Folklore
There is a variety of local stories that take place around the Lake Monroe area. Several revolve around a local ne'er-do-well named Jon Conley. According to some stories, Conley is an escaped criminal (or, in some stories, the ghost of a criminal) who lurks the backwaters of the lake looking for victims to kill. There was a historical Jonathan Conley who was wrongly hanged for the crime of arson in 1923 by the Monroe County Sheriff. With his last act, Conley is said to have vowed revenge upon the county forever. However, the connection between that Conley and the one from urban legends seems tenuous at best, according to historians. For example, at that time, the county's gallows were not on the site of what is now Lake Monroe but instead in downtown Bloomington at the corner of Kirkwood Ave. and Dunn St.
Read more about this topic: Lake Monroe (Indiana)
Famous quotes containing the word folklore:
“So, too, if, to our surprise, we should meet one of these morons whose remarks are so conspicuous a part of the folklore of the world of the radio—remarks made without using either the tongue or the brain, spouted much like the spoutings of small whales—we should recognize him as below the level of nature but not as below the level of the imagination.”
—Wallace Stevens (1879–1955)
“Someday soon, we hope that all middle and high school will have required courses in child rearing for girls and boys to help prepare them for one of the most important and rewarding tasks of their adulthood: being a parent. Most of us become parents in our lifetime and it is not acceptable for young people to be steeped in ignorance or questionable folklore when they begin their critical journey as mothers and fathers.”
—James P. Comer (20th century)