On a recent episode of the Ninjas Are Butterflies podcast, the hosts stumbled into one of those stories that sounds outrageous at first, the kind you expect to dismiss halfway through, until you realize how deeply it mirrors patterns found throughout Scripture.
The subject was Devil’s Lake, an isolated body of water tucked into Wisconsin’s Baraboo Range. It is ancient, formed by glacial runoff, with no natural inlets or outlets. Scientists estimate it could be as old as 10,000 years. In other words, it is the exact kind of place where history gets buried and where legends refuse to stay dead.
According to Ho-Chunk oral tradition, the land surrounding Devil’s Lake was once dominated by red-haired giants. These were not peaceful beings. They were described as violent, cannibalistic and cruel, living in caves carved into the surrounding bluffs. They terrorized local tribes, hurling massive stones and preying on entire communities.
That detail alone should make Bible readers pause.
The Scriptures repeatedly speak of giants, the Nephilim, described as mighty, violent and fearsome. Genesis 6 introduces them before the flood, while later passages describe giant clans occupying the land, terrifying nations and resisting God’s people. In several extra-biblical traditions and early historical accounts, these giants are described with abnormal traits, including unusual size, aggression and, notably, red hair.
Different continents. Different cultures. The same description.
The Ho-Chunk account says the people cried out for divine help. According to the legend, help came violently. A catastrophic storm descended on the region. Fire rained down from the sky, killing the giants in a single event. The lake itself was said to have turned red with their blood for years afterward.
That is not mythology foreign to the Bible.
Scripture records fire falling from heaven multiple times, including on Sodom and Gomorrah, on rebellious armies and on false prophets. Divine judgment by fire in the biblical narrative is literal, sudden and devastating.
But if this were just about giants, it would already be unsettling enough. The story goes further.
The same traditions describe Devil’s Lake as home to a massive serpent, an intelligent and predatory creature that consumed those who ventured too close. Eventually, the serpent was confronted by what the Ho-Chunk referred to as a “Thunderbird.” This was not a bird in the modern sense, but a powerful sky being. Their battle was said to rage through violent storms, lightning and upheaval in the water itself, until the serpent was defeated.
If that imagery feels familiar, it should. The Bible consistently links serpents with chaos, destruction and rebellion, while portraying heavenly beings executing judgment through storms, fire and lightning.
Here is where the conspiracy stops feeling like ancient folklore.
For more than 100 years, people have reported seeing something moving beneath Devil’s Lake. Witnesses describe enormous shadows under boats, fish vanishing instantly and strange environmental changes such as dimming light, pressure shifts and altered sound, as if the lake itself reacts to whatever is there.
Around the lake are ancient snake-shaped earthworks. There are unexplained claw-like gouges carved into solid rock, including a three-pronged mark that does not resemble known animal damage.
Then there are the modern details that make people uncomfortable. There are reported military exercises in the lake, restricted underwater zones, unmarked black vehicles and stealth-style helicopters appearing after sightings. No explanations are offered. No statements are given. Only silence.
Devil’s Lake is often compared to Loch Ness and other ancient, isolated lakes around the world. What is striking is not just the creatures, but the pattern. Giants. Serpents. Fire from heaven. Judgment. Survivors who pass the story down for generations.
At some point, the question stops being whether this sounds crazy.
The real question becomes why it sounds so familiar.
The Bible has been telling versions of this story for thousands of years, and Devil’s Lake may be one more reminder that the ancient world was not nearly as quiet as modern society would like us to believe.
James Lasher, a seasoned writer and editor at Charisma Media, combines faith and storytelling with a background in journalism from Otterbein University and ministry experience in Guatemala and the LA Dream Center. A Marine Corps and Air Force veteran, he is the author of The Revelation of Jesus: A Common Man’s Commentary and a contributor to Charisma magazine.
