Beast of Busco

What witnesses reported

In July 1948, two Churubusco residents fishing on Fulk Lake near Churubusco, Indiana, reported seeing a massive turtle. They estimated it weighed approximately 500 pounds (230 kilograms) and described its spiked shell as the size of a large dining table. Property owner Gale Harris also claimed to have seen the creature. The story traces back further: in 1898, farmer Oscar Fulk had reported seeing a giant turtle on the same lake but eventually dropped the matter.

In March 1949, Harris said he saw the turtle again and set out to capture it. By another date in 1949, more than 200 people saw the Beast of Busco at the surface when a duck was being used as a lure.

A national sensation

In early March 1949, a United Press International reporter from Fort Wayne transmitted the story through wire services; by March 9, newspapers nationwide ran reports of the giant turtle. Crowds poured onto Harris’s property as several thousand visitors filled the area by mid-March, prompting local authorities to call in the state police to manage traffic.

Harris and others attempted multiple capture methods. A deep-sea diver’s attempt was aborted when the wrong equipment was delivered; later accounts describe divers who entered the lake but faced difficulties with leaking helmets or sinking into muck, though those sources also note that distinguishing fact from fiction became nearly impossible as the story grew. Life Magazine photographer Mike Shea took 299 photographs, all ultimately unusable. By December, Harris came down with appendicitis; when he recovered, rain had refilled the lake and the search ended. He sold his farm the following year.

Columnists at the Fort Wayne newspaper jokingly named the creature Oscar, possibly after Oscar Fulk, and Cliff Milnor coined the name “Beast of Busco”.

Skeptical views

Some have suggested the turtle was an alligator snapping turtle, which can grow up to 250 pounds but falls far short of the claimed weight. Nate Engbrecht, herpetologist at Indiana’s DNR, found no evidence in habitat surveys. Bruce Kingsbury, biologist at Purdue University Fort Wayne, considers it “very unlikely” that the species ever inhabited Indiana and said there are “no reliable records showing the species ever existed in Indiana”.

Rusty Reed, a Churubusco turtle expert, considered the original 1948 report likely false. One witness was known for tall tales. He noted that only the turtle’s head, neck, and upper shell were ever seen; alligator snappers have disproportionately large heads, which could explain size overestimations. Kingsbury suggested the real animal was more likely a common snapping turtle around 30 pounds. He noted people often misjudge reptile sizes when frightened.

Today

Churubusco hosts an annual Turtle Days festival each June since 1950, described as Indiana’s oldest continuously running festival. It features parades, turtle races, and the crowning of Miss Turtle Days. A turtle shell labeled “Beast of Busco” hangs in Decatur, Indiana, and a concrete turtle statue stands at Churubusco’s main intersection. The Whitley County Historical Museum displays dive gear from the original hunt. No searches have been mounted since 1949.