Shad-Man: the hero we might need

With the Halloween season upon us, he blended into the crowd a little more easily, but with shadfly season over, the elusive local superhero was hard to miss amongst the costumed kids this weekend.

North Bay’s very own caped crusader was out on Sunday to lend a hand to the Trinity United Church—lending leadership in the absence of Rev. Dr. Ted Harrison.  

“Shad-Man didn’t technically seek permission to live in the steeple of Trinity United Church so he decided it was time to give back to the community of Trinity United and help lead on Sunday,” the superhero said. “And during the summer was here every morning with the vacation bible camp with some 50 or 60 kids to teach them about being a superhero. I went through four virtues from Monday through Thursday starting with courage, helpfulness, altruism, and finally, determination, the four attributes of a really great superhero, and on Friday it was revealed it was in all of the kids too, not just Shad-Man.”

Shad-Man, who showed up in North Bay this past shadfly season, said he’s been watching the community for years, only now deciding to come forth from his lair to lend a hand in the streets of the north.

“There are numerous theories about what brought me to North Bay,” he said. “It’s said a genetic experiment by the Canadian military, or that I was orphaned and raised by a family of shadflies, or the custodian of Trinity United Church who was brushing shadflies from the steeple, when struck by lightning, thereby combining the DNA of a shadfly with a human being. The jury is still out on all these theories.”

Now, to help give back to the church, since living rent-free in the steeple of the downtown building, Shad-Man T-shirts, with the help of Mike Phillips at Scratch E. Wear, have been developed and are available for purchase on Sundays and weekday mornings at Trinity United Church.

One such Tee, inspired by the interview done with Jerry O’Connell, insinuating he might be the man in grey and yellow—the Bruce Wayne of North Bay, reads “I’m not saying I’m Shad-Man, I’m just saying no one has ever seen me and Shad-Man together.”

When asked if he was, in fact, Jerry O’Connell behind the mask, Shad-Man would not give a concrete answer.

“I can neither confirm nor deny that Shad-Man and Jerry are one in the same;” Shad-Man said. “I do know one thing, that nobody has seen us in the same room together.”

However, Shad-Man did allude to a comment made during his photo with Mayor Al McDonald claiming he should receive the key to the city, to the fact that Jerry O’Connell said he may be Shad-Man, and finally that Jerry O’Connell received the key to the city.

“I’m just saying, these facts are pretty tightly connected.”