'The Blob' takes over Lake Marie in Antioch

Homeowners living along Lake Marie typically use warm April days to install their piers ahead of the summer boating season.

But, not this year.

Instead, many homeowners in one cove are waiting and watching “The Blob.”

“I think it has a mind of its own,” homeowner Frank Kuzel said. “Or, there's someone driving it and intentionally running it into the piers. Seriously, if we put the piers in, The Blob will come along and eat them.”

The Blob — better known as a 100-by-100-foot floating bog made of twisted cattails, waterlogged weeds and muck — has been drifting from shoreline to shoreline in the small cove on the eastern part of Lake Marie in Antioch since the winter ice melted, Kuzel said.

Estimated to weigh 20 tons, it was on the move in late July and was responsible for destroying two piers in the cove late last summer. The cost of piers varies depending on size and type, but dealers estimate a pier for one boat goes for $500 to $1,500.

The damage the bog causes has prompted pier owners to delay installation this spring until it can be removed.

“It might be an alien driving it,” Kuzel said. “Who knows at this point. It's just swimming around out there, waiting for the next thing to destroy.”

Ingrid Danler, executive director of the Fox Waterway Agency, said the bog is a floating island capable of moving with the wind across any lake. The agency know it's trapped in the cove, Danler said, but the weather has prevented crews from returning it home to Grass Lake.

“We are well aware of the problem, and have a plan to take care of it,” she said. “But due to weather restrictions and the wind, we haven't been able to move it to where it belongs.”

Numerous boats will be needed to push the bog across the water from behind, she said, although no one is sure how many will be needed to do the job.

“People don't realize that, like an iceberg, most of its mass is underwater,” she said. “That 100-foot-by-100-foot bog weighs about 20 tons and will take considerable time.”

The bog may have been pried loose from Grass Lake during flooding last spring when the agency spent the better part of two weeks capturing and reattaching bogs in Chain O' Lakes State Park, she said.

“We wanted to pick it up (Monday) and start moving it back, but it was just too windy,” Danler said. “But we'll get it. We'll get it before the boating season starts for sure.”

The sooner the better, Kuzel said.

“We can't put our piers in until it's gone,” he said. “With the way it destroyed piers last summer, no one wants to chance their pier being eaten by The Blob.”