Those dreaded “blood suckers”. Out of all the scary experiences relayed to me by the campers, it was the number one fear. It is as if the little girl nightmare of the monster in the deep could still reach up and grab a leg and attach themselves to poor innocent camping swimmers in Loon Lake. Grab the salt or scream or do both! (By the way they are still there, and the salt is still in the boathouse.)

When asked what she remembered most vividly about camp, Barb Krohn (1970-72) yelled, “Those damn leeches!” Although she was a good swimmer, she was like all the other little campers—not very tall.

“I would try to tread water in one foot of water, “ she laughed as she remembered not wanting to touch the bottom of the lake. “People would carry me out, so I wouldn’t have to put my feet down. I was a strong swimmer, but I hated the leeches. I never got one on me.”

Her sister Kathy Krohn (1965-68) was also the youngest in her third grade and the shortest, but was a great little swimmer. She also hated to put her feet down in the mucky lake, and worried about the leeches, so the older girls would carry her and she would swim back in. To avoid the leeches, she would dive off the raft or dock.

“I learned to swim at camp, but the seaweed freaked me out,” said Cindy Morrison (1960). “I wouldn’t do the lifesaving because you had to dive down and pull up seaweed as part of the test and there was no way! The leeches. I didn’t like them either.”

Laurie Cone was part of the waterfront staff (1962-68) and has always had a place on the water. She learned to swim at camp and hated the leeches. “I know that box of Morton’s salt was always at the waterfront. That’s why no one wanted to swim in areas three and four. They all wanted to go out farther, so they didn’t have to put their feet down.”

Swimming came naturally to Andrea Gale (1970-74), who spent time at the “Y” and her family cottage. The leeches that lingered under the dock were still in her childhood memories, but she never waited for the salt routine. Instead, she would yank it off and fling it amongst her screaming friends.

One day Bev Lemanski was assigned an additional chore at camp in 1945. She was supposed to bale out the canoe and clean it and she ended up with a leech on her foot. “I tore up that hill to my hut screaming, but Carla Schweisnberg would not let me in because it was not time for me to be up there. I have never forgotten that!”

“I hated those blood suckers in the lake,” said Chris Lambert (1958). “I remember I got one stuck between my toes and I was screaming how do you get it off, how do you get it off, and one of the counselors burned it off with a match. But, the thing was still on and getting fatter until they poured the salt on it. I still hate the mushy feeling of a lake.”

The muck. It held almost as much dread the camp legends were made of as the leeches. For Anne Shutt (1961-66), the muck was something to contend with, as well as her hate for the leeches. “Once I tipped the sailboat in the middle of the lake and the mast got stuck in that muck. I don’t even remember the ending,” she laughed.

“I was never a very confident swimmer,” admitted Ilene Rogers (1955-57), who constantly worried about the leeches, despite never having had one on her. “But, the water was so unappealing. It was shallow where I had to swim, and mucky and weedy.”

The salt was the magic reassurance antidote for sixties and seventies campers Maggie Young and Kathy Hall when they were swimming. “Since my Mom couldn’t swim she made sure I did,” said Maggie who admitted she was more afraid of the leeches than the water.

Did you ever fear the leeches?