NEIL ARNOLD: Glocester Ghoul

The Evening Hour, January 15th 1896


COW, MONSTER, OR GHOST ? – Reappearance of the Fearsome Thing that Pirate Hicks Discovered Fifty years Ago

Neil Hopkins, of Glocester, R.L. was returning from his work on Dandalion Hill, near Putnam, a few nights ago, when, at the darkest spot in the road, a strange beast gave him chase. He cannot exactly tell what it was, as he caught only a glance of it as he ran. Hopkins is certain that the creature was some supernatural beast that lives in Glocester forest.

“It seemed to be all a-fire; it had a hot breath”, Hopkins told his neighbours.
“There was a metallic sound, like the clanking of steel against steel. The beast didn’t seem to be strong in the wind, for it chased me only a short distance, and then plunged off into the woods. I could hear the dead branches and twigs crackling under the heavy tramp”.

Hopkins says it was as big as an elephant, and that he is certain it had no tail. Opinion is divided as to what it was that scared Hopkins. Some think that it was only the escaped circus bear that held up several farmers and scared their horses…

The bear was seen in Buck Woods, near Webster, Mass., and as far south as Glocester. Others think that it was the famous Glocester monster, the “burning beast” that Hopkins saw. The “burning beast” has been seen only once before. That was 57 years ago last summer, when it appeared to four Glocesterites, John Jepp, Ben Cobb, Ben Saunders and Albert Hicks, the pirate, who was afterward hanged on Liberty Island in New York Bay. Hicks was a native of Glocester. He and his companions were dogging up the Page farm one night trying to find Capt. Kidd’s supposed buried gold, when the monster frightened them away. They dropped picks and shovels and run for life. Some Spanish doubloons had been previously found on the Page far, but the gold diggers never cared to searched (sic) further after their awful experience.

Hicks used to describe the beast thus – “It was a large animal, with staring eyes as big as powter bowls. The eyes looked like balls of fire. When it breathed as it went by flames came out of its mouth and nostrils, scorching the brush in its path. It was as a big as a cow with dark wings with dark wing’s on each side like a bat’s. It had spiral horns like a ram’s, as big around as a stovepipe. Its feet were formed like a duck’s and measured a foot and a half across. The body was covered with scales as big as clam shells, which made a rattling noise as the beast moved along. The scales flopped up and down. The thing had lights on its sides like those shining through a tin lantern. Before I saw it I felt its presence and I smelled something that was like burnt wool as it went by. I had a feeling of suffocation when it came near me. The monster seemed to come from nowhere and to go away in the same manner.”

There are many people in Glocester who believe that the beast still haunts the forest not far from the Providence turnpike, and that it was it that gave Hopkins his fright.’