& ITS ABOMINABLE
FRIENDS
“MIDDLETOWN VALLEY MAN KILLS STRANGE BIRD— Residents of Pleasant Walk, in the northern section of Middletown Valley, have been much excited during the past week over the identity of a large, strange bird which was shot and killed by Edward Lewis. Some of the persons who saw the bird expressed the belief that it is the offspring of the dread Snallygaster, which appeared in this section in November, 1932, despite the fact that scientists claim it requires from 20 to 25 years for a Snallygaster egg to hatch. Those who believe that the young monster is a small Snallygaster, claim that the unusual heat of the present summer caused one of the eggs to hatch prematurely.
According to Mr. Lewis he had been missing chickens from his flock for some time, and kept a watch for the bird which was 4½ feet tall, and measured six feet from tip to tip of wing. Its bill was four inches in length. The bird had speckled feathers.
Mr. Lewis also stated that even after the bird had been shot and badly wounded, it made an attempt to attack one of his children, and it was necessary to fire a second shot in order to save the child from the clutches of the monster.”1 —Worcester Democrat, July 27, 1934
There are some stories too good to be true than others that are just too good!
Early America was a strange place, few migrants knew exactly what to expect in such a curious, unfamiliar land and some expectations were higher than others. For good authority has it that in the Appalachian foothills near South Mountain there exists a belief that the vicinity is plagued by a bloodcurdling, flying creature of vast proportions— the “snallygaster.” An avian-reptilian miscreation, the snallygaster is said to prey on poultry and carry off children after nightfall.2 The brute is suggestive of European dragons, the major divergence being the prior is wholly hideous. The grotesque Gargantua boasts a beak of iron fitted with teeth of steel, claws like scythes, an eye midway in its forehead, a pair of feathered wings and a dozen, wriggling tentacles to boot.
But whatever the snallygaster lacks in wholesomeness it seems to make up in unquenchable appetite (not the most favorable tradeoff). The snallygaster routinely draws it teeth into numerous fowl draining them of all bodily fluid. Pennsylvania Dutch tradition holds that hex signs, in the form of seven-pointed stars, afford the chief means of protection against the creature which dwells deep in the bowels of South Mountain.3
At first glance, the snallygaster is a marriage of folklore and urban legend; rooted half in the early superstitions of German settlers and half in the twentieth-century hoaxes by the editors at the Middletown Valley Register. Beneath the surface it is not the product of one or two stories but rather a puzzle fashioned together through time, with each new anecdote more sensational than the next. The author of the following summary is greatly indebted to Patrick Boyton for his work: Snallygaster: the Lost Legend of Frederick County for having touched on much that is to say about the subject. In an attempt to elaborate further one must go through great lengths to follow the trail of breadcrumbs to a sufficient end. The result is a fresh investigation and a bit of unearthed intrigue concerning the snallygaster and its home at South Mountain.
SOUTH MOUNTAIN MAGIC
“ We willingly leave this particular one [serpent] to speed its deadening circles down into Dante's Inferno, where it will doubtless find its proper place, only asking that it may never again inhabit South Mountain. ”
— Madeleine Vinton Dahlgren4
South Mountain, Maryland is an extension of the Blue Ridge Mountains spanning more than seventy miles in length and having multiple summits, with the adjacent foothills and valleys being home to over a thousand residents. Established by early German settlers, South Mountain may be compared to Sleepy Hollow, New York or Bhangarh, Rajasthan as a locale deeply entrenched in a definite bit of superstition.
Stories about apparitions, magic, monsters and mysterious lights known as "the Saxon's fire" flourish in the region. The legend of the snallygaster, by far, is one best understood given the local color of this charming, folk country.
The most reputable source on South Mountain lore comes by way of a 1882 book entitled: South-Mountain Magic, by Madeleine Vinton Dahlgren. The manuscript consists of an all-embracing look into the folk beliefs of the inhabitants. Mrs. Dahlgren was a noted socialite and author who lived on the mountain for a period of years. In her book, Dahlgren makes no small mention on the use of magic by locals.5 The correlation between the enchantments of South Mountain residents and practices endorsed to fend off snallygasters is of particular interest.
Both make prominent use of sacred numbers. In respect to the snallygaster seven is the value of particular significance. Not only are seven-pointed stars used to ward off snallygasters, but it is by no matter of chance that author Michael Poynder in his work, The Lost Magic of Christianity: Celtic Essene Connections, testifies: 6
“ The heptalpha [seven-pointed star] signifies the seven gifts of the spirit, the seven seals or chakras, the seven days of the week, the seven sacred planets, the octave of music. It also signifies the incarnation of the spirit (3 -- the Trinity) into matter (4 -- the Elements). 7 is the number of the Earth revivified by divine Current of Life. ”
Commenting on the volume’s supernatural rather than mystical tone, Dahlgren goes on to relate a number of apparitions that are supposed to haunt South Mountain, among them The Black Dog, The White Woman and The Headless Man.
SNAKES AND LADDERS
The snallygaster does not make it into Dahlgren’s work by name. However the former is seemingly composed of the rich folklore that precedes it. For the caverns of South Mountain, where the monster is alleged to dwell, is home to yet another creature— the Eastern Racer.
Not only does Dahlgren described these snakes in detail, but exclaims that, “of the various hair-breadth escapes that of snake stories is a favorite theme on this Mountain.” 6
An obscure newspaper item entitled: “Thrilling Encounter with a Den of Black Snakes in South Mountain, Maryland” tells of such a story. The article relates the exploit of Prof. J. Mitchell, a self-titled “South Mountain Wizard,” who intruded upon a mother racer nesting with her young.
The article concludes that:7
“ We have since been informed that this species of snake is very plenty in the mountains, and have frequently been known to attack persons who intrude in their dens. ”
Remarking on the similarities between the snallygaster and racers is hardly irrelevant. There are a number of similar factors to consider, just to name a few:
- Mitchell’s account mentions the snakes, “gave a loud, shrill hiss or rather, a whistle.” The cry of the snallygaster is said to be comparable to precisely that. 8
- The snallygaster is renowned for killing chickens, racers are one of their natural predators.
- The snallygaster resides in South Mountain caverns, eastern racers make their dens in these very caves to protect their young from the cold.
- The snallygaster in at least one account is purported to have, “yellow black stripe” coloration. The common Racer found on South Mountain, the black racer, like all subspecies of Eastern Racers, has a dark beige to yellow underbelly.
Lastly, just as the snallygaster is said to be a massive monster with wriggling tentacles; given the right conditions, would not a racer hoard in dim light give the illusion of a single, hulking creature with squirming appendages? Such a play on nature is not unlikely with all things considered.
But if snake hoards could account for the snallygaster's more eccentric attributes what of its cycloptic sight? An explanation hinted in Dahlgren's book is that this would appear to be some kind of spin on the myth of the “evil eye” (a term variously mentioned in the text). As for its unlikely pairing with cephalopod tendrils, it should be noted that cycloptopi were rather a common facet in natural histories during the snallygaster’s newspaper-hoax revival. It is more than possible that the editors at Middletown Valley Register drew a parallel between these two monsters.
A MONSTER METAPHOR
Throughout time ponderous monsters have tread the pages of newspapers in the form of cartoons embodying social woes. Similarly, the question has risen as to whether the Snallygaster is itself an allegory for some political turmoil. Fearful and foreboding imaginings are by their very nature inherently symbolic and can represent different things to different people. In regards to the snallygaster being a personification of the evil of racism, such an argument is not without credence.
In 1910 an analogously-titled beast makes an appearance in William T. Cox's book: Fearsome Creatures of the Lumberwoods. This creature, dubbed the snoligoster, is aquatic rather than airborne, but shares both the snallygaster's taste for human blood and its half-serpentine nature.9 In addition to these traits both monsters share a bitter disposition toward African-Americans suggestive of this metaphor. 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. ”10
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 location and "dealt" with. Even in Frederick County such practices were not unheard of and which represent perhaps the uttermost brutal acts of violence in the whole of American history. It only goes to follow that the question becomes why clothe atrocities in the form of a monster, why not just expose evils as they are? Was the snallygaster a manifestation of the subconscious mind, a ruse to frighten the superstitious or a ploy to divert political retaliation? Then again maybe the answer is simply that— monsters of the imagination are easier to accept than real ones.
See, the curious thing about folklore is how much truth there is behind it. Humans beings as a race tend to look away from terrifying realities but are wholly willing to indulge frightening fantasies. So, whenever one is confronted with something so evil that people may not wish to speak of it but so important that everyone must know about it; than disguising fact as fiction is a particular means to reach such an objective.
STRAIGHT FROM THE SNALLYGASTER’S BEAK
The year is 1862, a Confederate unit is passing through Middletown Valley seeking assistance in preparing a meal for their regiment. A walk through of the neighborhood reveals a town seemingly deserted; doors locked, windows shut and not a person in sight. An exhaustive search precedes the discovery of a housemaid, who upon inquiry gave a most unexpected reply:
“On seeing us, they were evidently alarmed, but we quietly asked the lady if she would cook four pounds of flour for us. She replied that she would. This assured her that we were peaceful. I inquired of her why all the houses were so tightly closed and nobody visible. She replied that the Yankees had been to the town ahead of us, and had told the people that the rebels had but one eye and a horn, both in the middle of the forehead, and that they lived on women and children. I was amazed and asked her if they believed it. She replied that they did. ”—W.A. Johnson (Co. D, 2d S. C. V.) 11
Like any good yarn, the story of the snallygaster is exaggerated from person to person; consequently, its appearance varies with each retelling. However it is hardly contestable that the greater majority of snallygaster sightings were concocted simply as a means of promotion. Perhaps the first and only honest report of an authentic “snallygaster” comes from the pages of the The Anderson Intelligencer under the heading, “The Confederate Soldier as a Curiosity.” In the article a Civil War veteran relates a firsthand encounter between South Mountain citizens and those notorious breed of monsters.
According to the report a Confederate troop, tired and hungry, takes to thrashing an orchard for food. Subsequently, they are seized for “molesting the apples” under a General’s orders. Later released, they journey to Middletown, Maryland where they stumble upon a city noticeably empty. Smoke from a chimney draws them to the only sign of life, where they make the following discovery. A young lady remarks how passing Union troops had informed them that the “dirty rebels” possessed, “but one eye and a horn, both in the middle of the forehead.” Moreover, rather than having a taste for apples they stated the rebels subsisted solely upon— “women and children.”1
Leaving under the shadow of South Mountain, the storyteller explains what the good people of the valley, so perturbed by this superstition, did to quell the wrath of those monster deities:
“ The heathens offered up sacrifices to appease the anger of their gods. In the valleys of the South Mountain, in Maryland, they lined the fence with wheaten bread, covered about an inch thick with apple butter, to appease our anger. For once I was thankful to be numbered with the gods. ”
Such is the stuff legends are made of.
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1 “Middletown Valley Man Kills Strange Bird,” Worcester Democrat, July 27, 1934, Chronicling America: Historic American Newspapers, Lib. of Congress.
2. Douglas Pappas, Maryland: A Guide to the Old Line State (New York : Oxford University Press, 1940), 7, 348.
3. Patrick Boyton, Snallygaster: the Lost Legend of Frederick County (Frederick, MD: 2008), 55.
4. Madeleine Vinton Dahlgren, South-Mountain Magic: A Narrative (Boston: James R. Osgood, 1882), 202.
5. Dahlgren, 145-177.
6. Michael Poynder, The Lost Magic of Christianity: Celtic Essene Connections (Glastonbury: Green Magic Publishers, 1999). 6. Dahlgren, 200.
7. J. Mitchell, “Thrilling Encounter with a Den of Black Snakes in South Mountain, Maryland,” The Weekly Perrysburg Journal, Aug. 02, 1867, 1. Chronicling America: Historic American Newspapers.
8. Boyton, 13.
9. William T. Cox, Fearsome Creatures of the Lumberwoods, with a Few Desert and Mountain Beasts (Washington: Judd & Detweiler, 1910), 15.
10. Pappas, 7.
11. Johnson, W.A., “War Stories: The Confederate Soldier as a Curiosity,” The Anderson Intelligencer,, July 03, 1901, 2. Chronicling America: Historic American Newspapers.