Known by several monikers across the United States, the sidehill gouger is one of the many legendary creatures of the mountainous country of Appalachia. The famous creatures have been the topic of discussion all along the steep country of Appalachia from Vermont to the southern mountains and all the way west to the hilly countryside of California.
According to legend, the sidehill gouger is an herbivorous creature that ranges between the size of a badger and a small whitetail deer. They are born with shorter legs on one side of their bodies than on the other, allowing them to traverse the steep slopes of mountainous country with ease. This has the unfortunate side effect of making them directionally challenged, and based on which side their shorter legs are located, they are known as right- or left-handed or clockwise or counter-clockwise gougers, only traveling with their shorter legs to the uphill side in a continuous circle around the hill. This is where their common name comes from, as their circuitous path cuts a gouge into the hillside, which is more often seen than the elusive species itself. It is said that the fur on the uphill side of the body is rubbed off in those found in the very steepest country, and the skin is polished fine by rubbing against the rocks and hillside constantly, making it a sought after and highly prized commodity.
Because they are stubborn creatures, when a right-handed gouger meets a left-handed gouger on the same track, they will generally fight to the death, the winner moving on along its original path, as if turning will topple them over. Both right-handed and left-handed gougers are part of the same species, so they can breed together if they ever somehow end up facing the same direction, but the offspring of such endeavors usually turns out whompejawed with mismatched legs on both sides, and the poor creature usually does not make it. One particular legend about the creature says that Vermont farmers tried to breed their version, the wampahoofus, to their cows so they could manage the steep grassy terrain. In Oregon, the larger version of the species, the yamhill lunkus, were even captured and trained for farm work, in opposing pairs, of course. These opposing pairs are said to be the method with which colonies were started in the West, as two opposing gougers leaned together like a couple of drunks at closing time and struck off across the flatlands to the Rockies and California.
The fantastic stories of the sidehill gougers stem from a tradition of storytelling about hillside-dwelling creatures in Western Europe and the British Isles, likely coming to America by way of immigrant stories adapted to the new terrain, as many Appalachian stories were created from remnants or versions of “old country” tales and songs. The oldest account comes from Pseudodoxia Epidemica, an English taxonomy created by Sir Thomas Browne and published in 1646, referring to similar creatures as a badger or brock. The term brock, similar to and likely the source of sidehill procks, one of the many names attributed to the gougers in America, leads to the conclusion that this was one of the legends that drove the creation of the sidehill gouger story in American folklore. In Scotland, the sidehill haggis, a smaller skunk-sized creature often referred to as the legendary source of the popular dish, generally has a similar story. France also has its own version of the sidehill creature called the dahu, which is a mountain goat–like creature with shorter legs on one side or the other. The dahu is probably one of the many sources of the amalgam known as the gouger in North America; the size of the creature probably depends on the source of a given story.
The gouger stories come from many areas across the United States and Canada, generally those with steep hillsides and mountainous terrains. The paths gouged into the hillsides often found by hunters and hill folk likely led to the perpetuation and further development of the stories brought over from Europe into today’s legends about the creatures. The story likely spread as people migrated westward, carrying the stories with them and adapting them to their new environments as both a reminder of their old territory and a good source for a laugh.
Jonathan Byrn
See also Hidebehind; Squonk; Teakettler
Further Reading
Browne, Thomas. 1646. Pseudodoxia Epidemica. http://penelope.uchicago.edu/pseudodoxia/pseudo35.html. Accessed October 5, 2015.
“Legend of the Guyascutus, aka The Sidehill Gouger.” 2013. CryptidChronicles Website. http://cryptidchronicles.tumblr.com/post/49730326330/legend-of-the-guyascutus-aka-the-sidehill-gouger. Accessed October 5, 2015.
Tryon, Henry H. 1939. “The Side-Hill Gouger.” Fearsome Critters. Cornwall, NY: Idlewild Press, pp. 39–41.
Whitmore, Frank C., and Nicholas Holton. 1972. “Letter to the Editor.” Smithsonian Magazine 3 (7): 13.