Travelers' monster draws curiosity from locals

Many have noticed a large beast traveling around Thompson Falls. The creature weighs about 600 pounds, stands about seven feet tall and from nose to tail is nearly 15 feet long. It has sharp gnashing teeth and long horns on its head. This monster is not a figment of imagination, nor is it dangerous. It is the brainchild and creation of a man visiting from North Dakota. Tyler, who did not wish his last name to be known, came out to visit a friend, bringing with him his family and his monstrous carving.

Tyler worked as a chainsaw carving artist for 14 years as well as building log cabins. One day he felt a calling to do more. “I just started praying: Lord how can we use this talent that he gave me to carve to be able to talk to people about Christ.” He began looking around for a way to get people to become interested in faith and came upon a tale from the early 1900s where a man named W.W. Simpson created forms of monsters from the Bible out of papier-mache. He would bring these creations with him to shows where he would have thousands of people come out to see them.

Tyler figured that he could do something similar with his carving ability. Together with a friend, they decided to create something bigger than the ones done nearly 100 years ago, but based on those same beasts.

The one he chose is modeled after his vision of the fourth beast from the dream of Daniel. According to Tyler, in the dream there were four beasts that came out of the sea. Tyler chose to create the one based on Rome. The creature had brass nails, iron teeth and 10 horns, out of which came a smaller horn that uprooted three others. As Tyler described, the horn was based on Justinian who wiped out three other groups because they refused the combining of church and state. “That’s the most evil part up there,” Tyler said about the horn. He mentioned how, in history and in biblical record, that practice of separating church and state often leads to oppression and persecution. “The reason I built it is because after I started reading through the Bible and started seeing for myself what is in there, I found that these are not things that are being told right now,” said Tyler. “We need to see that Jesus’ love is still out there.”

Tyler’s beast has a rebar skeletal system welded together. The body is made from spray foam insulation that he carved with a chainsaw. After the carving was done, they painted it. It took them three months to construct the creature, which now must be carried around on the back of a flatbed trailer. Eventually Tyler would like to create more of the beasts. He wants to make the other three monsters and several others.

On the same day Tyler was out with his monster doing laundry in the eastern part of Thompson Falls, there was a protest happening at the west end. Tyler said that they had not planned on being out at that time, nor did they realize that there was even a protest happening that day until after they had begun doing laundry. He again spoke about the importance of his message in today’s world, saying “We have got all these black lives matter groups, and white lives matter groups, but it’s Christ’s life that matters.”