the pole and ran away as they approached.

Anybody know any more?

A few links:
The Above Is Quoted From Here

Another Similar Version

 

[Anonymous]

http://www.pantheon.org/articles/n/nain_rouge.html claims that a 'nain rouge' is a house-spirit from Normandy, which is kind to fishermen. The Detroit area was settled by the French.

 

[DetroitBob]

I had never heard of that one.

Detroit does have an interesting French history,
and is fairly old for an American city, over 300 years.

The French must cringe to hear Detroit pronounced,
or even worse Gratiot, a main street on the east
side.......pronounced by Michiganders as Graaaashet.

Little Nain Rouge sounds like a good little movie monster,
like "Chuckie."

 

[Anonymous]

The French must cringe to hear Detroit pronounced,
or even worse Gratiot, a main street on the east
side.......pronounced by Michiganders as Graaaashet.

I call it 'Gratty-Ot'. Never pass up a ready-made opportunity to discomfit the French }:=]

 

[MrRING]

WIKI says there has been a more recent sighting:

More recently, 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 creature was described as wearing "what looked like a really nasty torn fur coat."

 

[Mr. Banooka]

A recent Astonishing Legends is about Le Nain Rouge https://www.astonishinglegends.com/al-podcasts/2021/03/14/ep-204-nain-rouge turned out to be pretty interesting. There's a bit too much waffle at the beginning and I nearly skipped it. Glad I didn't in the end.

Turns out Cadillac isn't the founder of Detroit itself, but of a settlement Detroit was then built on. Cadillac wasn't his real name. He was a con man who exploited the natives. He stole his coat of arms (the one you see on cars today) from a real toff. The list goes on...

There is a growing consensus now that the Nain Rouge was possibly racially motivated, and was possibly being used as a derogatory term for the First Nations peoples making life difficult for the settlers.

 

[Nosmo King]

The the Nain Rouge appear before the collapse of Detroits car industry and bankruptcy of the city as a whole?

 

[Ogdred Weary]

The the Nain Rouge appear before the collapse of Detroits car industry and bankruptcy of the city as a whole?

That was Rougechard N(ai)ixon.