July 8, 2007

Tatzelwurm Sources and Notes

Tatzelwurm, Source

Alp Johann Nepomuk Ritter von Alpenburg: Mythen und Sagen Tirols, Zürich, 1857
And Roy Chapman Andrews: Auf der Fährte des Urmenschen, Leipzig, 1927, pp. 93-94
BN Blätter für Naturkunde und Naturschutz, Wien, 21.Jhg. 1934, pp. 22-23, 40-41
Bre1 Prof.Dr.Otto zur Strassen (Editor): Brehms Tierleben, Vierte Auflage
Band 5, Lurche und Kriechtiere – Band 2, Leipzig und Wien, 1913
Bre2 Dr.Theo Jahn (Editor): Brehms Neue Tierenzyklopädie,
Band 9, Reptilien, Amphibien, Freiburg-Basel-Wien, 1976
Bre3 Dr. Vincenz Brehm: Der Tazzelwurm, in: Natur und Land, 1949/1950, pp. 174-75
Dal Prof.Dr.K.W.von Dalla Torre: Die Drachensage im Alpengebiet, in: Zeitschrift
des Deutschen und Österreichischen Alpenvereins, München 1887, pp. 208-226
DH (DH): Lebt der geheimnisvolle “Tatzelwurm”?,
in: Blickpunkt, Ausgabe Imst, Nr. 32, 5 August 1987, p. 38
Dob Josef Frh.von Doblhoff: Altes und Neues vom Tatzelwurm,
in: Zeitschrift für Österreichische Volkskunde, Wien, 1895 (1896), pp.142-163
Eck Stephan Ecker: Sagen aus der Umgegend von Lofer, in: Mittheilungen der Ges.
für Salzburger Landeskunde, XXXVII. Vereinsjahr, Salzburg 1897, p. 178
Egg Erich Egg: Die Riesenschlange vom Pillersee,
in: Tiroler Heimatblätter, Innsbruck, pp. 56-57
Fil1 Hans Filzer: Der Tatzeldrache am Reicherhof,
in: Tiroler Heimatblätter, Innsbruck 1925, pp. 6-7
Fil2 H.Filzer: Der Höckwurm am Hinterhorn bei Kitzbühel,
in: Tiroler Heimatblätter, Innsbruck 1926, pp. 107-109
Fin1 Hans Fink: Basilisk und fliegende Schlangen,
in: Dolomiten, Tagblatt d. Südtiroler, 3. März 1965, Nr.51,p.5
Fin2 Hans Fink: Der Haselwurm als Menschenschenkel,
in: Der Schlern, Bozen 1987, p. 431
Fin3 Hans Fink: Gibt es einen Tatzelwurm?,
in: Südtiroler Bauernkalender 1973, pp. 130-137
Flu1 Ing. agr. H. Flucher: Zur Frage: Gibt es einen Tatzelwurm?,
in: Kosmos, Stuttgart 1931, pp. 118-121
Flu2 Ing. Hans Flucher: Noch einmal die Tatzelwurmfrage (I),
in: Kosmos, Stuttgart 1932, pp. 66-68
Flu3 Ing. Hans Flucher: Noch einmal die Tatzelwurmfrage (II),
in: Kosmos, Stuttgart 1932, pp. 100-102
Flu4 Ing.Hans Flucher,Saalfelden: Und abermals vom Tatzelwurm,
in: Der Schlern, Bozen 1932, pp. 497-508
Fuchs Josef Fuchs (Dr. Jos. Faistenberger, editor): Aus der guten, alten Zeit,
Hall in Tirol, 1927, p. 80
Gra Ella Grander: Der St.=Silvest=Tag in Reith bei Kitzbühel,
in: Tiroler Heimatblätter, Innsbruck, 1926, pp. 365-369
Gru Alfred Gruber: Ein Tatzelwurm in Eppan, in: Der Schlern, Bozen 1971, p. 77
Heu Bernard Heuvelmans: In the Wake of the Sea-Serpents, New York, 1968.
Heyl Johann Adolf Heyl: Volkssagen, Bräuche u. Meinungen aus Tirol, Brixen, 1897.
Hof Dr. Wilhelm Hoffer: Über die wahre Natur der “Bergstutzeln”,
in: Blätter für Heimatkunde, Graz 1929, pp. 60-63
Hub Dr. Heinz Huber: “Milchsaugende Schlangen”,
in: Der Schlern, Bozen 1930, pp. 371-372
Hüb L. Hübner: Beschreibung des Erzstiftes und Reichsfürstenthums Salzburg,
3. Band, Salzburg 1796, pp. 868-869, 958
Kae Dr. Alfred Kaestner: Lehrbuch der Speziellen Zoologie,
Teil I: Wirbellose, 1. Halbband, Stuttgart 1954/55
Klee Andreas Klee: Zur Beisswürmerfrage,
in: Tiroler Heimatblätter, Innsbruck, 1932, pp. 444-445
Klei B.M. Klein: Tatzelwürmer u.a., in: Natur und Land, 1950/1951, pp. 63-65
Kob Franz von Kobell: Wildanger. Skizzen aus dem Gebiete der Jagd,
Stuttgart, 1859,p.464-470
Kohl J.G. Kohl: Alpenreisen. Dritter Theil, Leipzig 1854, p. 324
Kos Editorial: Noch einmal die Tatzelwurmfrage,
in: Kosmos, Stuttgart, 1982, p. 10/90, (partial reprint of Flu2).
Ley Willi Ley: Drachen, Riesen, Rätseltiere,
Stuttgart, 1956, Orig: The Lungfish, the Dodo and the Unicorn, New York.
Mag Ulrich Magin: European Dragons: The Tatzelwurm,
in: PURSUIT, Vol.19, No.1, First Quarter 1986, pp. 16-22
May Wilfried Mayrus, producer: Der Fonknotwurm von Tarsch,
telecast by ORF (Austrian TV), 18 Jan 1982 and 5 May 1983.
Mer Robert Mertens: Die Warn- und Droh-Reaktionen der Reptilien,
in: Abhandlungen der Senckenbergischen Naturforschenden Gesellschaft,
Abhandlung 471, Frankfurt A.M., 1946, pp. 1-108
Meu1 Dr. Karl Meusburger: Etwas vom Tatzelwurm,
in: Der Schlern, Bozen 1928, pp. 189-190
Meu2 Dr. Karl Meusburger: Etwas vom Tatzelwurm,
in: Der Schlern, Bozen 1931, pp. 458-479
Meu3 Dr. Karl Meusburger: Neue Beiträge zur Tatzelwurmfrage,
in: Der Schlern, Bozen 1934, pp. 64-85
Meu4 Dr. Karl Meusburger: Was mir die Leute von den Schlangen erzählten,
in: Der Schlern, Bozen 1929, pp. 390-398
Nic Jakob Nicolussi: Der Tatzelwurm und seine Verwandschaft,
in: Der Schlern, Bozen 1933, pp. 119-127
Obe Dr. Sepp Oberkofler: Der Tatzelwurm im Presanellagebiet,
in: Der Schlern, Bozen 1948, pp. 311-312
Pau Prof. Karl Paulmichl: Zur Beisswürmerfrage,
in: Tiroler Heimatblätter, Innsbruck, 1932, p. 446
Pla Ada von der Planitz: Zum “Tatzelwurm”, in: Der Schlern, Bozen 1928, p. 288
Ran Vance Randolph: Ozark Magic and Folklore, New York, 1964
Ren Gustav Renker: Gibt es den Tatzelwurm?,
in: Alpenland mit Schutzhüttenrundschau, März 1976, p. 2
Roc1 E.L.Rochholz: Schweizersagen aus dem Aargau,
Zürich 1980, Zweiter Band. Reprint of the Aarau 1856 edition.
Roc2 E.L.Rochholz: Naturmythen, Leipzig 1862, p. 188
Scha P.Klemens Schatz, Kapuziner: Der Tatzelwurm, in:Der Schlern, Bozen 1964, p.62
Schu Wilhelm von Schulenburg: Der Beisswurm,
in: Zeitschrift für österreichische Volkskunde, Wien 1910, p.222
Sch.A. Joseph August Schultes: Reisen durch Oberösterreich in den Jahren 1794, 1795,
1802, 1803, 1804 und 1808, I. Theil, Tübingen 1809, p. 108-109
Sch.G. G.von Schultes: Etwas über den Bergstutz oder Stollwurm in den Alpen,
in: Neues Taschenbuch für Natur-, Forst- und Jagdfreunde auf das Jahr 1836,
Weimar, pp. 28-36
Sie August Sieghardt: Drachen und Tatzelwürmer in den Alpen,
in: Der Bergsteiger, München, Sept.1963, pp. 889-892
Sim Karl Simrock: Handbuch der Deutschen Mythologie, 3.Aufl., Bonn, 1869, p. 480
Sin1 Rudolf Sinwel: Von den “Beisswürmern”,
in: Tiroler Heimatblätter, Innsbruck, 1927, pp. 266-268
Sin2 Rudolf Sinwel: Neues von den “Beisswürmern”,
in: Tiroler Heimatblätter, Innsbruck, 1932, pp. 183-185
Sta. Karl Staudacher: Der Haselwurm, in: Der Schlern, Bozen 1930, p. 338
Ste Dr.Otto Steinböck: Der Tatzelwurm und die Wissenschaft.
in: Der Schlern, Bozen 1934, pp. 453-468
Stu Studer, Prof.: Über die Insecten dieser Gegend und etwas vom Stollenwurm.
(Cannellee), in: F.N.König, Reise in die Alpen, Bern 1814, pp. 127-139
TH1 Tiroler Heimatblätter, Innsbruck 1932, Zur Beisswürmerfrage, pp. 282, 444-446
TH2 Tiroler Heimatblätter, Innsbruck 1933, Zur Beisswürmerfrage, pp. 36-37, 124
Tra1 P.A.Trafojer: Der Tatzelwurm auf dem Tschöggelberg,
in: Der Schlern, Bozen 1948, pp. 250-252
Tra2 P.A.Trafojer: Man weiss jetzt auch, was er frisst – der Tatzelwurm,
in: Der Schlern, Bozen 1953, p. 132
Tra3 P.Ambros Trafojer: Noch ein Augenzeuge für die Existenz des Tatzelwurms,
in: Der Schlern, Bozen 1969, pp. 235-236
Tsch Friedrich von Tschudi: Das Thierleben der Alpenwelt,
Dritte verbesserte Auflage, Leipzig, 1856, p.170
Tscha R. Tschalener: “Neues von den Beisswürmern”, in: Mitteilungen des Deutschen
und Österreichischen Alpenvereins, Stuttgart-Wien, 1932, p. 298
Ven Dr.med.Gerhard Venzmer: Ein Tier, von dem man nicht weiss, ob es existiert.
in: Kosmos, Stuttgart 1930, pp. 424-427
Vie Fr.M.Vierthaler: Meine Wanderungen durch Salzburg, Berchtesgaden und
Österreich, Erster Theil, Wien, 1816, p. 91
Wys1 J. Rud. Wyss Prof.: Reise in das Berner Oberland,
Zweite Abtheilung, Bern 1817, pp. 421-424
Wys2 Joh. Rud. Wyss jünger, Prof.: Geographisch-statistische Darstellung
des Cantons Bern, I. Theil, Zürich 1819-1822, pp.120-121
Zin Ignaz Vinzenz Zingerle: Sagen aus Tirol, Graz 1976
ZÖV1 Zeitschrift für Österreichische Volkskunde, Wien 1895,
Zur Sage vom Tatzelwurm, pp. 261-265, Vereinsnachrichten, pp. 381-382
ZÖV2 Zeitschrift für Österreichische Volkskunde, Wien 1896,(1897)
Sprechsaal – Antworten. pp. 95-96

Gepostet von Luis Schoenherr unter 13.6.07 0 Kommentare
Labels: Cryptozoology

Tatzelwurm, Notes

Note, that the layout irregularities are due to a not translated format of the original file!
1) See PURSUIT, Vol. 19, No. 1, First Quarter 1986, page 16-22
2) I’m using the term Tatzelwurm hypothesis (TWH) for the supposi- tion of the existence in the Alps of an animal species or variety of reptilian or worm-like appearance, that is either unknown to science or not considered indigenous to the Alps.
3) There is no reference to the Tatzelwurm in the works of Charles Fort. I am the very last to criticize this. Until I began writing this article I was unaware of most of the existing material although I am born and have lived for six decades in Austria, in a Tatzelwurm ‘infested’ country so to say.
4) Charles Fort certainly would be delighted to learn that modern psychology considers the inability to suspend judgement, the all-or-nothing attidude, a pathological trait.
5) On the history of such fakings see Ley/91-94.
6) Franz Eberhöfer, the informant in this case is the son of witness Eberhöfer in case (1849.06.?).
7) Native people then explained the presence of a crocodile by the assumption that the Möls lake must have an underground connection with the sea.
8) A ‘Fatschenkind’ wasn’t exactly a baby in swaddling clothes as the term is understood today. It was a baby wrapped up in a sort of bandages so that it had to lie still, unable to move feet or arms. Today in toy museums, dolls of that time can still be seen. They were often nothing more than turned cones made from wood, with the bandages painted on.
9) Case (1883.). Apparently the girl was found dead. There is no information whether she was actually bitten.
10) According to Hüb/967 in Salzburg every big worm is called Höckwurm, as for example the adder, the blind worm and, specifically the ring-snake.
11) A belief once held in the Tyrol states the weasel attacks poisonous snakes by means of a lozenge, which it keeps concealed in the jaws (Kob/346).
12) Fore legs are not explicitly mentioned. The wording of the report however suggests their presence.
13) The Slovenic name for lizard is ‘kuscar’. Maria Rain is 12 kilometers from the Austrian-Yugoslavian border.
14) This sounds a bit suspicious. How many people are able to distinguish the sexes of reptiles?
15) Roy Chapman Andrews (1884-1960) was paleontologist and director of the American Museum of Natural History in New York. He lead expeditions to China and Mongolia and became known for the discovery of many dinosaur fossils.
16) The investigator thinks this idiomatic term is derived ‘from the shaking movements of the mill’ and would mean, that the worm started, i.e. that a tremble went through the worm’s body.
17) Although this spot is only one kilometer from the center of the famous winter sports resort of Igls, it is even today a rarely walked on place.
18) This is the only known case where somebody has tried to catch the animal by means of a trap etc.
19) This term was coined by Steinböck (Ste/457/462/464), but the same reductionalism can be observed with other authors (Nic/124-126, Meu3/71, Flu4/507).
20) The physiologist Hj. Öhrvall in Upsala used to say that if some strange phenomenon was put before a scientist his first task was to assure himself of the falseness of the assertions! (Quotation in: Carl Benedicks, Theory of the lightning-balls and its application to the atmospheric phenomenon called “flying saucers” in: Arkiv für Geofysik, Stockholm, 1958, Band 2, nr.1, p. 1).
21) Those latter terms could suggest a slight paranoid trait on the part of some witnesses but this would, of course, not necessarily invalidate the observations as such. It may also be of some interest that the greek word ‘drakon’ means ‘one who looks sharply’.
22) Snakes are usually overestimated in size by more than one third (Bre/329).
23) See: Helen E. Ross, Behaviour and Perception in Strange Environments, London, 1974.
24) Hobarth M.Smith and Edward H.Taylor: Annotated Checklist and Key to the Reptiles of Mexico Exclusive of the Snakes, United States National Museum, Bulletin 199, Washington, 1950, pp.37-38.
25) Heu/99’1 quotes Schmidt and Inger (1957) saying that Amphisbaenidae are ‘a group of animals we are not positive they are reptiles, let alone lizards’ and M. Bogert (1964) calling them ‘a taxonomic riddle’. Bre2/226 regards them as a family in the suborder of the Sauria, remarking however, that their systematic position is not clear.
26) Weasels can be incredibly impudent and aggressive. Once I was standing in a meadow in the middle of a country lane. Suddenly a fuzzy something ran towards me, stopped short at my feet and began to climb up my trousers. It was the big weasel (Mustela erminea). When it reached my chest it craned its neck and sniffed at my chin. I stood there, motionless and dumbfounded but nevertheless amused because it was so lovely. But suddenly the weasel bared its teeth and the saucer-like eyes narrowed to slits. Now it looked really nasty and to say I was concerned would have been an understatement. Fortunately it turned around, climbed down and ran back into the direction from where it had come.
27) The German word ‘Schnecke’ means snail. ‘Schneckender Wurm’ could mean a worm producing droppings shaped like a snail or, simply behaving like such one.
28) In case (1951.s. St.Georgen), a Tatzelwurm was seen with a lizard in the mouth, in case (1914.06. Braien) it was seen ‘fighting’ with snakes.
29) This reminds me of a report from the USA years ago, about a sewerman bitten by an alligator, when such pets were fashionable for a while but dropped in the gullies by some so- called ‘lovers of animals’ when they got tired of them or when the animals had grown to big!
30) Such things do not necessarily invalidate a report as a whole. At the time in question still many a farmer in the Tyrol now and then used certain spells against illness, thunderstorms, hail and parasites.
31) See the daily newspapers ‘Tiroler Tageszeitung’, Innsbruck and ‘Kurier’, Vienna, 14 July 1988.
32) Inzing, a village 13 kilometers west of Innsbruck, has a history of catastrophic floods and land-slips. The last of them occurred in 1969.
33) This occurrence is somewhat reminiscent of a phenomenon observed during an UFO sighting on August 22, 1955 in California. Several children perceived various shapes continually vanishing and re- appearing. A boy, saw an arm, suspended in the air beckoning to him. (See: Gordon Creighton, The Extraordinary Happenings at Casa Blanca, Flying Saucer Review, London, Vol. 13, No. 5, Sept./Oct. 1967, p. 16.)
34) Male snakes have duplicate genitals, a fact, even in our time not widely known.
35) Robert Mertens (1894-1975) prominent German herpetologist and director of the Senckenberg Museum at Frankfurt. Publications on amphibeans and reptiles.
36) The snakes mentioned are: Eryx johnii, Charina bottae, Micrurus lemniscatus, Maticora intestinalis, Cylindrophis rufus, Cylindrophis opisthorhodus, Typhlops, Leptotyphlops, Apostolepis ambinigra, Chilorhinophis and Calamaria septentrionalis.
37) Doblhoff confirms this inadvertently when he writes that ‘the farmers feared to be treated as uneducated by the tourists who would not accept their delusions’ or that a game-tenant when asking one of his hunters why he wouldn’t tell him about the ‘Bergstutzen’ was answered: ‘after all you won’t believe it’ (Dob/162).
38) This is the more astonishing as scientists usually carefully avoid making statements interfering with the competence of disciplines other than their own. In many of the more recent cases, witnesses could have been examined and scientists at a university would have had more likely the means to do this than amateur researchers.
39) Just consider the bad traffic conditions and the undeveloped communications of the time.
40) Joseph August Schultes was professor of natural history at the Innsbruck University.
41) Johann Jakob Scheuchzer (1672-1733), naturalist and medical officer at Zürich and founder of paleobotanics. He received publicity for his ‘Homo diluvii testis’ (Andrias scheuchzeri), an incomplete skeleton regarded by him as the ‘deplorable bones of an old sinner drown in the flood’. Cuvier (1769-1832) recognized it as a giant salamander, i.e. one of Scheuchzer’s beloved dragons.
42) Franz Michael Vierthaler (1785-1827), an Austrian educationalist was an early advocate of advanced training for teachers and of the Socratic method.
43) Johann Rudolf Wyss (1781-1830), Professor of philosophy at Berne wrote about folk tales, and Swiss country life.
44) The popular Austrian Archduke Johann (1782-1859) is also said to have offered a price of 30 ducats but the money was never claimed (Dob/152, Sin1/267).
45) Johann Georg Kohl (1808-1878), director of the public library in Bremen, travelled extensively through Europe and Northamerica and wrote many travel books.
46) A queer logic indeed when in every court identical testimonies by independent persons substantiate rather the truth and not the opposite.
47) Wolfgang Franz Xaver von Kobell (1803-1882) was a prominent figure in the Munich society. Already at 23 he was associate professor of mineralogy. In April 1839, with C.A.Steinheil, he published a photograhic process, four months before Arago announced Daguerre’s method. He invented an electrotyping process and the stauroskop, a device utilizing polarized light in the analysis of crytals.
48) An early predecessor of the Goro monster? See PURSUIT Vol.9, No.3, Whole No. 35, Summer 1976, p. 62.
49) Karl Wilhelm von Dalla Torre (1850-1928) was full professor of zoology at the Innsbruck University and author of 150 botanic and 200 zoological publications, and an excellent bibliographer and author of catalogues.
50) In Mühlen, situated between Tiefencastel and Bivio, Switzerland, Dalla Torre had found a buzzard nailed alive to a stable door, with cropped wings and the eyes bored out. Only after continuous pleas he was permitted to kill it! (Dal/208-210 and 224’3).
51) Even if some personal experiences have infuriated this great scientist, it is hardly conceivable that such a harsh, generalizing criticism is or was ever warranted.
52) Franz Leydig (1821-1908). Professor of Zoology at Tübingen and Bonn.
53) Later Dalla Torre informed Doblhoff that he had not pursued the matter further since 1887 (Dob/144’4).
54) Josef Freiherr von Doblhoff-Dier (1844-1928) was an Austrian diplomat and an author. Being a well-to-do man he travelled all over the world. He was an early advocate of a law for the protection of monuments in Austria
55) For a folklorist and a periodical specializing in folklore another policy would hardly have been tenable. Yet one must ask whether it was really necessary to print the heavy-handed letter of a hunter with all its numerous orthographic errors without any editing? (ZÖV1/263).
56) It isn’t always clear whether the opinions mentioned are those of Doblhoff or of his informants.
57) In Styria woodchucks were released in 1875. It is however possible that they were already indigenous to this region before, but not recognized as such and perhaps taken for Tatzelwurms (Hof/60).
58) It has been argued that inhabitants of higher alpine regions would probably be unable to correctly identify a rare otter appearing there (Tscha/298).
59) Karl Meusburger (1870-1940) was a Catholic priest and a teacher in Brixen, South Tirol. He had studied theology, physics, geology and mineralogy. A dedicated naturalist, he was specifically interested in glaciology and in all sorts of unusual natural phenomena.
60) Once a hunter had called Meusburger in order to identify a dead animal nobody knew. It was an emaciated, hairless badger who had just finished hibernation. With its cornered,protruding shoulder- blades, the teeth of a predaceous animal not covered by lip hairs and the comb-like projections of the vertebrae on its back it looked like a little dragon (Meu2/464).
61) Meusburger has, for instance, apparently never interviewed the witnesses in case (1920.f. Atterkar). Yet he rejects it as a hoax although the innkeeper who kept the carcass in his house, was at the time of reporting mayor of Sölden, i.e. a person of some standing in this community. Professor Paulmichl in turn, who brought the case to the attention of the ‘Tiroler Heimatblätter’, was then a prominent architect in the Tyrol. Unfortunately both informants are long deceased and the original correspondence is lost.
62) Dr. Otto Steinböck (1893-1969), full professor of zoology at the Innsbruck University was a widely known specialist for the morphology of the Turbellaria, a class of the flatworms. Another of his activities was limnology, specifically the exploration of the waters in the high mountain regions. He was on expeditions in Greenland and Iceland and traveled all over the world. Half a dozen of species have been named after him, as for instance, the mite Mesoteneriffia steinböcki Irk.
63) This is rather a social scale than one based on observational capability. Besides that, those cases are discarded in the same way as the others.
64) This amounts practically to the claim, that from the standpoint of the zoologist who must regard the legendary material in the reports as noise, the existence of such noise justifies the assumption that there is no signal, no new zoological data.

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