GLEN VAUDREY: Cthulhu and Cryptozoology

Anyone who has read my book, The Mystery Animals of the Western Isles, may have noticed that I often managed to slip a mention of H. P. Lovecraft's Cthulhu mythos into the odd tale of sightings. Could the Blue Men of the Minch really be Deep Ones?

But it was while reading the particularly turgid dull-as-dishwater The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath that it occurred to me that there seemed to be a connection between one particular cryptid and one of Lovecraft’s creations. Not a giant squid and old Cthulhu but rather the Jersey Devil.

This mystery winged beast was rumoured to be the result of the foolish and quite mythical Mrs Leeds stating a bit too loudly while pregnant with her thirteenth child that she hoped it would be a devil. Perhaps she was oblivious to the dangers of such utterances for of course when the child was born it had a fine set of horns, a tail, wings and a horse-like head.

Without a doubt the kid was pig-ugly and was sent packing, forever to haunt New Jersey. The Jersey Devil was, or could even still be, a long-lived beast for not only was it being blamed for animal deaths in the 1820s it was still going strong into the start of last century.

So which H.P. Lovecraft critter springs to mind when I see a picture of the Jersey Devil? Well, if it isn’t the Nightgaunt. These creatures of the Dreamlands are described as having a pair of inward facing horns atop their heads, clawed hands, a skin that is slick and rubbery, membranous wings and last but not least, a long barbed tail; this long barbed tail was used to tickle any victim it plucked into the air.

Perhaps a couple of pictures will be helpful to make the point: one is of the 1909 Jersey Devil, the other of a rather soft plush Nightgaunt toy (life is easier if you can imagine terrifying cosmic horror as a small cuddly toy).