Although classic zooform monsters such as the Jersey Devil and Mothman have embedded themselves deeply in folklore, history suggests that equally absurd critters have, albeit briefly, prowled the globe, yet without recognition.
Bear ? Gorilla ? Horse ?
The Milwaukee Sentinel of 7th August 1949 ran a bizarre story concerning an unfathomable monster said to be prowling East Granby, Connecticut. Under the headline: ‘Galloping Ghost Animal With Claws Has Town Sweating’, the paper stated, ‘Bear ? Gorilla ? Horse ? – Or is it some weird, mysterious animal ? Uneasy residents in the Lake Basile section here asked those questions today after reports got around that there was a strange animal in the neighbourhood. The best description they could give was that it gallops like a horse and has the claws of a bear. No one has seen it. Some have heard it. But there for all to see were its claw-prints on the soft dirt road. Morgan J. Horne was among those who reported hearing it – at 10 minutes past midnight.
“It was nothing like I have ever heard before,” he said. “My wife had a horrified look on her face.”
The Milwaukee Sentinel of 7th August 1949 ran a bizarre story concerning an unfathomable monster said to be prowling East Granby, Connecticut. Under the headline: ‘Galloping Ghost Animal With Claws Has Town Sweating’, the paper stated, ‘Bear ? Gorilla ? Horse ? – Or is it some weird, mysterious animal ? Uneasy residents in the Lake Basile section here asked those questions today after reports got around that there was a strange animal in the neighbourhood. The best description they could give was that it gallops like a horse and has the claws of a bear. No one has seen it. Some have heard it. But there for all to see were its claw-prints on the soft dirt road. Morgan J. Horne was among those who reported hearing it – at 10 minutes past midnight.
“It was nothing like I have ever heard before,” he said. “My wife had a horrified look on her face.”
The animal’s breathing, he reported, was “terrific, almost unbelievable” and a lot heavier than that of a horse.
“When we heard this galloping noise and the heavy breathing, our English sheepdog, Buddy, went crazy,” said Horne. “He almost went through the screen.”
“When we heard this galloping noise and the heavy breathing, our English sheepdog, Buddy, went crazy,” said Horne. “He almost went through the screen.”
Maybe the animal was two animals. An examination of the prints by Detective Anton M. Nelson of the State police suggested that. He said there were two sets of prints side by side, one large and one small. Sportsman Ronald I. Miller opined: “Must be either a bear or gorilla.”
Green Eyed Devil
Ten years later on March 12th 1959 the Calgary Herald reported ‘Ghost Animals Haunts Suburb Of Montreal’ after a creature with green eyes, ‘…waited silently at a lonely wayside railway station, frightened children, set housewives gossiping, husbands hunting and dogs howling.’
Green Eyed Devil
Ten years later on March 12th 1959 the Calgary Herald reported ‘Ghost Animals Haunts Suburb Of Montreal’ after a creature with green eyes, ‘…waited silently at a lonely wayside railway station, frightened children, set housewives gossiping, husbands hunting and dogs howling.’
Some believed the animal was a wolf, others a ‘panther’, the less dramatic reports suggested a deer or a dog. The paper commented, ‘A week ago, Mrs George Sloan said she saw a large cat-like animal near a shed in suburban Ste. Anne de Bellevue, on the west end of Montreal Island. That started it.’
Tracks, showing a main pad and four toes were discovered by a posse of hunters and museum creator and zoologist D.J. Cleghorn remarked that the prints were made by a ‘panther’ – in this case a mountain lion. Game warden Edward Kent stated that the animal was simply a deer and that he had “investigated that carefully” despite the fact prints left by a deer are completely unlike those made by a cat. Due to their elusive nature, the cougar (puma, mountain lion) has been given the name ‘ghost cat’ and ‘shadow cat’. During the nineteenth century the animal was dubbed ‘Indian devil’. The cougar, driven out of some parts of the United States is slowly making a comeback, but scepticism is still rife towards their existence hence the fact such animals have become relegated to folklore.
No Longer Ghouls On Horses!
Under the heading, ‘A Recent Ghost’, the New York Times reported on December 8th 1884 a bizarre animal ghost story stating: ‘There is a ghost in Cleveland, Ohio, who rides furiously up and down the street at night clad in appropriate white and mounted on a cow. We need ask for no further information as to the moral character of this particular ghost. It is clear that this ghost resides in a locality where there are no horses or where his local reputation is such that he cannot be trusted with a horse. The number of ghostly horses must be almost incalculable, judging from the number of horses that leave this world every year. That in the other world horses are made happy, as some slight recompense for their sufferings here, no charitable man will doubt. Obviously, then, ghostly horses must occupy a division of Paradise, where, of course, they can meet only with respectable ghosts. Wicked ghosts doubtless go where there are no horses, and hence must either give up riding or mount some disreputable animal – a ghostly cow for example. Te ghost who parades in Cleveland mounted on a cow has, in the language of our city statesmen, given himself away. He has advertised the fact that he belongs to a gang of ghosts who are unable to obtain horses, and that fact proves that he is a disreputable ghost who deserves nothing but arrest and punishment.’
No Longer Ghouls On Horses!
Under the heading, ‘A Recent Ghost’, the New York Times reported on December 8th 1884 a bizarre animal ghost story stating: ‘There is a ghost in Cleveland, Ohio, who rides furiously up and down the street at night clad in appropriate white and mounted on a cow. We need ask for no further information as to the moral character of this particular ghost. It is clear that this ghost resides in a locality where there are no horses or where his local reputation is such that he cannot be trusted with a horse. The number of ghostly horses must be almost incalculable, judging from the number of horses that leave this world every year. That in the other world horses are made happy, as some slight recompense for their sufferings here, no charitable man will doubt. Obviously, then, ghostly horses must occupy a division of Paradise, where, of course, they can meet only with respectable ghosts. Wicked ghosts doubtless go where there are no horses, and hence must either give up riding or mount some disreputable animal – a ghostly cow for example. Te ghost who parades in Cleveland mounted on a cow has, in the language of our city statesmen, given himself away. He has advertised the fact that he belongs to a gang of ghosts who are unable to obtain horses, and that fact proves that he is a disreputable ghost who deserves nothing but arrest and punishment.’
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2 comments:
"Everyone" May have heard about the Jersey Devil and Mothman, but those are two examples of creatures which are most likkely NOT to exist as reported, and thus NOT to have an independant verifiable reality.
Ypou seem to have two conventional animals here and a ghost, the ghost being the point of a long and very stupid joke. The first report is a likely bear and the second is a likely mountain lion. Neither of those two animals are anything peculiar by nature, bioth generally get disproportionate build-ups by media coverage. There is essentialy not a lot to go on in either case.
The third report speaks of the peculiar mindset of Americans which have a common belief that it is somehow "Right" to ride a horse and "Wrong" to ride on a cow. Some people have led sheltered lives: in some parts of the world, horses are not the best transportation and riding on bovids is considered preferable. This is true particularly in parts of the Orient. So I would consider the entire of the third news item to be worthless. Besides, ghosts are not generally counted as Cryptids, by definition and the general consensus of opinion.
Best Wishes, Dale D.
In regards to the Bear/Horse/Gorilla, around Christmastime in 1957 there were sightings of what pretty clearly seems to be a mountain lion; there are references also to a flap of sightings known as the Granby Cat which took place in 1959. In 1962 there was a sighting from East Hartland (a town near Granby) of a beast which was rather non-helpfully described as "some kind of animal other than a dog." But interestingly, in regards to the East Granby creature, it was said to have "a trotting stride, but a different kind of trot than a dog."
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