Minnesota Mysteries: A History of Unexplained Wonders, Eccentric Characters, Preposterous Claims & Baffling Occurrences in the Land of 10,000 Lakes

by Ben Welter

Any Minnesotan worth his lutefisk has heard of the Kensington Runestone. But have you heard of Victor Setterlund? In 1949, he uncovered another runestone less than ten miles away. How about Newmann the Great? In 1909, the Kenyon-born illusionist astonished Minneapolitans by driving a team of horses blindfolded across town to find a key hidden in a drugstore safe at Lake and Nicollet. How about little Mary Weinand? In 1915, her father demanded justice when the "meanest boy" at her one-room schoolhouse in Corcoran cut off her luxurious auburn curls. These little-known stories, along with dozens more culled from Minnesota newspaper archives, are presented here in their original form.

Genres: History, Nonfiction

160 pages, Paperback

First published November 19, 2013

Reviews

[Heather · Rating 1 out of 5]

I really wanted to like this book - after all, the title suggests some fascinating Minnesota history. But alas, the title leaves out one important clue to the contents inside... this book is not what I would call "a history;" this book is a regurgitation of a handful of "amusing" pieces from newspapers of yore.

Aside from a few contextual explanations and follow-ups, the author adds nothing to the selected newspaper articles and effectively renders this "history" an unsatisfying scrapbook of newspaper clippings.

There are plenty of opportunities for this book to really live up to it's title. A rather lengthy saga of an unusual advertising campaign for the Tribune would have been an interesting opportunity to discuss the role of newspapers in Minnesota and give examples of other novel and bizarre newspaper stunts.

An article recounting the visit of an illusionist could have opened into a chapter on the popularity of illusionists/occultists/oddities
etc. during this time - and surely there would be more examples throughout Minnesota.

An account of one woman's quick adoption of a baby in time for her husband's birthday is not really an unexplained wonder nor was she necessarily an eccentric character, but I suppose the story was a "baffling occurrence." While there was a follow-up written for this one, the bizarre circumstances could have been underscored with additional commentary on the state of early 20th century adoption and orphanages, a topic that has plenty of mystery.

This book was really disappointing. I wish I had looked more closely before I bought it; if I wanted a collection of newspaper articles, I would have gone down to Central Library and looked through the microfilm reels myself.

[Kali Berger · Rating 2 out of 5]

Title is a bit misleading. And while I can appreciate the work that went into finding and compiling these articles it reads as very lazy. There could have been so much more than short introductory paragraphs and the occasional follow-up and the rest of the book being effectively copy pasted news articles, some of which I question why they were included (including a short article that was blatant racist propaganda). The least interesting articles also tended to be the longest. I also felt including DB Cooper as the last article was more than a stretch in a book about MN. Not that I didn’t enjoy reading the perspective the article came from, but as the final article in the book it just seems to be capitalizing on a famous case that is only tangentially related to MN.

Overall disappointing with a few interesting articles.

[Miss Clark · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 stars

A quirky, but informative glimpse of the past of the state of Minnesota complete with hermits and abducted nuns and escaped seals.

Favourite pieces:

Minnetonka's Up-to-Date Hermit 1897
A Sea Lion Escapes 1907
137-Year-Old Indian Dies 1922
A Tall Order 1924

[No Apology Book Reviews · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not what I wanted it to be based on the epic title. I thought it'd be like an episode of Mysteries of the Abandoned or the UnXplained or the like, diving into bizarre mysteries in an effort to give them explanations, whether or not they have actual answers. No, this is just a collection of old newspaper articles the author found interesting or amusing in the course of writing a "yesterday's news" blog, and most of them take place in the Cities, being from the Tribune; the rest of the state is ignored. I found bits of it interesting or funny, but some of it I skipped--the Mr. Sly chapter could have been a LOT shorter. Very disappointed, and won't be buying Mayhem or Moxie.

[Icknay Abbecray · Rating 2 out of 5]

Meh. There were a few amusing tidbits here and there, but mostly bland.

The oddest/funniest stories are about the sea lion who escapes from the zoo into the Mississippi River, and how the author speculates on where he ended up. Another is about police officers shooting red squirrels in Loring Park because apparently they were a 'menace', and how Theo Wirth had gray squirrels imported to deal with the red squirrels.

You can read more about that here and skip the book:

http://www.startribune.com/april-27-1...

[Margaret · Rating 3 out of 5]

This wasn't quite what I expected when I started it, but it was quite a bit of fun. This book is a collection of stories from the archives of the Minneapolis Star and the Minnesota Tribune; what these days would be called "human interest" stories. Some are quite fun, some are interesting, and some would not be terribly out of place in a current newspaper.

[Kyle · Rating 2 out of 5]

Ben Welter puts together a quick read of various stories from the archives of the Star Tribune. I question why some stories are included or why others go into such great lengths. Some were interesting, but overall, I think readers may be better served looking for other history books to scratch their curiosity about MN oddities.

[Isaac · Rating 1 out of 5]

A collection of quirky articles from the star tribunes archives; a woman fined for wearing men's pants, a white goat mistaken for a ghost, a 136 year old native American man, the account of the stewardess on the DB cooper hijacking flight. They seem out of place next to and jumbled together not in context of their times. Would not recommend.

[Patty · Rating 3 out of 5]

A fun book using stories from the Minneapolis newspapers from the 1800's to about 1975. As the title says they are mysteries, so a bit frustrating only a handful were ever solved. The Klein Brothers is an especially puzzling case. That happened in my cousin's neighborhood in 1951, and my aunt told us all about it when we were little.

[Ashley Breanna · Rating 1 out of 5]

Quick read and quite boring

[Harris · Rating 2 out of 5]

Similar to the previous title in the series, Minnesota Mayhem, Minnesota Mysteries is a loosely themed compilation of vintage Minnesota newspaper accounts of various strange, amusing, and "mysterious" stories. Aside from a chronological order, little historical context or background is included among these tales and there seems to be little rhyme or reason for their inclusion in many cases. The articles span 1883 to 1971 (though 1900-1916 is most strongly represented) and focus most on the Twin Cities, with only a few "out-state" offerings. Really, the book is a grab bag of interesting research topics that can spark your own interests, such as "The Mysterious Mr. Sly," and a handful of "funny stories" like "A Frightful Cemetery" or "The Last Red Squirrel Haunts Loring Park," but offers little of its own.

A few seem out of place. This is particularly true of the last article included, the Tribune's account of the D.B. Cooper case, a well known story, which sole Minnesota connection is that Northwest Airlines was based here. Many of these articles could spark whole chapters of historical research on their own and shed light on some forgotten events in Minnesota history, but that's up to the reader.

[Heidi · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a fun way to do something that seems to be a dying form of entertainment: reading a newspaper. It made for a refreshing short read and it was definitely different from other things on the shelves. I can't wait to read the other book by Mr. Welter and am expecting to enjoy it just as much!

[Zach · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm not sure why this book has such a poor rating. It wasn't amazing or anything, but it was a fun read. As someone interested in local history, I appreciate this format (collection of odd newspaper articles) because chances are, I'd never hear about them any other way.

[Ginny · Rating 2 out of 5]

The cover made it sound more interesting than it was. Stories out of old Minneapolis newspapers but with no detail or much further research. Disappointed as I love local history.

[Caroline · Rating 1 out of 5]

I love the idea of this, but the execution ended up being quite boring.

[Debra · Rating 2 out of 5]

I think I was just expecting so much more - or is the truth that Minnesota is that boring?

[Kelly]

It may be interesting to some, but this book did not hold my interest at all. I read only 2 of the stories and even they were only so-so.

Zero stars.