Duluth’s Spookiest Future Folk Legend

As Autumn fully descends on Northeastern Minnesota, It’s safe to say that we can truly bid farewell to summer. I will look back fondly on those warm days, short sleeves, and the reprieve from seasonal affective disorder. Mental wellness, we hardly knew ye.

In the shorter, darker days of autumn, I begin to get (more) fixated on the spookier and stranger bits of local history. I’d like to share a particularly odd story with you here. It is the story of Duluth’s Demon Dentist. The tale comes from Duluth in the spring of 1903, and it was accompanied by a newspaper headline with three magic words that make any heart flutter:

Forcible Tooth Extraction
—
A Bloodthirsty Man With Forceps Terrorizes Duluth 

DULUTH, Minn., March 5. — Finlander named Johnson ran amuck on the streets today with a pair of forceps and before he was captured had extracted teeth from a dozen persons. He first tackled six men who were in a saloon, relieving each of them of from one to three teeth. 

The next victim was an old man, whom he knocked down and from whose mouth he extracted two teeth. The next victim was Mrs. Eliason, who lives on Lake Avenue. Johnson entered her home, threw her down and pulled one of her front teeth. 

The police had been informed and they captured Johnson as he emerged from the Eliason home. He said he was a dentist, but when asked to show his license produced a contract to saw wood. (The Herald-Mail, Hagerstown, MD., March 6, 1903)

This story has nearly been completely forgotten today, but it has all the makings of a great urban legend. Maybe the building that once housed the saloon is haunted by the tooth puller’s ghost. Maybe people who work in that building often complain of horrible toothaches. It could be that he is seen along Lake Avenue, with the moon shining reflectively off the rusted metal of the pliers he holds in his wet, clammy hands. The horse-drawn carriages on Canal Park will refuse to cross onto the avenue when his spirit is near.

This demon dentist tale seems almost too urban-legend-y to be true. But, the story was also shared in a Minneapolis paper under a longer, more descriptive headline.

Tooth Puller Runs Amuck
—
John Simonson Knocked Down His Men and Drew Their Molars Willy-Nilly. Assaulted a Woman and Caused a General Reign of Terror on a Duluth Street

Special to The Journal. Duluth, Minn., March 4.— John Simonson, a Finlander, created a reign of terror on Lake Avenue this morning and in a most peculiar manner. Armed with a pair of forceps he walked up to an old man in a saloon, asked him how his teeth were, was told they were all right, and then knocked the old man down and pulled two of them before he was stopped.

He also visited the home of a Mrs. Eliason, on the avenue, and pulled one of her teeth before he was driven off. It was learned after his arrest that he had operated on eight or ten men in different saloons during the morning, but all were too drunk to realize what he was doing. He said after his arrest that he was a dentist, but when asked for his license, he pulled out a contract for cutting cordwood. 

The strangest feature of the case is that the man seems to be perfectly sane. If he has any other mental weakness than this, it has not yet been discovered. (The Minneapolis Journal, Minneapolis, MN. March, 4 1903)

With this article, I’m getting less spooky and more stranger-than-fiction energy. What do you mean he asked an old man how his teeth were before he pulled them out? How could multiple people be too drunk to realize they were having their molars extracted? Why is the strangest part of the whole ordeal that the man appears to be sane?

Despite the differing details of these articles, there is still one clear truth. This guy needs a folk ballad about himself.