A Clue by Kate Saturday
February 24th, 2012 3:13 PMwe biked down to St. Anthony Main on the East Bank of the Mississippi River. It was there that i found my first clue.
(go look at the photos. Then come back and read the rest of this.)
OK.
Big Stone Mini Golf is a place of wonder! The first thing you see is the vast island that grows inside the hollow earth, uprooted and set on the ground of our world. On that island everything grows upside down, because it's growing on the inside of the globe of Earth. Then you go into Big Stone and there are goats and ponds and frogs and a nice cat and one of the golf holes is Pachinko. The grounds are several acres wide, and you can wander around them. The owner is an artist in steel and granite, and several of the holes involve eluding his mobiles. You can push them, but watch out, because they will come back and hit you if you push them too hard. It is a magical wonderland. There are 18 holes, and I took scads of photos, but they are lost, STOLEN BY GHOSTS.
MYSTERY SOLVED:
Minnesota requires tribute from its new inhabitants. I'm grateful that Minnesota spoke to me with its kind face, the face of Spring at Big Stone Mini Golf, instead of its winter face of lightning snow and stoicism.
The first clue was here, between these flowerpots.
the people listening to a band play on the patio had no idea.
The spear of excellence indicated the River, which i was happy to go look at.
Pretty good river.
Crazy GIant Fish! Having Crazy Giant Fish Parties!
there are no spiders here now.
A guy came up to me and said "in the summer, all these posts are covered in spiders." As that was obviously a code phrase, I gave him the countersign and we began to negotiate. Our conversation was heavily encrypted, and it was hard to sort the signal from the noise, but there were three promising clues: 1. an office building, hollowed out, made into a 20 story state park. 2. the Green Monster. 3. Haunted Mini-Golf (or "Putt Putt," if you like.)
Research led me to Big Stone Mini Golf.
Big Stone Mini Golf is obviously haunted. Here, the ghosts of trees mill around, making soft sighing sounds.
The Cathedral.
The sun streamed through caned glass windows. You have to bank your golfball off the altar.
Every window was different.
In a more Lovecraftian frame of mind, a person might say that the windows were made from squamous canes that writhed about eachother in a hideous parody of life. It was lovely.
An old boat was beached outside.
The swollen tree trunk made a natural mailbox or hiding place.
Inside the boathole
people had left offerings for the spirits. When I added mine, the wind quieted and the sun seemed warmer.
Inside the boat.
A secret door that leads to stowage, or the brig, or something.
One of many pieces of art on the grounds.
