Snallygaster Returns
Posted by: Loren Coleman on October 15th, 2008
Photo by Bill Green/Frederick New Post
Patrick Boyton (above) has recently written a book entitled Snallygaster: The Lost Legend of Frederick County, his first book. Boyton will be featured at a book signing on Monday, October 20, 2008, at the Middletown Public Library.
SNALLYGASTER SIGNING AT MIDDLETOWN LIBRARY ON 10/20/08
Patrick Boyton will be signing copies of his book, Snallygaster: the Lost Legend of Frederick County at the Middletown Public Library on October 20, 2008 from 7:00 to 8:00 pm. The author will be selling his book for $10.00 at the event.
The Middletown Library is located at 101 Prospect Street, Middletown, MD 21769. From the East: Take Alt. Rt. 40 West to intersection of Alt. 40 and I-70. Continue 3.7 miles on Alt. 40 West. Turn left onto Prospect Street. Library is on the right. From the West: Take Alt. Rt. 40 East to intersection of Alt. 40 and Rt. 17. Continue 0.2 miles on Alt. 40 East. Turn right onto Prospect Street. Library is on the right.
To register for this event click HERE
COME CELEBRATE HALLOWEEN WITH THE SNALLYGASTER
Come listen to the legendary story of the Snallygaster during the Block Party. 7-8pm and 9-10pm at the Book Crossing bookstore in Brunswick, MD on 10/31/08. Local storyteller Sam will read passages from Snallygaster: the Legend of Frederick County. Author Patrick Boyton will be signing copies of his book.
Book Crossing
2 East Potomac Street
Brunswick, MD 21716
The Frederick New Post just published an article, “Beware of the Snallygaster!” about this new book on the cryptid:
What’s that in the sky? A bird? A plane? If you live in Frederick County, you might want to lock your doors and windows, because that strange thing flying about could very well be a Snallygaster.
While newer residents may be unfamiliar with the subject, many Frederick natives have memories of the mythical dragon-like beast said to inhabit Frederick County.
Stories of a winged beastie that swooped down from the sky to steal chickens and children from unsuspecting townsfolk had been passed down from generation to generation. Over the course of many years, the legend was woven into the fabric of the region’s folklore.
Sightings of the Snallygaster were first reported by local newspapers in February and March of 1909. The Middletown Valley Register described the beast as having “enormous wings, a long pointed bill, claws like steel hooks, and an eye in the center of its forehead.” It was described as making screeches “like a locomotive whistle.” According to the paper, the monster had generated so much interest that the Smithsonian Institute had offered an award for its hide. Legend has it, President Theodore Roosevelt even considered postponing an African Safari to hunt the mysterious beast.
In March of 1909, according to the Register, a group of brave men fought the winged terror for an hour and a half outside the Emmitsburg train station before chasing it into the woods of Carroll County. The Snallygaster re-emerged for a few weeks in 1932, only to be killed in a vat of illegal moonshine.
The beast has been resurrected several times over the years, taking on different shapes and characteristics. By the time The Washington Post sponsored an expedition for the creature in 1976, it had evolved into more of a Bigfoot-type cryptic.
When Patrick Boyton moved to Frederick from New Jersey three years ago, he became instantly intrigued by the Snallygaster legend. “I came across a copy of ‘Ghosts and Legends of Frederick County’ by Timothy L. Cannon and Nancy F. Whitmore at the Historical Society of Frederick Bookstore on Church Street,” Boyton said. “There was a small chapter on the Snallygaster, and I thought, ‘What a strange, wonderful story!’ I started reading everything I could find on it.”
Unfortunately, Boyton quickly discovered there wasn’t much information available on the local legend. “That’s when I thought, why not write a book myself for others to enjoy.”
Boyton spent six months researching the elusive monster online and in local libraries. His book is called “Snallygaster: The Lost Legend of Frederick County” and can be purchased in Frederick at the Historical Society of Frederick County bookstore, Flights of Fancy and Borders; the Snallygaster in Middletown; Book Crossing in Brunswick; on amazon.com, lulu.com or through Boyton’s site. It retails for $12.95.
“My goal with ‘Snallygaster: The Lost Legend of Frederick County’ is that it may resurrect some interest in Frederick’s own local folklore.”
Although unstated in the above treatment, I noticed something specific to this “monster” during the late 1970s, as a wave of creature sightings by Midwestern rural whites was hitting the USA. At the time, the Snallygaster was being routinely reported by Marylanders who were prominently AfricanAmericans. This is an untapped story. In many ways, if it is discovered the reports have continued, it may only be dug out in specialized media and personal contacts that have been largely ignored by most researchers.
About Loren Coleman
Loren Coleman is one of the world’s leading cryptozoologists, some say “the” leading living cryptozoologist. Certainly, he is acknowledged as the current living American researcher and writer who has most popularized cryptozoology in the late 20th and early 21st centuries.
Starting his fieldwork and investigations in 1960, after traveling and trekking extensively in pursuit of cryptozoological mysteries, Coleman began writing to share his experiences in 1969. An honorary member of Ivan T. Sanderson’s Society for the Investigation of the Unexplained in the 1970s, Coleman has been bestowed with similar honorary memberships of the North Idaho College Cryptozoology Club in 1983, and in subsequent years, that of the British Columbia Scientific Cryptozoology Club, CryptoSafari International, and other international organizations. He was also a Life Member and Benefactor of the International Society of Cryptozoology (now-defunct).
Loren Coleman’s daily blog, as a member of the Cryptomundo Team, served as an ongoing avenue of communication for the ever-growing body of cryptozoo news from 2005 through 2013. He returned as an infrequent contributor beginning Halloween week of 2015.
Coleman is the founder in 2003, and current director of the International Cryptozoology Museum in Portland, Maine.
Great art cover! 🙂
So in January, 1909, when some strange, winged thing is spotted in New Jersey, it’s called the Jersey Devil, but just a month later in Maryland it’s a Snallygaster? Without knowing much else, it’s hard to say for sure, but this smacks just a bit of a bandwagon, no? I mean, New Jersey makes national news with a flying beastie terrorizing the countryside, with reports bleeding over into Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, and New York, so why not push your own critter forward to give your own state some attention?
Then again, that may just be the crass cynic in me coming out. After all, even during that phenomenal week in January, what was reported was called any of a dozen names- Jersey Devil, flying horse, Jabberwock, the What-Is-It?, etc., so using a new name a month later isn’t really anything out of the ordinary.
Regardless, I’m definitely gonna have to get me this book!
Fascinating stuff, and completely new to me. I’m wondering if a further investigation into the matter, at least as far as the description of the animal from a cross-section of witnesses, would reveal whether or not this is a single creature being sighted in the US, or perhaps sightings of pterodactyls, Jersey Devils, and the snallygaster-or any combination thereof. As you pointed out, this is an untapped story. A comparison of a number of eyewitness sketches would be most revealing.
I have this book. The author has one chapter about the snallygaster’s history with black culture but also covers a lot of other history from the 18th century to modern day. It’s a short book (less than 100 pages) but he seems to have done a lot of research and found some cool stuff regarding its early links to the NJ Devil. There’s also some more illustrations like the cover that would make great t-shirts. If I had one complaint it would be that I wanted more visual info like maps or photos, but overall this book is pretty cool for Halloween and taught me a lot about a legend I’d never heard of before.
I wonder if this has any connection with the “flying men” rural people reported to see, which ended up being parachuters, whom the witnesses, mostly immigrants unaccustomed to such technology had never seen, and thus extrapolated by the press into something more fanciful.
Perhaps most flying animals may be along these lines: planes, large cranes and other birds of large size usually unseen in such areas.
Where did the name ‘Snallygaster’ come from?
Thanks for the heads up on this, Loren.
Never heard of this creature before.
Yep, smacks of the Jersey Devil—Maryland style.
😀 Obviously just a mundane, everyday Dragon
Gargantuan mutant snake strung up to han glider? Sure sounds like a pleasant old creep whatever it was
mangy flying squirrels or otters caught in an updraft. 😉