L U M B E R W O O D S

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Wow, it’s been ages! But, hopefully I’ll start posting again soon. For now here is “The Legend of the Pricuricu” for all you lovers of legends, folklore and mythology as well the whole spectrum of monsters, legendary creatures and fearsome critters. Enjoy! 😀 For more “quality” programing consider subscribing to our YouTube (https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC4hyZqTE6QRkgacl92SYmWw) or liking us on Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/lumberwoods/)

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SAVAGE MONSTER CAPTURED

A STRANGE MONSTER. (April 15, 1870). A strange monster was captured recently in the river, opposite Canton, by some fishermen in their seine while dragging for fish. We know not what to call it, or what it looks like, or how to describe it, for it is unlike any creature of earth, air or water, that we have ever seen. It is not a fish, nor is it an alligator or crocodile, or a turtle, it resembles the pictures we have often seen in books, of the mythyical dragon. It is a hideous-looking and apparently savage monster—the last of a past age. It has a huge, slimy, scaly body, short, strong legs, and immense claws, long, serpent-like tail and sharp teeth set in, like those of a saw. It chaws up ravenously everything with which it comes in contact, but seems loth to leave the water even in quest of food, and can only be seen when drawn out by the chain with which it is made fast. We think it to be at least ten feet in length, and weighs probably five hundred pounds. When provoked it makes a nolse similar to a sea lion. The parties having it in charge are having a large tub or tank made for it, and they intend to take it to Quincy and St. Louis, for exhibition. They have refused a thousand dollars for it. From— The Fremont weekly journal. (Fremont, Sandusky County, Ohio), 15 April 1870.Chronicling America: Historic American Newspapers. Lib. of Congress.

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MONSTER IN A CANADIAN RIVER.

A MONSTER IN A CANADIAN RIVER (January 22, 1875). On Friday last, as Mr. R. Young, accompanied by two young ladies, was rowing in a boat on the Ottawa, a little below the mouth of the Madawaska, he saw what appeared to be a ledge of rocks standing out of the water. Never having observed anything of the kind in the same place before, though familiar with the spot, he was curious to ascertain what it was. On approaching the object for this purpose, it began to move, its progress being sinuous and wavy, like that of a huge serpent, while the water along its course was splashed about in a way that seemed truly alarming, the wake it left behind being like that caused by an ordinary steamer. The monster, for such it seemed, was about fifteen feet long, and at its largest girth appeared to be about the size of a common butter firkin. Mr. Young, who had his rifle along, would have fired at the creature had it not been for the young ladies, who became terrified, causing him at once to give up the pursuit. Since the appearance of this mysterious visitant, many stories of huge snakes and other monsters that have from time to time been seen in the Ottawa have been revived. Mr. Carmichael, of the Calumet, tells of a snake which he saw killed there; about forty years ago, which measured nine feet in length and had a mane. Another report speaks of a snake thirteen feet long, killed some years ago at Por-tage-du-Fort. Meanwhile speculation is rife as to the nature of the creature seen by Mr. Young, but as yet no one has been able to give a satisfactory account of it.—Arnprior (Ont.) Review. From— The Albany register. (Albany, Or.), 22 Jan. 1875.   Chronicling America: Historic American Newspapers. Lib. of Congress.

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MONSTER FROM THE PAST

HUNTING BIG GAME (August 11, 1900). A London Newspaper Hopes to Find Giant Sloths in Patagonia.

The London Daily Express has got up an expedition to Patagonia to find whether the mylodon, or giant sloth, still exists in the mountains there.

The fact that scientists believe these giants of prehistoric times still exist in flesh and blood was brought to light in a lecture by Professor Ray Lancaster in London, who said:

"It Is quite possible, but I don't want to say more than that. I believe the giant ground sloth still exists in some of the mountainous regions of Patagonia."

Professor Lancaster concluded his interesting lecture by showing a colored representation of a mylodon as the best authorities consider him to have appeared or as perhaps he does today appear in the lower portion of the Andes.

These sloths attained an enormous length. The skeleton of one of the same family found recently in Wyoming measured 135 feet.

They had powerful hind legs and a tail of enormous strength, much resembling that of a kangaroo, but of giant proportions. They could stand upright, and it is believed that they subsisted mostly on the tender tops of trees.

Descendants of the sloth are still found in Central and South America, but they are comparatively small. The modern sloths seldom if ever stand upright. They cling to the lower side of branches, and when one enters a tree he does not leave it until it has been denuded of all its foliage. It is called a sloth because of its slow movements.

The Express expedition is fitted out so that if at all possible one of the giants will be taken alive. Hesketh Prichard, who is at present acting as The Express commissioner of the Haiti expedition, is to have charge of this search for a monster.

J. B. Scrivenor, B. A., who won the Burdett-Coutts scholarship at Oxford in 1899, will accompany Prichard as geologist.

They firmly believe they will find a mylodon, but even if they should not the unexplored region to be traversed will add much to the zoological and geological knowledge of southern Patagonia.

From— El Paso daily herald. (El Paso, Tex.), 11 Aug. 1900. Chronicling America: Historic American Newspapers. Lib. of Congress.

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DRAGONS ARE REAL?

THE DRAGONS OF FRESNO (August 16, 1891). Winged Monsters that Devour Fowls with Three Snaps of Their Jaws From the St. Louis Republic. A number of persons living in the of vicinity of Redleey, Fresno county, Cal., all reputable citizens, too, swear that they have seen and hunted two dragons with winds fifteen feet long, bodies without covering of hair or feathers, head broad, bills long and wide, eyes not less than four inches in diameter, and with feet like those of an alligator somewhat, though more circular in form. They have five toes on each foot, with a strong claw on each, and its track is eleven inches wide and nine-teen inches long. These strange creatures were first seen southeast of Selma on the night of July 11, and their peculiar cries and the rushing of their mammoth wings were heard as late as 10 o'clock, when all became still. The dragons were last heard that night crying in the direction of King's River. Two nights later A. X. Simmon’s poultry yard was visited by the   monsters, many of the hens being bitten in two and left partly devoured. Those who examined the dead chickens say the teeth marks on them resemble those made by a very large dog. On July 19 a carriage loaded with picnickers was returning from a picnic at Clark's bridge, and in the clear moonlight saw the monsters plainly circling in the air and heard the rush of their pinions, snapping of their jaws, and fearful cries overhead. On Monday, July 21, Harvey Lemon and Major Henry Haight, who live just outside of Selma, going after their hogs, who fed on the tules, heard a strangling noise in the deep swale under a bridge,  and in a moment, with a heavy flapping of wings, the queer creatures rose slowly from the water, flying so close to the men that the wind from the tremendous wings was plainly felt. Their description or the monsters tallies with that of the persons who saw them on the 13th and 19th. J. D. Daniels of Sanger heard of the matter and joined a party of five that were going out to capture or kill the dragons, and he tells the following story, after reporting that their first night’s watch was a disappointment : “About 10 o’clock that day [Thursday] Emanuel Jacobs came in and reported that the monsters had evidently been in Horn Valley, about four miles above, the night before. They had killed a number of ducks, and the banks of the pond were strewn with feathers. We had no intention of giving over the plan of capturing the dragons, and Thursday night two of us returned to watch, Mr. Templeton and myself. We secreted ourselves in the holes which we had made the before and waited patiently with our guns, determined to secure one of the strange visitors at least, should they make their appearance. About 11 o’clock the cries were heard in the direction of King’s River, seeming two or three miles away. The ominous yells drew nearer, and in a few moments we heard the rush and roar of wings, so hideous that our hair almost stood on end. The two dragons came swooping down and circled round and round the pond in rapid whirls, screaming hideously all the while. We had a good view of them while flying. They passed within a few yards of us and their eyes were plainly visible. We could also see that instead of bills like birds they had snouts resembling that of the alligator, and their teeth could be seen as they snapped their jaws while missing. Evidently the dragons were trying to decide whether or not they should come down in the pond. They were probably examining if any food was to be had, such as ducks, mud hens and fish. At length they came down with a fearful plunge into the pond, and the mud and water flew as though a tree had fallen into it. They dived around in the water,  and as nearly as we could judge at the distance thirty yards, they were something over six feet long, and while wading through the water they looked not unlike gigantic frogs. Their wings were folded and appeared like large knobs on their backs. Their eyes were the most visible parts and seemed all the time wide open and staring. They were very active and darted about among the tules and rushes catching mud hens. One of the fowls was devoured at two or three champs of the jaws. As soon as we saw a good opportunity we leveled our guns at the one nearest us and fired. One rose in the air, yelled, and flew away. Every stoke of the wing showed great strength. The other floundered about in the water until it reached the edge or the pond, when it crawled out, dragging along its wounded wing after it, and started across the plain. We loaded our guns and gave chase. We soon lost sight of it, for it went much fa-ter [father] than we could. However, we were able to follow by its dismal cries in the distance. We followed it half a mile, when it passed out of our hearing. The next day a company  went in pursuit and trailed it by the blood on the grass. It was followed three miles to Jumper Slough, which it entered, and all trace of it was lost. Where it passed down the bank it left several well-formed tracks in the mud. One of the best was cut out with a spade and after drying was taken to Selma, where it is in  the possession of Mr. Snodgrass.” From the San Francisco Chronicle. It is not entirely safe to assume that the strange winged monster which is reported to inhabit the swamps and marshes in the vicinity of Selma, in Fresno county, is a variety of the guascutus horribius [fictitious animal], as might be expected, nor that the creature has been projected from the fertile imagination of a newspaper correspondent. There certainly is some kind of a winged animal there which devours chickens and other domestic fowl—not simply kills and eats them, but crushes and mangles them. In addition to this mute testimony, a number of witnesses,  seemingly reputable, have actually seen two great flying animals, of a kind entirely strange to them, circling through the air,  uttering their weird and discordant cries, and swooping toward the ground, while another witness has shot at and wounded one of these birds, if they be birds, and has secured the imprint of the imprint of the creature’s foot in the mud. One of two things is true, either all these witnesses are telling a falsehood, intentionally, or as the result of sell-deception, or they have come upon a survival of an earlier and prehistoric age. In this latter hypothesis there is nothing intrinsically improbable. We are accustomed to think of geologic ages as being clearly defined, accurately limited periods of time, as though one ended all at once and another began immediately upon its conclusion, as do the lines or figures representing these eras in the the text books on geology and kindred sciences. The idea is erroneous in the extreme. No one can say that at a certain time one era ended and another began. On the contrary the best authorities agree that one era lapped over upon another ; that the records show that an animal or plant of one period is often found in another, and that survival of types of forms is not to be unexpected. If then, the marshes of Fresno have given shelter for centuries to forms of animal life with which we are unacquainted, there is nothing abnormal about it, however, strange it be. It will be an event in ornithology if these birds can be classified, especially if they are found to belong to a palaozoic [Paleozoic, sic] age, beyond that it will prove nothing except that there are stranger things in earth and heaven than are dreamt off [of] in our philosophy.  

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From— The sun. (New York, N. Y.), 16 Aug. 1891. Chronicling America: Historic American Newspapers. Lib. of Congress.

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CALL OF THE MERCHILD.

A LITTLE ONE. (August 12, 1882) 

A tiny merchild, scarcely two feet in length, caught in 1759, was exhibited that year at the fair st St. German. It was very active in the vessel in which it was kept, fed freely on bread or small fishes, and while feeding looked earnestly at the spectators—a peculiarity that was variously interpreted by those who watched its movements. Although a female, the features were ugly, the skin was harsh, the ears large, and the tail was covered with the regulation scales. The coast of Scotland, in the early part of the present century, was very good fishing grounds for mermaids, and had it been worked properly some fine specimens might have been captured. As it is, we are not without evidence of good catches in that quarter. Elizabeth Mackay, daughter of Rev. David Mackay, was

VERY CIRCUMSTANTIAL

In her account of one that she and her cousin saw in 1809; The face of the pretty creature was round and plump ; the nose was small, the eyes a light blue, and the cheeks a bright pink. The hair, “of a greenish oily cast,” way very abundant, and at times the waves washed it about the creature’s face in a manner to annoy her ; nor was this the only thing that caused her annoyance, for a bird hovered about her head, as though disposed to light there, which kept her waving her long and slender arms and well proportioned but webbed hands to baffle its efforts. This was on the 25th of May, and on the 9th of the fellowing June a schoolmaster, one William Munro, of Truros, saw a mermaid that resembled the above. He had the advantage of seeing the figure more exposed, for she was seated upon a half-submerged rock, engaged in the only known occupation of mermaid—that of combing her brown locks, which fell in waves over her rounded shoulders. But her eves were gray and not blue, which raised a doubt whether it was the same mermaid that Miss Mackay had seen some days before. When the creature saw that she was observed by the schoolmaster she modestly slipped down into the water.

THE SOBER EARNEST.

The Glasgow Philosophical Society took up Miss Mackay’s published letter, and, after discussing it, applied to her father for confirmation of what she had stated, and to know it he could give any further particulars ; to which he replied that, to the best of his knowledge and belief, the mermaid, as described, had been seen by members of his family. In 1811 a mermaid was seen at Kintyre, on the coast of Scotland, and those who witnessed its movements thought proper to make affidavit of what had come under their observation. In some respects their account is unique. The upper part of the creature had all the characteristics of a well formed and well-grown mermaid, but the scaly tail, of a brindle or reddish-gray color, widened out at the extremity into the form of a fan, twelve or fourteen inches in width, which kept up a tremulous motion save and except when it was folded up, and then it remained quiescent, but for a short time.

ITS LONG AND ABUNDANT HAIR.

Claimed much of its attention, and after a while it sailed away and was lost to sight. On the same coast, in 1827, a young man was attracted to a cavern by a screeching noise, and on looking in was startled at the sight of a number of figures staring at him from the water—figures half fish, half human, with large beaming eyes, streaming hair, and long and slender arms and hands. At him they stared, but only for a moment, and then disappeared. The following day he discovered five mermaids, old and young, in the same place; the adults sleeping on the rocks and the young playing in the water.

A MERMAID, ABOUT THREE FEET LONG

Caight is the Gull of Sauchio, Ægean sea, in 1774, was exhibited in London in a dried state. Its neck was well shaped, its breast was full, or apparently had been ; the ears, which were like eel’s ears, were, placed like human ears ; the hair’an unusual occurrence—was scanty, and the creature seemed to rely, for the chief ornament of its head, on a membrane or fin that arose from the temples and formed a pyramidal topknot. From the waist down it was essentially the figure of a cod-fish, save that it had three sets of fins, so placed as to enable it to sit erect in the water. Edmund Burke is said to have expressed the opinion after examining this specimen, that it was the veritable thing. The Rev. Dr. Phillips, a representative of the London Missionary Society at Capetown, had an opportunity. From— Sacramento daily record-union. (Sacramento [Calif.]], 12 Aug. 1882. Chronicling America: Historic American Newspapers. Lib. of Congress. * * * FOR MORE LIKE THIS SEE  …  Our Tumblr Page … with new posts forthcoming  :-)  [ Lumberwoods.com : A Lost & Found of Forgotten Lore ] Don’t forget to Like Us on Facebook !   Go for it, right now! [Click Here]

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AN UGLY MONSTER.

AN UGLY MONSTER (July 2, 1892) . Beast, snake and fish

Oakland (California) has a something for which everybody is trying to find a name. Some call it a fish and others class it with the serpents. As it was caught in the bay the fish theorists maintain that their position is correct, but the contrary minded point to the barrel-shaped body and the hideous head of the something in support of their belief that it is a snake, and an ugly one at that. At all events it is the queerest looking monster ever captured in the bay of San Francisco. Some people claim that the Atlantic seaside hotelkeepers have permitted the one, only and original sea serpent to get away from them, and there is something about the monster that bears them out. From the tip of its ugly nose to the end of its equally ugly tail the body is 5½ ft long. It is round in shape, and the body tapers from the head to a fine point at the tail. The captors state that it wriggled very snakishly through the water. The thing has fins just like any well-constructed fish. The head of the monster is enough to scare a delirium tremens patient into  an insane asylum. It is a very large head, shaped like a sea-lion’s, with huge staring round eyes, two small ears that lie close to the head, and a very large mouth armed with two rows of formidable looking fangs and a forked tongue. The tongue, the captors aver, darted serpentwise in and out of the mouth when the thing was alive. The head has patches of black silky hair scattered over it. The captors were fishing off the north side of Goat Island, when they noticed the monster wriggling in the water. The boat’s painter was speedily converted into a lariat, and when the fish-snake poked his hideous head above the water it was made prisoner. The young men had a hard fight with the monster, but they finally landed it in the boat and conveyed it to Oakland, where it has been on exhibition. The monster weighs 18 ¼ lb. A professor at Berkely University who had been studying all day and far into the darkness over the matter, has found out what the something was and triumphantly pronounced its name. The professor’s designation of the snakefish is anarrhichilthys ocellatus [Anarrhichthys ocellatus, the wolf eel]—at least that is the telegraph operator’s version of it. At all events it is a very queer fish, and it is found only in the Pacific Ocean and the arms thereof.

From— Evening News (Sydney, NSW : 1869 - 1931) 28 2 July 1892. Trove. National Library of Australia.

Photo of Anarhichas orientalis better known as the “Bering wolffish” cousin to wolf eel. Both belong to the family of Anarhichadidae known as wolffish or sea wolves. They are indigenous to both cold Pacific and Atlantic waters. The largest species can grow up to be two meters in length. Photo by user Oviphagy, posted to Wikimedia Commons.

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SNAKE LORE OF AUSTRALIA.

*** THE HOOP SNAKE. (March 15, 1890)

The following question, says a correspondent of the Scientific American, in still being asked: “Is there such a thing as a hoop snake, and has anybody ever seen one, or a specimen of one?” The way the hoop snake is said to move about is thus: It takes its tail in its month, coils itself in an ellipse, and moves around like a hoop. There are many persons who uphold the existence of the hoop snake, yet all reports and declarations that have been advanced in its favour have all proved to be totally unreliable. The anatomy of a snake alone is sufficient to prove that hoop like progression is impossible. The hoop snake has never been described by any naturalist in any standard work on reptiles, and no museum nor collection in the world contains a specimen of it. It exists only in the minds of the ignorant and unscientific, and it must be classed with ghosts, mermaids, winged snakes, sea serpents, and fishhooked-tailed fishing snakes. *** COW MILIKING SNAKES. (October 2, 1910)

An old country belief, usually called a superstition, has been justified by a very curious experience near Chipping Norton. A Mrs. Rice, residing near the village of Oddington, Gloucestershire, keeps two cows, which, although in perfect condition, were recently not giving a proper supply of milk. Her cowman, going into the meadow one day, found one of the cows lying down quite contentedly, while two large grass snakes were sucking at her udders. *** SOME SNAKE YARN. (August 13, 1921)

Putting all jokes aside, did you ever hear of a hoop snake? Drovers [livestock drivers] and other overlanders in the early days often spent hours at the entrance to the old Cloncurry suspension bridge, when Coppermine Creek was a banker [river that reaches to the top of the banks], watching the antics of these reptiles. Averaging a length of nearly 5ft, the hoop snake originally received its name on account of its peculiar methods of propulsion. By, inserting its tail in its mouth, and wriggling to a perpendicular attitude in the form of a hoop, it is enabled to cover the ground with no little velocity. As above stated, the drovers coming down from the Gulf and Territory country generally found the time lag very heavily on their hands after the usual initial “spree,” writes J.T.K. in the Brisbane “Courier.” Squatting on their haunches near the entrance of the bridge, few, if any of them, were averse to “backing their fancy” [placing a bet] as the various hoop snakes endeavored to negotiate the swinging spans of the bridge. Money passed hands very freely, and curses were loud and deep when one of the leading snakes, possessing more velocity than sense, rolled from the bridge and hit the water below. These races were quite a regular feature of the 'Curry in the good old days, but I am since given to understand that snake racing has has been banned by the local Council, at the instance of a representative body of churchmen, who held that such an amusement was nothing more or less than a pastime of the devil. *** SNAKES THAT FLY IN THE NIGHT. (January 27, 1917)

Recent paragraphs in The Observer about the discovery of what was at first thought to be a winged snake, have called forth from our Green’s Plains correspondent the following effusion:—Some diversity of opinion has recently been expressed among correspondents of The Observer whether another correspondent really killed a winged snake, as he asserted, or was merely the victim of an optical illusion with a lizard. Now, although not for one moment doubting that it was either a snake or a lizard that was killed, or maybe both, I would like to say right here and now, that the first correspondent, unless his veracity has been of long standing and firmly established, made a serious mistake in killing the reptile off his own bat, without having first shown it to a friend, or friends, whose testimony might have been very useful just now. This shows how very careful one should be. There cannot be the slightest doubt about this having been a belated specimen of the winged snake aerial fleet. These reptiles were very numerous and popular in the early days of the province, when distances were largely marked by distant grog shanties, and events simply by what happened—those far-away days when the native cat and the locust were sworn enemies of the pioneer, and sought his blood or crop by day or night. It was then in the gloaming that he listened for the whirl of the white-winged serpents, as they came in flocks to chase the  marauders back into the gathering night, for these fireless flying serpents were very partial to locust and wild catty. And yet they were generally understood to be labelled “not dangerous” unless they hit something. There was, of course, an occasional overgrown specimen which might not be quite so handy or harmless about the place. For instance, there is the backblocker [one who lives in the outback], who, coming home in the dusk, saw and fired at, what he took to be a wild turkey flying low, and found when it landed almost in the door of his little grey home in the bush that it was a broken-winged and very indignant snake. They both spent a wildly wakeful night. Another early pioneer, gun in hand, in broad daylight, saw rapidly approaching overhead, and mostly all head, some remarkable monster, which he would have mistaken for an aeroplane had those innovations been about in those days. As the whirring wings passed overhead, he shut his eyes and fired, and brought down a most fearsome-looking creature with the head of a shark and the slimy winged body of a snake, which on closer inspection it proved to be. The serpent had evidently undertaken—for a wager maybe, or maybe only for a meal—to swallow a full-grown lizard of the Jewish persuasion, and had succeeded in getting the brute down all but the head, which was unusually large, and ornamented with frills and whiskers, some of which had apparently caught in the snake’s teeth, and so in all probability saved both their heads. And this is the only authentic local instance of a lizard flying, although there is not the slightest doubt that they could do so if they wanted to. The lizard is, how ever, more of a ground bird, and seems quite content to make haste slowly; and as in the case mentioned, only flies by compulsion. But there can be no doubt that now, as in the days of old, there are and were flying serpents, and The Observer correspondent who made the discovery, or  rediscovery, need not be in the least discouraged, as it is a highly creditable one, and must prove interesting to science and other denominations. *** A FEARSOME REPTILE.  (October 28, 1909) The Whip Snake of North America.

One of the most terrifying reptiles in the whole world is the “whip” or “hoop” snake (genus Masticophis), found in North America. An account of it reads like a piece of clever fiction, but, nevertheless, the whip snake is very real, and one of the earth's most real dangers— that is, to one whose lot it happens to be in life to live in a portion of the country where there are deep swamps or thick woods or wild rough hillsides. This is the whip snake’s choice of a world to live in, and there he is peaceable enough. If you happen to invade it, he will creep away, if possible, and fight only as a last resort. He will even lie so snug that you may step over him scatheless a dozen times— if only you do not step on him. You may see him sometimes basking on a log or bare rock, blinking at the sun, and looking as inert and harmless as a fallen twig. He is long and slim, rarely under four or over six feet in length. His back is dull dead brown, his belly reddish ocher, with brown lights. He has a mouthful of sharp teeth, but no fangs; but at the tip of the tail you see a suspicious-looking horny spur, for all the world like a cock’s spur, but somewhat sharper. So he creeps and blinks away the spring and early summer, feeding on frogs, mice, berries, and small birds and their eggs. Nobody sees him unless they hunt him, and then only by rare good luck. By-and-by, however, midsummer arrives, and dries up the marshes and woodland pools, the hill streams run low or fail altogether, and the negroes and hunters begin to say apprehensively : “Better be keerful ; time for hoop snake to come whirling out de water, an’ crazy mad at that.” Soon you hear weird tales indeed. In this midsummer madness the creature curls itself till the horned tail rests just on the back of its head, and then with a terrific jerk flings itself into the country road or open woodland. A succession of these vicious springs are its mode of progression, and woe betide whatsoever may cross its path. The name whip snake, hoop snake, or cartwheel snake, as it is called in different localities, comes from its habit of locomotion on these mad midsummer forages. Vision is impossible, yet in some way the creature immediately discerns a living presence, and strikes madly at it, fling its barbed tail almost its own length in front of its head. There is a poison gland at the root of the spur, full of venom so swift, so subtle, that it has no antidote. A horse struck by it falls shivering and groaning, bathed in cold sweat, and dies within the hour. Near cattle either run bellowing into the nearest thicket in foaming frenzy, or drop in their tracks as though shot. A dog dies with the quick rigours of strychnine poisoning, then fall into merciful insensibility that runs rapidly into death. Luckily, however, the snake misses oftener than it strikes. In that case it makes no second attack, but whirls away in search of new victims. It cannot strike sideways, but is so full of fight it will turn squarely on its course to deliver a straight-out blow. Few things are more awesome than on a lonesome moonlit country road to encounter one of these wheels of vengeance. The full moon of August is the whip snake’s usual season for its mad frolic ; but sometimes it runs amuck by daylight. Once a group in front of a roadside smithy were horror-struck at sight of a tremendous fellow whirling down hill at them with a speed and force of a thunderbolt. They were three men, with a tethered horse, in the midst, of them. Almost before they could drew breath the snake was upon them. It struck madly at the animal, which reared, plunged backwards, and broke rein just in time. Instead of it, the snake struck the sapling to which it had been tied, and with such force that the horn penetrated the bark and held the reptile prisoner. The smith immediately smashed its head with a blow of his hammer, flung it away, and set about putting a shoe on the lucky beast which had had so narrow an escape. By the time the shoe was in place the sapling began to wilt. By morning it was as black and dead as though hard frost had touched it. In fact, whenever a tree suddenly and unaccountably dies, the countryfolk will tell you that it has been stung by a whip snake; — “Spare Moments.” From— The Week (Brisbane, Qld. : 1876 - 1934) 15 March 1890, The Sunday Sun (Sydney, NSW : 1903 - 1910) 2 October 1910, The Shoalhaven News and South Coast Districts Advertiser (Shoalhaven, New South Wales, Australia) 13 August 1921, Observer (Adelaide, SA : 1905 - 1931) 27 January 1917 & Cobram Courier (Vic. : 1888 - 1954) 28 October 1909. Trove. National Library of Australia.

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A GHOST MONSTER.

AN APPARITION (December 22, 1883). The Strange Creature Creating an Excitement near Mexico, Mo.

The neighborhood of Hopewell church, near Mexico. Mo., is much excited over the appearance in the locality of a strange creature, which is thought by the credulous to be a ghost, and which is a puzzle at least to the most skeptical. The apparition is simply that of a lean monster man, between eight and ten feet in height, wearing a long cloak, and going about with his head bowed in an abstracted way, but occasionally glaring at those it meets with small, glittering eyes said to resemble those of a cat, or some wild beast. The negroes believe the apparition to be a ghost, the white people do not know what to say. There appears little doubt, whatever the creature may be, that it has actually been seen a number of times. The school at Hopewell Church is about abandoned because of fear of the monster, and even sturdy farmers go about armed, in apprehension of it.

John Creary, a well known old resident, declares that recently as he was returning from Mexico, to his home, he had a good view of the queer being, who was about fifty yards ahead of him, walking in a leisurely way along the middle of the big road, in mud almost knee deep, his head still lowered and his long black cloak flowing in the breeze. All at once, and in the twinkling of an eye, he disappeared in the thick woods as mysteriously as he came upon the scene. Mr. Creary says for the first time in his life, although a soldier under Gen. Grant, he was really frightened, and it was all he could do to control the horse he was riding, so great seemed its fear of the object.

Mr. C. Haggett and wife, who were returning from church Thanksgiving eve, were surprised by the monster’s peering with its cat-like eyes into their buggy and leaning against it, almost crushing the vehicle. The lady has not yet, it is said, recovered from the shock. Mr. and Mrs. H. both claim on this occasion a white cloak was worn.

A large number of others have seen the strange creature, and to-night a large party is scouring the neighborhood of Hopewell Church, hoping to capture it. No newspapers of the city are represented in the searching party, which includes one or two St. Louisans, and a report from the expedition is awaited with much interest.

From— Arizona silver belt. (Globe City, Pinal County, Ariz.), 22 Dec. 1883. Chronicling America: Historic American Newspapers. Lib. of Congress.

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ISLE OF THE ‘GREAT THING.’

A PRIZE YARN ABOUT A MIXED SEA MONSTER. (January 6, 1904) (Combination of Fish, Alligator and Bat Found.) Throws the old Sea Serpent Into the Shade—Gigantic Survivor of Prehistoric Ages is Over Sixty-five Feet Long, and Equally at Home in Air or Sea.

Salt Lake, Utah.—A terrible, nameless, unclassified creature of the animal world is exciting the curiosity,  wonder and fear of occasional visitors to Stansbury Island, in the southern portion of Great Salt Lake. This monster, so strange and unnatural in appearance, has lately, it is said, been seen by several persons, but the best account of its characteristics and movement is given by Martin Gilbert and John Barry, two hunters who this week returned from an expedition over the island, in the course of which they studied the habits of this hitherto unheard of creature for three days. The monster, which appears to be almost equally at home in the air, on the bench, or submerged in the briny waters of Salt Lake, is probably the sole survivor of a prehistoric species. It is doubtless the last representative of a family whose other members, dead ages since, have left the testimony of their existence in the primeval rocks of the mountains. Arranging in concise form the description of this incredible relic of the animal world, from the accounts given by those who have observed it at close range, it seems in plain, unscientific language, a combination of fish, allgator, and bat.

* * *

DESCRIPTION OF THE BEAST.

In size it is simply tremendous. Gilbert places its length at sixty feet, while Barry, who is an amateur scientist, says that an examination of Its tracks demonstrates that the monster must be sixty-five feet from head to tail.

The head is like that of an alligator, the eyes fiercely glowing, the jaws, capable of opening to a distance of ten feet from the top of the upper to the lower, are provided with a fearful array of sharp saw-edged teeth; the body, so far as observation goes, is encased with heavy horny scales. As to this Gilbert and Barry are not positive, as the constant diving of the beast, if such it may be called, into the strong brine of the lake has incrusted it with a thick coating of salt, which, save near the wings, completely hides the body. According to their account they first sighted it at a distance of between one and a half and two miles. The day was clear, the sun intensely bright. Gilbert’s own words of the discovery are: We were walking westward from the east shore of the island about 9 o’clock in the morning, when suddenly to the northwest there appeared a Thing, I don’t know what to call it; it looked to me like a brilliant rainbow folded into a compact mass, moving rapidly through the air. “I was so astounded that for a few moments I doubted the evidence of my own senses. The object came nearer,  but the colors were so dazzling that it was some time before it assumed definite form. No one who has not witnessed the sight can conceive its strangeness. The mass of color was glowing, flaming, radiant. I spoke to Barry, saying: “‘For God’s sake, man can you see that?’ and he was no less astonished than myself. “In three or four minutes the monster’s position was such that it no longer reflected the sunlight directly toward us, and we could then discern the outline of the form. Its wings were batlike, stretching out over a great expanse, I should say at least one hundred feet from tip to tip. The tail was proportionately short and resembled that of a huge fish. We were not close enough at this time to tell much about the head, only we saw that the jaws were very long. In shape the head was like that of a crocodile.&dsquo; Gilbert gave a long account of how he and Barry watched the monster, which supported its enormous wings, swung round and round in immense circles through the air, gradually descending and approaching nearer to them. He declares that it was not more than 300 yards above their heads, when, now convinced that the awful creature was about to attack them, he fired at the monster with his rifle, a 0.4-calibre gun loaded with a steel-cased bullet. The missile, he believes, struck fair, but inflicted no apparent wound. The monster gave utterance to a strange,  fear-inspiring cry, half snort, half roar, and, rising rapidly in the air, veered quickly to the west, and after three miles of flight settled down and disappeared beyond the crest of the hills.

* * *

BULLET HAD NO EFFECT. A few seconds after the shot was fired, while the hunters were watching the flight of the dragon-like beast, some small lumps of salt fell almost at their feet. They were more than ever mystified by this, but not until the next day were they able to ascertain its source.

Determined to learn more, of the monster, Gilbert and Barry hastened in the direction of its flight, and after surmounting the range of hills to the westward, found with little trouble the tracks the beast had left in the soil after ceasing its flight. These led the hunters to an immense cave, near the head of a narrow gulch. They approached to within three rods of the opening in the rocks, but finding that the freshest footprints led into the gloomy cavern feared at that time to make any closer inspection. “These tracks,” said Barry, “were five-toed, almost exactly like the imprint of a gigantic hand,  if you can imagine a hand nearly four feet across the palm.” Gilbert and Barry constructed a barricade for themselves of the largest rocks they were able to handle and lay down to await the results. The day wore on and the men were weary and almost despairing of success in their virgll, when, just at dusk, the horrible creature crawled slowly from the cave, and, pausing at its mouth to take flight, gave them their first view at close range. Barry says that the hackneyed phrase of exaggeration, “made his blood run cold,” is none too strong for the sight they saw. “The monster slowly moved his great jaws,” declared the hunter, in speaking of his experience, “until it scented as if he could have swallowed a large horse at one mouthful. He gave a snort that might have been heard a mile, and then slowly spread his huge wings. We now saw that the huge body was coated with salt,  apparently nearly a foot in thickness. This explained why the salt lumps dropped at our feet when the bullet struck the monster. By this we knew that the creature must spend much of its time in the waters of the lake. “The great beast made a short run before taking flight, taking long jumps upon its hind legs and tail. The fore legs were comparatively short, and appeared to be used only when it crawled flat upon the ground. “The frightful head was not more than ten feet from us when it rose in the air, but so well were we screened by our shelter of rocks that we were unobserved. The large, fiercely gleaming eyes, the sharp, serrated teeth, the wide expanse of wings that began to move rapidly as the horrible beast rose from the ground and passed directly over our heads, combined to make a terrible sight—one that I shall never forget. “We watched it disappear in the gathering gloom of night, but were for a long time paralyzed with fear, not knowing when it might return. It was probably an hour later when it did come back. “We heard the swish of the mighty wings before it could be seen, but as it drew nearer, by the light of the young moon in the west, we saw that carried in its great jaws was a large horse, which I suppose it had swooped down upon while feeding. The horse was badly crushed and mangled.

* * * FEASTED ON THE HORSE.

“The monster carried its burden into the cave and we could hear the crunching of its jaws and the cracking of the horse’s bones as the beast devoured its victim. After an hour or so all was still and we then slipped quietly away in the darkness and returned to our camp on the eastern shore of the island. “Had it not been for a bad break in our boat we would have fled the Island that night. As it was we worked all night to repair the craft, although the task might have been accomplished in two hours except that we feared to build a fire to afford light. “It was just dawn and we were preparing to launch, when Gilbert said: “There it comes again!’ In an instant we turned the boat bottom up and crawled under it. One end was lifted about a foot above the end by a rock, and we were able to watch the monster’s actions. “It settled down on the beach less than fifty yards to the north and dived quickly into the lake. From its actions while nearly buried under the waves I judged that the creature was gathering and feeding upon the salt water shrimps which abound along the coast there. When the monster came up it was very close to us, and we were particularly impressed by the fact that the strong brine had no effect upon its eyes, which appeared lidless. Evidently the animal’s food in the water was found by the sense of sight. “Although of such gigantic size, there was nothing sluggish in the movements of the monster. It swam and dived as rapidly as any large fish. “We watched it for perhaps half an hour as it gradually worked its way northward and finally disappeared.”—Philadelphia Record. From— The star. (Reynoldsville, Pa.). 06 Jan. 1904. Chronicling America: Historic American Newspapers. Lib. of Congress.

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CRYPTID MONSTER STORIES.

OLD DEEP-SEA CREATURE. (August 17, 1923)

“Old Man of the Sea,” long famed, or something extremely like him, has been discovered. A hideous marine monster fish, but with almost a human head, has been captured by the crew of the barque Duque d'Aotsa off the Brazilian coast. The creature’s head has a well-defined nose, ears and gaping month. Its general appearance being that of an old man. One spike projects from the monster’s forehead. It is probable that early mariners, who told wild tales of having seen mermaids, mermen and demons when in tropic seas, had in reality seen some such rare creature of the ocean depths. * * * GIANTS OF THE CORDILLERAS. (July 28, 1892) They Guard Fabulous Treasures of Gold and Silver in their Mountains.

In western Patagonia, among the Cordilleras mountains, dwell the giants of whom so many big stories have been told. As a matter of fact these Arancanians, as they are called, are rarely under six feet in height and sometimes reach eight feet, seven foot men being not infrequent, says the Philadelphia Press. Though mildly disposed, they admit no strangers to their territory, and by stubborn resistance they have compelled Chili to let them alone. Fabulous treasures of gold and silver are believed to be stored away in their mountains, but prospectors who have ventured thither have always been driven away. They commonly adorn themselves with rich and heavy ornaments of these precious metals. The greater part of Patagonia belongs now to the Argentine Republic, Chili holding by treaty the strip along the Pacific coast, which continues its shoe-string-like territory for nearly half the length of South America. Most of the country is a desert waste, cold of climate and contrasting strongly with the richly productive pampas or plains of the southern Argentine. These pampas are remarkable for the strange illusions which beset the eye of the traveler who journeys over them. On any bright day a distant thistle field is as like as not to be transformed seemingly into a forest, while a few clumps of grass will take on the appearance of a troop of horsemen. Mirages are constantly in view, frequently offering a delusive prospect of water, by which men are often deceived but their horses never. * * * GIGANTIC FEATHERED CREATURE. (January 30, 1896)

Elias Midkoff of Hamilton, Lincoln county, was in Charleston the other day and proposed to the State Historical and Antiquarian Society that if it would send him a taxidermist to Hamlin the society could secure a monster bird, of a kind never seen before by any one in West Virginia. The feathered monster is described by Mr. Midkoff, from measurements taken by himself and V. W. Adkins of Hamlin, who killed the bird at the mouth of Vannatters creek, with five bullets from his rifle, while hunting deer on Monday. The bird is 7 feet 4 inches from tip to tip, 4 feet from tip of bill to tip of tail, flat bill 4 inches long and 3 inches wide, somewhat similar to that of a duck; web feet, neck 19 inches long, and about 1½ inches through below the feathers; plumage dark brown, relieved on the wings and breast by light-blue shading. The bird when first seen was circling high in the air, but came down very quickly and alighted in the water, where Adkins got a good shot at it, crippling its wing. Adkins attempted to capture the strange fowl alive, but it was so vicious that he could not get near it without killing it, which required five bullets.—Baltimore American. * * * A GIANT BALLOON FISH. (November 2, 1896)

Who has ever heard of a balloon fish? Not the little, puffing fellows that are so annoying to modest anglers fishing from a dock or small boat, but a huge monster that plows the seas far away from land, and one who is a worthy compeer of the great unknown and highly respected sea serpent. Captain Slocum, of the schooner Saladin, out from Jacmel, Hayti, while in latitude twenty-six degrees north, longitude seventy-five degrees west, descried to the eastward an object which at first he supposed to be the wreck of a small vessel. Altering his course, he ran down to the supposed wreck, a distance of about five miles. The following extract from the ship’s logbook will explain the adventure : &lquo;Time 7:30 a.m., June 4, at 6 a. m. the object was first seen&mdah;weather murky&mdah;and at 7 a. m. we came up to it. It proved to be a large and vicious looking sea monster, such as I had never seen or heard of at any time. The body appeared to be about forty feet long and the tail about sixty feet, with forked ends, each fork about four feet long. It had two feet, or fins, not unlike those of a sea serpent. The creature stood about twelve feet high out of the water, and was fully forty feet in breadth.”&mdah;New York Journal * * * STRANGE MONSTER IN AFRICA. (August 23, 1922) English Scientist Tells of Creature Which He Thinks May Have Been Giant Python.

F. C. Cornell, Fellow of the Royal Geographical society, who recently returned to England after spending twenty years in practically unknown parts of South Africa, is author of a story about an unknown monster that had been seen near the Great falls of the Orange river. It has a huge head and a neck ten feet long like a bending tree. It seizes the native cattle and drags them under water. The natives call it “Kyman,” or the Great Thing. Last May Mr. Cornell, accompanied by two white companions, W. H. Brown and N. B. Way of Capetown, and three Hottentots [offensive slang for Khoikhoi people], went to the Junction of the Oub and Orange rivers to see the monster if possible. He writes: “At the cries of the natives I saw something black, huge, and sinuous swimming rapidly against the current in the swirling rapids. The monster kept its enormous body under water, but the neck was plainly visible. The monster may have been a very gigantic python, but if it was it was of an incredible size. This reptile may have lived for hundreds of years. Pythons approaching It in size have been said to have lived that long.” * * * THE BIGGEST SEA SERPENT STORY. (November 1, 1892)

The mail steamer Angola arrived at Liverpool Thursday with the biggest sea serpent story yet told. Either the one hundred or more officers, passengers and crew are a company of awful liars, or his majesty, the sea serpent, mysteriously missing this season from the American coast, has emigrated to West Africa. This is the story of the witnesses sigued by everybody on board. While the vessel was steaming between Bay Beach and Lagos, a long, moving mass was discerned about a mile from shore. There were no fins or flappers to be seen, but the leviathan was proceeding along at the rate of five or six miles an hour by an undulating, wriggling motion. It was traveling in an opposite direction to that in which the steamer was going, and it was kept in sight for more than ten minutes. It was estimated that its length would be about 200 feet. The water at the time was as smooth as a mill pond, so that an unobstructed view of the monster could be had. At one time it raised its enormous head and looked in the direction of the ship, showing two tremendous green eyes. It was broad daylight at the time, and when first seen the creature was within easy distance, being readily discerned by the naked eye, and the glasses which were used only confirmed the opinion that it was a sea serpent. * * * OMNIVORA. (March 15, 1896) For The Post. There is a frightful ogre          Infesting earth today. That rends the hearts of mortals          Selected as their prey. A creature formed of many,          Yet none was ever caught. In fact a hydra monster.          Although composed of naught. It lives among the people,          And boldly sports around. But should one seek to find it,          It never can be found. No eye hath ever seen it,          And yet, by no means small, It spreads the whole world over,          But is no where at all. Its eye, and ears are countless,          No distance is too great, But that their power will reach it,          Relentlessly as fate. Its tongues are ever wagging,          The while it viciously Prepares its oral missiles,          And pelts vindictively No might hath ever snubbed it;          Vain either prayer or moan; The slaughter still continues,          Of hearts to feed upon. Wouldst know this deathless monster,          No earthly power can stay? It is the Omnivora          Of human hearts, “they say?” —Alva Clay Bravo. From— The L'Anse sentinel. (L'Anse, LS., Mich.), 17 Aug. 1923, The St. Johns herald. (St. Johns, Apache County, Arizona Territory [Ariz.:), 28 July 1892, Crawford avalanche. (Grayling, Mich.), 30 Jan. 1896, Freeland tribune. (Freeland, Pa.), 02 Nov. 1896, Edgefield advertiser. (Edgefield, S.C.), 23 Aug. 1922, Alexandria gazette. (Alexandria, D.C.), 01 Nov. 1892. & The Houston daily post. (Houston, Tex.), 15 March 1896. Chronicling America: Historic American Newspapers. Lib. of Congress.

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A GEORGIA BIGFOOT.

AN OLD-TIME GEORGIA MONSTER. (MAY 15, 1891) From the St. Louis Republic. In August, 1812 a party of hunters found in a mountainous region now known as Rabun county, Georgia, a being nearly eight feet high, covered with bluish hair and having a human face adorned with immense ears resembling those of an ass. The creature was stone deaf, and on that account seemed to be wholly  unconscious of the approach of the men.   This monster seems, from old accounts, to have been seen upon several occasions during the next four years. In 1816 a number of adventurers from  Virginia, most of them surveyors working up the unexplored portions of Georgia and the Carolinas, formed themselves into a party for the express purpose of capturing the uncanny being, if possible. They scoured the hills and valleys for several days, and at last returned unsuccessful to the starting point. The learned Joseph Earie, then living in at Culpepper, Va., wrote the following in a letter to John Bishop of of Boston, Lincolnshire, England. “An awful creature, half animal and half man, of gigantic stature and fierce mien, is known to inhabit the wild regions to the south of us. Some think that there is a race of these monsters hiding in the hills and mountains of Georgia, the place where it or they have been the oftenest seen. Of the few people which inhabit this wild country, not a soul which we have approached doubts that the creature is all that it is represented as being. Indeed, sir, one poor planter, who guided us a great distance from the falls, is convinced that he saw him face to face not more thon three weeks since, an assertion my adventurous componions were only too ready to believe.” The many tales told of this a extraordinary being seem to have created   quite a stir all along the Atlantic coast. A printed circular issued by a land company in 1815 says: “The climate of Georgia is exceedingly mild, the soil productive, and the danger of attack from uncouth beasts, which are represented as being half beast and half man, are fairy tales not worthy of consideration.” From— The Anaconda standard. (Anaconda, Mont.), 15 May 1891. Chronicling America: Historic American Newspapers. Lib. of Congress.

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JUMPIN’ JACKALOPES!

TEXAS RABBITS HAVE HORNS. (January 26, 1912) Cureo, Texas—Several giant jackrabbits that have evidently been crossed with white-tail deer have been killed in this section and brought here during the last few weeks. The rabbits have well-defined antlers several inches long. Many jackrabbits with horns have also been killed recently. * * * THIS TIME OF YEAR. (August 2, 1890) This is the time of year when news items grow very scarce and the newspaper man who is not all opinion is rescued from filling his editorial page with base ball biographical plate matter by the kind Kansas man who opportunely find snakes with legs, rabbits with horns and three-eyed calves. * * * JACK RABBIT WITH ANTLERS. (February 20, 1913) What is said to be the first specimen of an antlered rabbit ever killed was recently shot by a Mexican near San Benito, Texas. It was of the jack rabbit type in all respects except that  protruding from its head and fastened to its ears was a set of horns much resembling the antlered adornment of a young buck deer. The longest of these prongs measures nearly seven inches. The other prongs measure one to six inches. It is believed by local authorities that this specimen of the rabbit family is a freak of nature. The head was severed from the body and mounted. * * * ODD REPORT. (April 21, 1882) Dr. J. P. Tate went out hunting the other day and killed a mule-eared rabbit which on examination, he found antlered with seven distinct, well formed horns, six across the forehead and one on the nose, after the style of a rhinoceros. * * * A HORNED RABBIT. (January 20, 1911) As another evidence of the greatness and productivity of Marion county, Mr. Will Gray, carrier on Route No. 4, brought to this office last Saturday a rabbit head to which was attached six perfectly formed horns, though one was lost in handling the head after the animal was killed. The bunny was shot by a negro, John Feilder, who lives on Mr. Gray’s route some five or six miles from the city and is now on exhibition at the Jimplecute office. Many conjectures have been offered as to the species of the animal, but we are inclined to think that, as Col. G W. Watson says it is a genuine specimen of the long extinct “Gooklookus,”—though why he should call it that we don’t know. Anyhow the head can be seen here at any time and is a curiosity indeed. * * * KILLED HORNED RABBIT. (October 29, 1915) Roscoe, Tex.—Another horned rabbit was killed near here a few days ago by W. A. Ater of Roscoe. It was the second cottontail with horns to be found in Texas, and leads to the conclusion on the part of local scientists that there is a distinct breed of this species. * * * FINDS RABBITS WITH HORNS. (May 10, 1902) Sanford Bellmire, a farmer of Homestead, Okla., has a curiousity in the way of six rabbits of which the males have horns. The find was made under a heap of rocks. The male parent rabbit is about the size of a jack; it has two large horns, two and one-half inches long and one inch in diameter. They are hard and shaped like the horns of a yearling calf. Five smaller horns also adorn his head. Two of the young rabbits are males and upon examination callous spots were found which eventually will develop into horns. * * * RABBIT WITH HORNS. (March 15, 1917) This story may seem something in the line of a fish story, but it isn’t, it’s a fact. The story runs in the rabbit line this week. J. H. B. Mathenia, who lives north of this city, was here Monday and showed us the horns he took from a rabbit he killed that day. The horns measured nine inches long and were curved much like that of a steer. He said when he removed the horns he took them from between the ears, and that they protruded about one and one-half inches on each side. We examined them thoroly [sic] and they are genuine in every detail. This is quite a rare think and the first one of the kind we have ever known of. * * * WHITE MULE SUSPECTED. (April 9, 1922) Rabbits with horns like a goat are reported as seen in Iowa. This is probably a direct result of the low price of corn.—Wolf Point Herald. From— Macon beacon. (Macon, Miss.), 26 Jan. 1912.,   The Wichita daily eagle. (Wichita, Kan.), 02 Aug. 1890., The Yale expositor. (Yale, St. Clair County, Mich.), 20 Feb. 1913., The Waco daily examiner. (Waco, Tex.), 21 April 1882.,   Jefferson jimplecute. (Jefferson, Tex.), 20 Jan. 1911., The copper era and Morenci leader. (Clifton, Ariz.), 29 Oct. 1915., The Washington bee. volume (Washington, D.C.), 10 May 1902., The Hayti herald. (Ham Mo.), 15 March 1917. & Great Falls tribune. (Great Falls, Mont.), 09 April 1922. Chronicling America: Historic American Newspapers. Lib. of Congress.

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A MERMAID MENAGERIE.

AN INTERESTING ERA IN NATURAL HISTORY. (August 12, 1882.)

Mermaids do not appear to have favored the American coast, yet one would suppose that they would have found the Gulf Stream a delightful place for their gambols. Of a mermaid that was once discovered in the harbor of St. John, Newfoundland, we have an entertaining account. It was seen by Captain Richard Whithourne, who described it in his book of voyages, a pamphlet published in London in 1622. The Captain was standing by the river side, when it came swiftly swimming toward him, and looked cheerfully up in his face. “It was like a woman by the face, eyes, nose, mouth, chin, arms, neck, and forehead, and in those parts as well proportioned. Round Its Head

It had many blue streaks, resembling hair, but certainly it was not hair.” As it approched the Captain drew back, for fear that it might spring upon him, which he thought was its intention, whereupon it turned and swam away, looking back as it did so, and then he had an opportunity to see its back, which was “as square, white and smooth as the back of a man, and from the middle to the hinder part it was pointing, in proportion like a broad-headed arrow.” Captain Whitbourne’s mermaid, finding that she could not lure him, swam away to a boat in which there were a number of men, one of whom, William Hawkbridge, the Captain’s servant, who after wards became master of an Indiaman [East India Company ship], said the mermaid “put both its hands upon the boat, and did strive much to come into him and divers other in the boat, whereat they were afraid and one of them struck it a full blow on the head, whereby it fell off from them and came to other boats in the harbor.” The mermaid was not captured, and of course there was no opportunity to inspect it closely, and I cannot find that any other living specimen was ever seen on this side of the Atlantic.—[New York Post. * * * A SCOTTISH MERMAID. (March 8, 1851)

A MERMAID—A Glasgow paper relates that in the hyperborean village of Shieldaig, on the Western shores of Scotland, a lady appeared the other morning, whose visit is likely to throw the sea serpent into the shade. A number of women had risen pretty early, as their custom is to go for fuel to the Gascon, when the attention of one was attracted by a number of seamews which were hovering and screaming near the church. On a further inspection, she discovered a lady sitting on the rock, with a comb and glass in her hand, singing one of her madrigals in a plaintive voice, and duly pointed her out to the others, who all maintained that they saw the strange apparition. The probability is that this mermaid was of the Razaay white seals, which are known to sit frequently on rocks during the night, uttering plaintiff sounds ; but so superstitious are the fishers that not a single boat has put to sea since. * * * MERMAID EXHIBITION. (May 22, 1908) C.C. Lord & Co., curio dealers, to-day placed on exhibition a mermaid six feet long. It was imported from Japan. It is the largest mermaid ever seen in California and is regarded with awe and amazement by eastern visitors. Mr. Lord can discourse at considerable length concerning the habits and characteristics of the strange species. The head of his new possession is of good size, the skull much resembling that of a large monkey. * * * HILL’S SEA SERPENT. (July 17, 1902) While passing through the Rice hotel last night a Post reporter observed a portly oh gentleman laughing heartily at something he had read in a newspaper. He pointed out the article to a friend. It was an account of a sea serpent which railroad king J. J. Hill is alleged to have seen while on a pleasure trip in Northern waters. “I’ll bet old Jim had a bully good time,” said the gentleman. “The serpent was 225 feet long, so the account states. That ain’t so long, after all. I’ve seen a few myself. But the darndest yarn I ever heard of is recorded as a fact by S. Baring-Gould, a fact which was well authenticated and which comes down to us unvarnished and unimpaired. Remember, it as a fact. Once upon a time, after a violent tempest, which broke down the dykes in Holland and flooded the lowlands, some girls in town of Edam in West Freisland, going in a boat, to milk their cows and rescue their poultry, observed a mermaid in shallow water and embarrassed in the mud. They took it out of the water, placed it in the boat and brought it to the town, where they dressed it in female attire and taught it, by dint of coaxing, to spin and assist in household work. It fed with them and took part in all their pleasures, but could never be taught to speak. It was afterwards brought to Harlem, where it lived peaceably for several years, though still showing a strong inclination for water, it was instructed in its duty to God and made reverences before a crucifix. With such a well authenticated story story as that we can not be surprised at Hill’s serpent, and well may we ask, with Tennyson: “ ‘Who would be A mermaid fair Singing alone. Combing her hair, Under the sea in a golden curl, With a comb of pearl On a throne?’ ”

* * * THE MYSTERIOUS MERMAID. (February 8, 1905)

A five-year-old boy wonderingly surveyed the picture of the mermaid that adorned his new story-book, and when his mother explained to him that the mermaid was partly a beautiful maiden and partly a fish, he demanded, eagerly: “And could you eat her, mamma?” From— Sacramento daily record-union. (Sacramento (Calif.)), 12 Aug. 1882., Southern sentinel. volume (Plaquemine, Parish of Iberville [La.]), 08 March 1851, Los Angeles herald. (Los Angeles [Calif.]), 22 May 1908., The Houston daily post. (Houston, Tex.), 17 July 1902. & The Logan Republican. (Logan, Utah), 08 Feb. 1905. Chronicling America: Historic American Newspapers. Lib. of Congress. * * * FOR MORE LIKE THIS SEE  …  Our Tumblr Page … with new posts forthcoming  :-)  [ Lumberwoods.com : A Lost & Found of Forgotten Lore ]

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FIGHTS WITH SEA MONSTER - CHOPS OFF TAIL.

TAIL OF A SEA SERPENT  (May 11, 1894) Peter Hansen Chopped It Off With an Ax. A REPTILE OF ENORMOUS SIZE. Norwegian Boatman’s Extraordinary Adventure With a Marine Monster on Puget Sound—It Was 150 Feet Long and Had the Head of a Serpent.

The much discussed question as to whether the sea serpent is a reality or not is as much of a problem today as it ever was. Scientists as a whole confidently state that no such monster does or can exist. On the other hand, every now and then persons of more or less credibility report personal sight of such creatures, and in the main their descriptions agree. The San Francisco Examiner prints an interesting contribution to the discussion from the pen of Peter Hansen, a Norwegian boatman on Puget sound. Hansen is an old sailor of more than average intelligence, and his reliability is vouched for by his neighbors at Quartermaster, Wash. Here is his story: On Feb. 24 I was in my boat towing a small raft of cedar logs from the opposite shore to my ranch. The bay, or rather strait, is about three miles wide here, and I was within half a mile of the west shore, upon which stands my cabin. The raft I had in tow contained six newly cut logs. Upon the middle of the raft I had built a small platform of cedar shakes, and on this platform were my tools—a double bitted chopping ax, a broadax and a loaded double barreled shotgun. My Newfoundland dog was with me in the boat, standing high up in the bow, barking at the ducks and gulls. Carl had just finished a prolonged fit of barking at the ducks when he suddenly fetched such an unusual growl of anger that I looked around to see what the matter could be. The sight that met my gaze paralyzed me, and the oars dropped from my hands. On my port quarter, about three-fourths of a mile distant, there loomed the swaying head and neck of some monster unlike anything I had ever seen or dreamed of in all my life, and I have been a seaman for more than 40 years and visited every part of the navigable globe. When first seen, the creature was making straight across the bay, with his head 10 feet in the air; but, as it seems, having heard Carl’s defiant and piercing cries, he changed his course and swam directly toward us with fearful velocity, the mighty throes of his extended body emitting a sound not unlike that caused by the pounding of a sidewheel steamer’s paddles. My first impulse was to reach my trusty shotgun, cartridge belt and hatchet. I plunged into the sea and swam for the raft, about 20 yards astern, calling to my dog to follow me. But I miscalculated the speed of the great snake, for while yet several yards from the raft I heard a howl of agony from my brave Carl. Looking over my shoulder, I instinctively fetched a shriek of horror and despair. While I had been swimming 15 yards the snake had glided more than half a mile and pounced upon Carl. The dog weighed between 75 and 80 pounds, and his green eyed captor was holding him in his mouth 20 feet in the air. I do not know how I reached the raft, but in less time than it takes to record it I had seized the gun and sent a heavy charge of buckshot into the creature’s belly about where it emerged from the water. A visible tremor passed through his body, his head fell, and bringing Carl down with frightful velocity the poor dog was hurled against the side of the boat with a force that killed him instantly. It now appeared that my shot had not only wounded the reptile, but it had angered him to rather a dangerous and alarming degree. Instantly his head was again on high, deafening hissings came from his throat, and the waters for a hundred feet seaward were churned into foam by the horrid writhings of his body. Again I raised my gun and discharged the other barrel. If my first shot had angered him, my second shot worked him into a frenzy that knew no bounds. Throwing back his great hooded head in true serpentine style, he began to strike at the boat. At one time, fastening his jaws upon the starboard gunwale, he wrenched off a piece of solid timber 5 feet long and 2 inches thick as easily apparently as a man would bite into the thin end of a shingle. Throwing his body into a series of great, vertical coils 8 feet in diameter, he completely encircled the boat, and with one constriction crushed it into a shapeless mass. After crushing the boat the serpent did not immediately uncoil himself, but lay some minutes with the fragments still in his embrace, while his ever restless tall whipped the surface of the sea. Curiously enough, in one of its gyrations the end of the tail fell upon my raft, and with what must have been superhuman agility I seized my broadax and with one blow cut off five feet of the wiggling end. I was esteeming this a most valuable prize, but before I could secure it the slimy mass wriggled into the water and was lost. From this time the great reptile evidently began to weaken from the loss of blood, which was pouring in streams from his head and the wound given him by the broadax. Slowly regaining his normal position in the water, the creature withdrew toward the open sea and was soon out of sight. When I first saw him swimming squarely abreast of me, I should judge that from the elevated head to where the sea was lashed by the end of his tail the distance was 150 feet. The great flattened head was hooded like that of an East India cobra, and from the tip of the nose to the insertion of the neck would have measured perhaps 8 feet. The head was fully 2½ feet wide, but appeared to be deficient in vertical depth. The eyes were set just forward of the hooded appendage and were as large as the eyes of an ox. There were no indications of a dorsal fin or rudimental feet, as have been attributed by some former observers to the so called sea serpent. The dog’s body drifted ashore after a few hours, and from the condition of the carcass it was apparent that the reptile was not venomous. From— Little Falls weekly transcript. (Little Falls, Morrison Co., Minn.), 11 May 1894. Chronicling America: Historic American Newspapers. Lib. of Congress.

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DINOSAUR AT LARGE.

RHODESIAN DINOSAUR (December 30, 1909). Combines Features of Crockodile, Rhinoceros, Python and Hippopotamus.

London, Dec. 30.—Although the sea serpent and his tribe are distinctly out of season at this time of the year, a “Rhodesian dinossaur” [Zimbabwe] has this week made his bow to the public. Herr Carl Hagenbeck, the zoologist, acted as his advance agent in his recent book, “Beasts and Men.” Herein Herr Hagenbeck mentions reports made to him of an immense and wholly unknown animal said to inhabit the interior of Rhodesia. He quotes native stories of a “huge monster, half elephant, half dragon,” dwelling in the depths of the great swamps, and suggests that it may be some kind of a dinosaur seemingly akin to the brontesaurus. Scientists in South Africa received the news coldly. The zoologists of the Rhodesia museus treated the reports with derision, declaring that nothing of the alleged dinosaur could be gathered from natives. This was on November 29. On December 14 the dinosaur reasserted himself in the columns of the Bulawayo Chronicle. A correspondent of that paper declares that he has investigated the matter himself and has met two natives who affirm in the most positive manner that they have actually seen the dinosaur. Neither of these natives knew the other, and both were shown separately a number of sketches some wholly imaginary and others constructed from illustrations of prehistoric reptiles. Both natives immediately picked the same sketch as closely resembling the monster they had seen. Each, however, called the attention of the sketcher to the omission in his picture of what from their description would appear to he something in the nature of propulsory flippers. The creature is supposed to inhabit a lake between the rivers Lunga and Kafce. Judging from the description given by the two natives to the Bulawayo Chronicle’s correspondent, it would seem to possess the head and tail of a crocodile, the horns of a rhinoceros, the neck of a pythen, and the body of a hippopotamus with, of course, the addition or propulsory flippers. Thus one specimen would in itself form a very fair mixed bag of big game, and when he was finished with Uganda Col. Roosevelt might well turn his attention to it. From— The evening times. (Grand Forks, N.D.). 30 Dec. 1909. Chronicling America: Historic American Newspapers. Lib. of Congress.

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JERSEY DEVIL TALES.

JERSEY DEVIL IN VIRGINIA. (February 11, 1910) Staunton, Va., Feb. 2—A report comes from Hightown that David Freeze has just seen what some declare is the famous Jersey devil, reported to have first been seen in New Jersey, whence it gets its name. Freeze says that the strange bird or beast was flying directly over him and had a head like a horse, feet and legs like a mule and soared along on great red wings. It is said that the animal was seen in West Virginia some months ago, and it is supposed to have lived in mountains, feeding on bear and deer. It is most extraordinary combination of beast and bird ever seen in these parts. The above very “interesting” fabrication has been largely published as the out-growth of a “special” sent out from Staunton some time ago. Of course, the fellow who invented and sent it out got his “space” for the work; it indicates no heavy drain on the intellect, no one was fool enough to believe it, hence no harm is done. Highland has no David Freeze and no visible devil. In fact, since the good people of Staunton clipped the wings of his Satanic Majesty a few months ago, one can scarcely recognize his imps hereabouts. *** “JERSEY DEVIL” IN AGAIN. (January 8, 1919) Reported Seen Near Woodbury, Which ls Still “Wet” The “Jersey Devil” is in again! It appeared again this morning Just as dawn was breaking on the roof of the bag-loading plant at Woodbury. The monster, according to guards near the plant, has grown considerably since last seen here. Some say it looked like a calf with an owl’s head. Others assert it was much smaller—not much larger than a fox. Still others declared it had a body like a dachshund, with a head like a parrot. Those whose views are regarded more seriously say the thing had a body like a bat and a head like it weasel. The original “Jersey Devil” was captured and exhibited some years ago. The animal seen in Woodbury may be the “Jersey Devil, Jr&rdquo.; Incidentally, Woodbury is one of the few towns in south Jersey which is still wet [permits the sale of alcohol], and yesterday was pay day.

*** JERSEY DEVIL BAT DODGES POLICE. (February 4, 1909) Hair Raising Shrieks Bring Crowd to Old Mill—Motorman Describes “Thing.” Paterson. N.J., Feb. 1.—“We have found the devil-bat,” was the message flashed over the wire to Police headquarters early yesterday morning by Sergeant Milner, who was doing duty in West Paterson. Captain Taylor, directing that every effort be made in capture the devil-bat, hurried the reserves to West Paterson. They found Sergeant Murner, Patrolman Carroll and a dozen sober but excited citizens preparing for a hunt through  Sullivan”s woods, in the rear of the Riverlawn sanitarium. Hair-raising shrieks fell on their ears. The hunters dashed toward the spot whence the shrieks came, but found only a large windmill, the ponderous wheels of which squeaked. The police and citizens were convinced that the strange animal that disturbed South Jersey last week, and for the capture of which a reward of $500 has been offered was eluding them. An hour later Patsy McCue, a motorman on the Singac trolley line, reported to the police that he had seen “the thing” on the Singac road. He said it was the size of a sheep and had large, spreading wings and a head that resembled that of a mule. He said it kept pace with his car for a mile, at times running and again flying. *** A STRANGE CREATURE. (October 10, 1921) A strange creature, apparently a hybrid fish and reptile, was captured recently by two Italian fishermen on the bank of the Delaware River, near Gloucester, N. J. It had eight flexible arms like those of the octopus, by which it made its way overland. The fishermen dubbed it “Jersey Devil.” It showed fight as they approached and was captured by throwing a strong net over it. It manifested considerable strength by tearing up a light net. From— Highland recorder. (Monterey, Highland County, Va.), 11 Feb. 1910., Evening public ledger. (Philadelphia [Pal), 08 Jan. 1919., The Mitchell capital. (Mitchell, Dakota [S.D.)), 04 Feb. 1909. & The evening world. (New York, N.Y.), 10 Oct. 1921. Chronicling America: Historic American Newspapers. Lib. of Congress. * * * FOR MORE LIKE THIS SEE  …  ↪️ Our Tumblr Page  ↩️ … with new posts forthcoming  :-)  [ Lumberwoods.com : A Lost & Found of Forgotten Lore ]