Fearsome critters are mythical beasts that were said to inhabit the frontier wilderness of North America in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. While the stories originated primarily in the logging camps of the Northeast, stories of fearsome critters spread across the country, with notable “species” inhabiting the swamps and bayous of the Deep South and the desert Southwest. Fearsome critters are known for their behaviors, rather than physical appearance, and their names often reflect their main characteristics. In the literature of mythological creatures, fearsome critters are considered to be distinct from cryptids, which are animals that some believe to exist but which have not yet been recognized by the scientific community. In this respect, creatures such as Bigfoot, Yeti, and Wendigo (of Native American lore) are not fearsome critters.
Beginnings
Fearsome critters encompassed a wide variety of outlandish, imaginary animals and were an integral part of oral tradition in Northern U.S. and Canadian lumber camps around the turn of the twentieth century. Most of the creatures were created to explain strange noises or dangers that existed in the remote wilderness. Others were invented solely for entertainment, including creatures invented to tease greenhorns and gullible “city folk.” Fearsome critters range from silly or humorous animals to fierce, vicious beasts.
Stories about fearsome critters were carried by loggers moving from camp to camp, eventually spreading across the country in the form of tall tales, songs, or practical jokes. Veteran loggers would induct new recruits by telling stories of strange creatures that live deep in the forest, sending them on fool’s errands, such as attempting to trap the elusive snipe (an animal that doesn’t exist) or find the nesting place of the upland trout (a fish that leaves the water to nest in trees). After a few hours in the frigid cold, novice loggers would catch on to the joke and return to camp.
Fearsome critters played an important role in entertainment. Before the days of radio and television, nights in remote logging camps were long and dark, especially in winter. After a day of hard work, men would gather to swap stories about encounters with hodags, gumberoos, squonks, and more. Some of the creatures were created to explain the unexplainable. Perhaps the logger who never returned to camp simply left, but maybe he was consumed by a hidebehind. These were fearsome lumberjack eaters who could duck behind a tree as fast as you could turn around. Trees that appeared shattered by lightning or storms might be the work of the splintercat, who rams its head against trees to make prey fall out. Strange, unidentifiable noises were blamed on imagined animals such as treesqueaks or teakettlers.
Characteristics
While there were fierce or scary species, most fearsome critters tended to be comical. Descriptions favored characteristics or habits of the animal, rather than the appearance. A teakettler was described as a small rodent that made the sound of a teakettle and blew steam from its nose when disturbed. The come-at-a-body is self-explanatory. Some critters were derived from real animals. The glutton is now recognized as a species of wolverine. The fisher-cat is a type of marten. The fillyloo was described as a mythical crane that flies upside-down, which may be derived from the wood stork, which has been observed flying in this manner for very brief periods. The most improbable creatures pushed the boundaries of biomechanics. The sidehill gouger had longer legs on one side than the other for walking along hillsides. They forever traveled in a circle. The hugag was a large herbivore with jointless legs that prevented it from lying down. The hoop snake was shy, and would bite its tail and roll away like a wheel if anyone approached. In later years, some of the stories of fearsome critters were embellished by using trick photography or taxidermy to create physical evidence.
Since the stories and descriptions of fearsome critters were orally transmitted, there was distortion over time and distance. Stories generally specified a range of distribution, behavioral habits, and some physical description of the animals. It is common today to find a lack of consensus on a specific fearsome critter when reading descriptions from multiple sources. Additionally, some fearsome critters had a localized range while others were known over a far broader area. The jackalope is a widely recognized creature even today, with a reported range encompassing Texas, New Mexico, and California. The billdad, on the other hand, is a creature only found in one pond in Maine. It hunts for fish by smacking a heavy paddle-like tail down on the water and stunning the fish, making it easy to grab and eat.
Examples of Fearsome Critters
The list of fearsome critters is long and continues to grow, but a number of animals on the list have been featured in legends for more than a century. Some of the more prominent examples were included in a book published in 1939 titled Fearsome Critters and written by Henry H. Tryon. Subsequent compilations affirmed and extended Tryon’s list and added to the lore of imaginary animals that stalk the American woodlands. Among the more prominent examples is the axehandle hound, a dachshund-like animal that prowled around lumber camps at night. It subsisted solely on axe handles left unattended. This was a jocular way of explaining how tools went missing. The argopelter was a beast that lived in the hollow trunks of trees in the deep forest. It would throw sticks and chunks of wood at passers-by. Again, a fun way of accounting for dead sticks that fall out of trees in the woods.
From there, the list continues. The cactus cat of the southwest had thorny hair and a branched tail. It would slash trees and wait for the sap to ferment before drinking it. The goofang was a curious fish that swam backward to keep the water out of its eyes. Likewise, the goofus bird flew backward because it was only interested in where it had been. It also built its nests upside-down. The hodag was a creature of the Wisconsin swamps with horns, spikes, and a maniacal grin. It ate porcupines.
The jackalope is the most famous critter ranging across the Southwest. It is a jackrabbit with the antlers of a deer or antelope. More than any other fearsome critter, the jackalope inspired taxidermists to create allegedly “real” specimens to fool ignorant or naive travelers. The leprocaun, a North American genus of the Irish leprechaun, was known for terrorizing woodsmen around the Great Lakes. The roperite was a flightless bird living in the Sierra Nevadas. It would rope its prey with a lasso-like beak.
Some critters were not really funny, but actually quite terrifying. The rumptifusel was a large, ferocious animal. Long and thin, it would wrap around a tree. A lumberjack would mistake it for rope, and never be seen again. The tote-road shagamaw was an enigma. It had the claws of a bear in front and the hooves of a moose at the rear and would walk on one or the other, making it very difficult to track. It prowled tote roads, consuming coats and other clothing left hanging on branches by lumberjacks.
The jackalope is the most well-known of the “Fearsome Critter” category of American folklore. More fanciful than fearsome, perhaps, the jackalope is said to be a jackrabbit with antelope antlers, and is a favorite subject of rogue taxidermy; stuffed and mounted examples of this imaginary creature are commonplace throughout the United States. (Onesmallsquare/Dreamstime.com)
An interesting subgroup of fearsome critters are the shy, retiring, reclusive animals that are rarely seen but occasionally heard off in the distant forest. The squonk, for example, was a very melancholy creature. It was disgusting to look at, when seen at all, and would dissolve in tears if gazed upon. The tripodero was a reclusive Californian animal. It had telescopic legs and a tail like a kangaroo. It could elongate to look above the chapparral and would knock out its victims with pellets of hard clay. The wunk was a very shy creature that would hide by quickly digging a hole, jumping in, then pulling the hole in after it—leaving no sign it was there.
Fearsome critters are a staple of the American mythological bestiary. They continue to frighten, but more often entertain hikers, campers, and lumber camp workers seeking to pass the time and to keep everyone in good humor. As a tool to help build community and camaraderie in these settings, they were, and still are, a vital part of the American folklore tradition.
Jill M. Church
See also Cactus Cat; Hidebehind; Hoop Snake; Jackalope; Lumberjack Tales; Sidehill Gouger; Snallygaster; Squonk; Teakettler; Wampus Cat
Further Reading
Botkin, Benjamin Albert. 1998. The American People: Their Stories, Legends, Tales, Traditions, and Songs. New Brunswick, NJ: Transaction.
Cox, William T. 1910. Fearsome Creatures of the Lumberwoods, with a Few Desert and Mountain Beasts. Washington, DC: Judd & Detweiler.
Edgar, Marjorie. 1940. “Imaginary Animals of Northern Minnesota.” Minnesota History 21 (4): 353–356.
“Fearsome Critters.” 2014. Lumberwoods website. http://lumberwoods.com. Accessed July 17, 2015.
“Fearsome Critters.” 2014. MythBeasts website. http://www.mythicalcreatureslist.com/menu/Fearsome+Critters. Accessed November 2, 2015.