Not too many years ago, newspapers like this one had a pretty well-defined audience. Back then, the paper was simply the paper: We had no internet presence, and unless you lived in our circulation area (or unless you were a snowbird who had it mailed to you down in Florida), our stories and photos probably didn’t reach you.
Nowadays, things are much different. Write a story or a blog post now, and it’s just as instantly available in Canada or Cameroon as it is in Calais or Canaan.
And when writers post an odd blog that catches people’s attention, it’s likely that it will resonate well outside Maine’s state borders.
Like the posts that have prompted an internet reader in Louisiana to email me a couple of times, seeking photos of a particular Maine Game Warden who is featured on the show “North Woods Law.” Seems that this warden’s hair-do is a hit in the Bayou.
Or like the odd responses to posts on the Wayne Werewolf (spoiler: It was actually a deer) or the mystery ice circle that showed up on a Maine stream (it wasn’t formed by aliens).
One thing I’ve learned: Those offbeat posts have legs. And often, those posts generate enough interest that another reader sends in their odd photos. Yesterday, for instance, I shared photos of odd tracks in the snow just outside Bangor.
And today, I’m sharing yet another reader-submitted photo, from a man who wouldn’t have qualified as your typical BDN reader even a decade ago. He’s not from these parts, you see. But he does have a link to Maine, and often checks up on our area via the internet.
Here’s what William Stoner had to say:
“I live in Indiana, but have a camp in Maine, so read the Bangor Daily News on occasion and this Indiana photo fits in with your ice circle story,” Stoner wrote. “I took it several years ago and spent some time watching the strange goings-on.
“The outside temperature was right at freezing and these pie-sized rings were forming in a small eddy upstream,” he wrote. “When they reached this size the current caught them and sent them down to this eddy where they were trapped. They stayed frozen and trapped here for several hours. I have never seen anything like this before or since.”
I’ve got to admit, I haven’t, either.
And the photo was so interesting, I had to share it with you.
Keep the submissions coming. Your fellow readers are waiting for more cool photos from the Maine (or Indiana) woods.