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Snallygaster
Snallygaster
An artist's depiction
Background
Type Cryptid
Continent North America
Country United States
One-Time? No
Theories  · Extraterrestrial
 · Cryptid
 · Tall tale

The Snallygaster was a strange flying beast that first appeared in Frederick County in early February, 1909. The story was carried prominently in Middletown's Valley Register, a weekly newspaper, for about a month before the story mysteriously died.

In the early issues, the flying beast seemed to be everywhere at once: New Jersey, West Virginia, Ohio, and headed this way. It was reported to have created quite a stir in New Jersey, where its footprints were first discovered in the snow.

Appearance[]

The first person to see it, James Harding, described it as having enormous wings, a long sharp beak, claws like steel, and one eye in the middle of its forehead. He said it made shrill screeching noises and looked like a cross between a tiger and a vampire. A vampire may have been a good description, for it was reported to have killed a man named Bill Gifferson by piercing his neck with its sharp bill and slowly sucking his blood.

Possible Explanations[]

There are several explanations as to what the creature could be. Theories include:

  • An undiscovered species (a Cryptid)
  • Extraterrestrial
  • A hoax/tall tale

Trivia[]

  • It was also seen in West Virginia, where it almost caught a woman near Scrabble, roosted in Alex Crow's barn, and laid an egg near Sharpsburg, where it was reported some men had rigged up an incubator to try to hatch it.
  • T.C. Harbaugh, of Casstown, Ohio, wrote a letter to the Valley Register in early 1909, telling of a strange beast that flew over his area making terrible screeching noises. Harbaugh described it as having two huge wings, a large horny head, and a tail twenty feet long. He said it looked as though it was headed this way.
  • Sightings of the Snallygaster were creating such a commotion that at one point it was reported that President Theodore Roosevelt might postpone a trip to Europe so that he could lead an expedition to capture it.
  • In 1976, the Washington Post sponsored an unsuccessful search for the Snallygaster, as well as other strange Maryland creatures.
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Cryptids
North American Cryptids
Airborne Frogman · Batsquatch · Beast of Bray Road · Belled Buzzards · Bigfoot · Black Demon · Black Star Penguins · Blue Birdman · Boston Lemur · Buena Vista Giant Spider · Campfire Creature · Carmel Creature · Champ · Charles Mill Lake Monster · Chupacabra · Coonigator · Copenhagen Devil · Crawfordsville Monster · Crocodingo · Deer Man · Demon Leaper · Deridder Roadkill · Dos Palmas Winged Snake · Dublin Lake Monsters · East River Monster · El Verde Creature · Enfield Horror · Flannel Shirt Sasquatch · Flying Horse of Mexico · Flying Horse of Virginia · Flying Rays · Giant Penguin · Giant Shrimp in the Laundry Room · Gow-Row · Green Clawed Beast · Green Eyes · Grunch Road Monster · Herring Cove Sea Serpent · Highway Beast · Jackson Dragon · Killer Cactus · Kinderhook Blob · Lizard Man of Scape Ore Swamp · Lusca · Manor Road Pig-Dog · Mantis Man · Melrose Creep · Metepec Creature · Michigan Dogman · Montauk Monster · Moss Man · Mothman · Mountain Boomers · Mud Mermaids · Mutant Canine · Nightcrawler · Octoman · Oil Pit Squid · Oklahoma Octopus · Panama Creature · Pennsylvanian Albino Bigfoot · Red Devil-Bat of Chester · Ripley Ostrich-Horse · River Lizards · Riverside Monster · Rochester Rat-Dog · Sewer Blob · Sheepsquatch · Skunk Ape · Snallygaster · Sugar Bundle · Sun Birds · Swift Peter · Texas Big Bird · Texas Stiltwalkers · The Awful · Tick Canyon Giant Rabbit · Tumor Seal · Whatzit · Wood Devils
South American Cryptids
Arica Monster · Atlantic Ocean Winged Abomination · Beast of Macachín Airport · Brazilian Werewolf · Calama Creature · El Cuero · Gargantuan Globulous · Huallepen · Kap-Dwa · Manta Man · Mapinguari · Minhocão · Parana Creature · Sawtooth Dolphin · Telepathic Football
Asian Cryptids
Ahool · Buru · Con Rit · Ebu Gogo · Gilled Antelope · Inflatable Hedgehog · Iranian Toothed Bird · Jodhpur Baby · Kting Voar · Maltese Tiger · Man Dragon · Masbate Monster · Rock Apes · Sakhalin Island Sea Wolf · Sukotyro · Wuhnan Toads
European Cryptids
Awd Goggie · Beast of Bosnia · Beast of Bodmin Moor · Beast Of Tenby · Black Bird of Chernobyl · Boneless · Canvey Island Monster · Catalonia Fallen Angel · Chudinov Organisms · Crimean War Monstrosities · Flying Worm of Prague · Freiburg Shrieker · Gnome of Girona · Grampus · Grass Monster · Grecian Dolphin · Highway Humanoid · Hollingworth Lake Monster · Kovahsi Creature · Loch Ness Monster · Octosquatch · Owlman · Pennine Pterodactyl · River Thames Monster · Sea Monk · Sewer Humanoid · Shug Monkey · Singing Spiders of Paris · Sussex Serpent · Vampire Caterpillar · Wolfie · 1856 French Pterodactyl
African Cryptids
Ambize · Dingonek · Emela-ntouka · Ennedi Tiger · J'ba Fofi · Kongamato · Manatee of Helena · Mbielu-mbielu-mbielu · Mokele-Mbembe · Mutant Muppet · Ngoubou · Spiny-backed Chimpanzee · Trunko
Australian Cryptids
Burrunjor · Elephantman · Hairy Lizard · Hook Island Sea Monster · Kabagon · Landsborough Gangle · Moha Moha · Pukehina Predator · Queensland Tiger · Tusked Yowie
Miscellaneous Cryptids
Antarctic Godzilla · Bermuda Beast · Ningen · Qupqugiaq · Rhinoceros Dolphin · Sky Jellyfish · Sky Serpents
v · e · d
North America
North American Cryptids
Airborne Frogman · Batsquatch · Beast of Bladenboro · Beast of Bray Road · Belled Buzzards · Bigfoot · Black Demon · Black Star Penguins · Blue Birdman · Boston Lemur · Buena Vista Giant Spider · Campfire Creature · Carmel Creature · Charles Mill Lake Monster · Chupacabra · Coonigator · Crawfordsville Monster · Crocodingo · Deer Man · Demon Leaper · Deridder Roadkill · Dos Palmas Winged Snake · Dublin Lake Monsters · East River Monster · El Verde Creature · Enfield Horror · Farmer City Monster · Flannel Shirt Sasquatch · Flying Horse of Mexico · Flying Horse of Virginia · Flying Rays · Giant Penguin · Giant Shrimp in the Laundry Room · Gow-Row · Grampus · Green Clawed Beast · Green Eyes · Grunch Road Monster · Herrington Lake Monster · Herring Cove Sea Serpent · Highway Beast · Jackson Dragon · Killer Cactus · Kinderhook Blob · Lizard Man of Scape Ore Swamp · Manor Road Pig-Dog · Man in the Plastic Bag · Mantis Man · Melrose Creep · Metepec Creature · Michigan Dogman · Montauk Monster · Moss Man · Mothman · Mountain Boomers · Mud Mermaids · Mutant Canine · Nightcrawler · Octoman · Ogopogo · Oil Pit Squid · Oklahoma Octopus · Panama Creature · Pennsylvanian Albino Bigfoot · Red Devil-Bat of Chester · Riverside Monster · Rochester Rat-Dog · Sewer Blob · Sheepsquatch · Snallygaster · Sugar Bundle · Sun Birds · Swift Peter · Texas Big Bird · The Awful · Thetis Lake Monster · Tick Canyon Giant Rabbit · Tumor Seal · Werewolf of Defiance · Whatzit · Wood Devils
North American Alien Sightings
Aliens in Aisle Five · Ausso One · California Fetus · Crazy Critter of Bald Mountain · Crescent · Cycloptic Aliens of Harrah · Dade City Flowers · Falkville Metal Man · Farmersville Green Man · Flatwoods Monster · Gaffney Aliens · Garson Invaders · Georgia Stalks · Gliders · Hopkinsville Goblins · Long Prairie Cans · Medford Shmoos · Newport Stumps · Nuevo Laredo Alien · Old Saybrook Blockheads · Pancake Bakers from Space · Pascagoula Creature · Prospect Monoliths · Ririe Carjackers · Sorrento Crawler · Space Brains of Palos Verdes · Space Penguins of Tuscumbia · Syracuse Giant Insects · The Purple Glob · Tripod Creature · Van Meter Visitor · Veggieman
North American UFO Sightings
4th of July UFO · Butterfly UFO · Lubbock Lights · Warren UFO
North American Hauntings
Annabelle the Doll · Arlington Attic Ghost · Avon Haunted Bridge · Bassett Ghost Cars · Bell Witch · Blue Albino Woman · Bobby Mackey's Music World · Boy Scout Lane · Demon's Road · Demon Cat · Demon of Brownsville Road · Devil Baby of Hull House · Eunice Welsh's Mausoleum · Faceless Figure of Dead Man's Curve · Fantasma Colorado · Ghost Bus of Highway 93 · Ghost Cow · Ghost Deer · Ghost Mammoth · Ghost Moose · Ghost Wolf · Ghosts of Disney · Ghosts of the Charles Haskell · Graceland Cemetery · Grant Park · Green Lady of Wahiawa · La Belle Cemetery · Mandy the Doll · Moody's Light · Old Man Weary · Old Woman in the Crawlspace · Purple Bubble · Purple Head Bridge · Ring of Children and the Banshee · Robert the Doll · Seaweed Charlie · Stiffy Green · Tall, Dark, & Gruesome · Tanaka the Drowned Ghost · Vincent Hitchcock the Doll · Waverly Hills Sanatorium · Wyoming Woman in Black
North American Phenomena
Black Aggie · Black Mist of Casa Grande Mountain · Bleeding House on Fountain Drive · Blinking Crucifix · Carnivorous Pink Cloud · Coke Mystery Vending Machine · Cursed Grave of Carl Pruitt · Dancing Underpants · Death Valley Sailing Stones · Face in the Courthouse Window · Flying Mist Mattress · Fountain Cloud · Handprint of the Carbon County Jail · Handprint of the Chicago Firehouse · John Lawson Mannequins · Kokomo Hum · Michigan Blue Hell · Moodus Noises · Polybius · Smiling Stones · St. Louis Light · Swirling Basement Thing · Taos Hum · The Black Angel
North American Beings
Axeman Of New Orléans · Bandage Man · Bunny Man · Black Flash · Butterfly People of Joplin · Cloak Man of Clifton Heights · Danbury Frog People · Dark Baby · Donkey Lady · Grinning Man · Harlequin · Houston Batman · Invisible Man of Palmetto · Mad Gasser of Mattoon · Maryland Goatman · Mauston Birdman · Melonheads · Mercy Brown Vampire · Mexican Being of Light · Muppet Clown · NASA Gargoyle · New England Faceless People · Northfield Pigman · Ohio Bridge Trolls · Pedro the Pygmy · Phantom Barber · Phantom Clowns · Phantom Sniper of Camden · Phantom Whistler of Louisiana · Pig Lady · Pope Lick Monster · Porterville Gnome · Richmond Vampire · Santa Lucias Dark Watchers · The Smiley Face Killer · Stroudsburg Rain Man · Subway Man · The Green Man · Third Eye Man · Toronto Tunnel Monster · Toxic Lady
North American Events
Battle of Los Angeles · Beaumont Blackout · Disappearance of David Lang · Disappearance of Glen and Bessie Hyde · Disappearance of Oliver Lerch · Massacre of Doc Johnson · Max Headroom Broadcast · Philadelphia Experiment
North American Locations
Anjikuni Village · Bennington Triangle · Bermuda Triangle · Blood Bowl · Bremen Troll Bridge · Bridgewater Triangle · Clown Motel · Devil's Gate Reservoir · Devil's Kettle · Devil's Tramping Ground · Disney's River Country · Doveland, Wisconsin · Helltown · House of Blue Lights · Island of the Dolls · Langville, Montana · Shirtwood Forest · Spider Gates · Stairway to Hell · Urkhammer, Iowa · Zone of Silence

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