Mugwump (folklore)

The Mugwump (also: Old Tessie and Monster of Lake Temiscamingue) is a lake monster which has been alleged to live in Lake Timiskaming, on the border of the Canadian provinces of Ontario and Quebec. The name "mugwump" comes from an Algonquin word, the exact meaning of which is unclear. In his 1979 article on the creature, New Liskeard mayor Jack Dent reported that the name translated to "fearless sturgeon" in English. However, the word had already entered the English language over a century prior. Puritan missionary John Eliot used the word to mean "duke" and "centurion" when he translated the Bible into Anishinàbemiwin in 1661, and in the 1880s the term was applied to the "Mugwumps", Republican Party politicians in the United States who switched parties during the 1884 presidential election to support Grover Cleveland. Charles Anderson Dana, editor of the New York Sun newspaper is said to have coined the term in this context, deriving it from the Algonquin word 'mugumquomp' or 'mugquomp', meaning 'important person' or 'war leader'. Though meant as a sarcastic jab at the former Republicans who did not support their own candidate, the term was appropriated by the men it had originally been used to mock and became both popular and widespread, to the point that it is still used irregularly in the 21st century. The term was also used in the 1959 William S. Burroughs novel Naked Lunch and the 1962 Roald Dahl children's book Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, both times to describe fantastical creatures. It is unknown which elements of political and cultural history, if any, influenced the creature's name when it was first documented in 1979. There is another cryptid named 'Mugwump' which is said to reside in a marsh in Ventura, Iowa. When interviewed in 1995, a witness recalled the Mugwump as having a round head and nose like an animal. Two ice fishers alleged to have seen a black, glistening head through their fishing hole in 1982; they noted that it had protruding eyes, one of which was trained on them and gave the impression it was sizing the men up.