In the
early 1700s, German settlers moved into Maryland from Pennsylvania, bringing
with them many of their myths and legends. Among these were tales of the schnelle geister or “quick spirits”,
supernatural beings that could sometimes be merely annoying-- knocking things
over and creating bad smells-- and sometimes malevolent-- stealing children or
forming huge battalions of writhing specters to rain down on helpless and unsuspecting
humans.
As the
Germanic legends merged with the larger melting pot of beliefs in Maryland, schnelle geister became snollygoster,
then finally snallygaster, a general term for any sort of boogieman or mysterious
creature.
In 1909,
the term Snallygaster took on a distinct, terrifying form when the Middletown
Valley Register of Frederick County reported that a huge, dragon-like creature
had flown out of a cave in South Mountain and snatched up a local man, Bill Gifferson.
The monster carried Grifeerson to the top of a hill where it pierced his
throat with its needle-sharp beak and drank his blood.
Sightings
of the Snallygaster exploded after this incident. Suddenly newspapers all over
Frederick County, and even into nearby West Virginia, were overflowing with
reports of terrifying run-ins with this blood-drinking dragon. Drawing on local
folklore, the beast was quickly dubbed Snallygaster, though a few papers briefly
gave it alternative, equally colorful names such as “Go-devil”, “Bovulopus”, “Octollopus”
and “Gigantiloeutus”.
Descriptions
of the creature varied, but most claimed that it resembled a winged reptile
with iron claws and a pointed beak for draining its victims of blood. It was
also said to have a single, enormous eye in the center of its forehead. A few
stories claimed that it even had tentacles like an octopus-- though where these
were located on its body or what it used them for was never specified.
Some
tales claimed that seven pointed stars would drive off the beast, which allegedly
led many in Frederick County and surrounding areas to place these symbols on
the outside walls of their barns and houses. It is worth noting, though, that
stars with four, five or six points were already common folk motifs on the
houses of many German settlers (seven-pointed stars were rarer, but not unheard
of), so this detail may have just been an embellishment playing off an already
prominent decoration in the South Mountain area.
Snallygaster
reports continued throughout 1909, gradually fading away by the end of the
year. The frenzy was finally capped off
by a tongue-in-cheek letter to Middletown Valley Register written by an “expert”
who claimed that the beast was of a species of monsters that lived deep within
the Earth. The beast terrorizing Frederick County, so the writer claimed, had come to the
surface after an earthquake opened a chasm in the South Mountains leading to
its subterranean home. The article concluded with a report of a fictitious
scientific expedition that had seen the creature fly back into its cave, at
which point another earthquake sealed it up.
The
Snallygaster resurfaced again in 1932 in a new flurry of newspaper reports. This
time, though, the beast appeared to meet its demise when the Register reported
that local prohibition agents had busted into a bootlegger’s hideout only to
find the place abandoned and the partially-dissolved corpse of the Snallygaster
floating in the moonshine mash where it had apparently fallen after being
overcome by the alcoholic fumes.
Despite
its apparent death, the Snallygaster would continue to make sporadic appearances
in local papers over the years, even inspiring a 1976 article about a
fictitious Hemmingway-style safari to track it down once and for all.
 |
| Snallygaster at rest, standing on its mantle-foot and modified tentacles. |
The bizarre
appearance of the Snallygaster, along with its colorful, often outlandish history, bears more than a passing resemblance to many other tall tales of mysterious
and deadly flying monsters heard throughout America- and indeed, throughout the
world. This is no coincidence, for the Snallygaster began as a hoax created by
the editors of the Middletown Valley Register to drum up sales for their paper.
The story proved so popular that other papers picked it up, often embellishing
the tale with their own details. Newspapers have a long history of punching up
and sensationalizing stories-- or even creating stories whole cloth in the age
before journalistic integrity- to attract and entertain readers. Indeed, many old papers were more like the
Weekly World News (or most internet message boards, to use a contemporary
example) than a reputable source for information.
In more recent reports-particularly internet articles- the Snallygaster has developed an “archenemy” in the form of the Dwayyo, a black-furred biped sometimes described as being ape-like, sometimes said to be more like a werewolf or a dog walking on its hind legs. According to folklore, the Dwayyo will attack the Snallygaster on sight, though no explanation is given for this animosity. Nor is the mammalian beast itself given much of a backstory. The first reported sightings of the Dwayyo came in a series of 1965 articles in the Frederick News written by George May, which described a black, bigfoot-like monster terrorizing the county.
May’s articles may actually be responsible for the rivalry between the Dwayyo and the Snallygaster. One of his last articles suggested that increased sightings of the furred beast signalled the eclipsing of interest in Maryland’s other, draconic monster. His prediction, though, did not bear out since the Snallygaster has proven to be the far more popular creature.
Mythical monsters often serve as a metaphor for aspects of humanity. Sea serpents and krakens can represent our awe and fear of the ocean. Wendigo personify the terror and loneliness of the boreal woods and the desperation that leads to cannibalism. Elves, trolls, huldra and other fey beings symbolize the mystery and danger of the deep forest. The Snallygaster, too, once held a dark and potent symbolism-- specifically the evils of racism. Many of the early reports claimed that the beast specifically targeted African-American victims.
Furthermore, the Lumberwoods.com website points out:
"In Maryland: A Guide to the Old Line State, the author directly alludes to such attitudes by stating:
“In the Middletown Valley section of western Maryland the fabulous ‘snallygaster’ flies into a little settlement of log cabins that served as slave quarters prior to the Civil War. The great bird preys upon Negro children out after dark, and on occasion has even been known to carry off a full-grown man to its lair in the near-by mountains.”
It is worth noting that these previous lines, specifically the phrases "preys upon," "after dark" and "carry off," are highly suggestive of the practice of lynching. In the contemporary period so-called "sunset towns" were declared wherein African Americans would be barred from entering after nightfall. Any "violators" would be sought out by lynch mobs, dragged to a secluded location and "dealt" with."
The symbolism behind a monster may change over time, of course. Vampires were once personifications of our fears of death, illness and, in the case of Stoker's Dracula, rape and sexually-transmitted diseases. Today they often symbolize a longing for immortality and the simultaneous fear of watching everyone and everything one loves crumble to dust around them.
The Snallygaster likewise has undergone an evolution in what it represents. Its association with racism and the evils of lynching has all but disappeared. Now the beast, like the Mothman, Thnuderbirds, Bigfoot and other cryptids, symbolizes the unexplored, a longing for mysteries and a fear and simultaneous desire for the unknown.
For my
interpretation of the Snallygaster, I drew inspiration from descriptions of it
as a one-eyed, tentacled dragon. However, rather than make it a reptile with
cephalopod arms, I made it a flying squid with wings formed from the fin around
its mantle. The hind legs are also extensions of the body fin with fringe-like papillae
serving as “toes”. The front limbs of my version are actually highly modified
tentacles with hooks sprouting from the tips of the suckers forming the “claws”.
The
majority of information for this post came from an excellent book by Patrick
Boyton called Snallygaster: The Lost Legend of Frederick County. It’s short,
but thorough and definitely worth checking out.
SOURCES
Snallygaster: The Lost Legend of Frederick County by Patrick Boyton
