The Snallygaster is a legendary monster, among the oldest and best known of many that lurk in the wilderness of Maryland’s northern Blue Ridge region. A fixture of local lore there for nearly three centuries, the Snallygaster today is a source of pride in the area, lending its name to a Washington, D.C. rock band (The Snallygasters) as well as an annual beer festival. Yet when reports of the monster first circulated in the early eighteenth century, they inspired only dread. The creature has more than one incarnation, but all of those incarnations are frightening. The Snallygaster is variously described as a malevolent phantom or as a cross between a giant bird and a lizard. Some assert connections between the Snallygaster and the Jersey Devil. The Snallygaster is also occasionally associated with the dwayyo, a Maryland monster from the twentieth century.
The first recorded mention of the Snallygaster dates back to the first half of the eighteenth century when Alyce T. Weinberg’s volume Spirits of Frederick ([1979] 1992) included a chapter “Of Snallygasters and Other Creatures.” In the eighteenth century, many settlers in Maryland still spoke German, a circumstance that might account for the name, which derives from schnelle geister (German for “fast ghosts”). Early accounts of the Snallygaster depict it as a nocturnal spirit of air that preys upon pets, livestock, and wayward children. Exploring the monster’s origins, linguist Leo Spitzer links the Snallygaster to the Wild Hunt, an ancient German myth about dead souls who ride horses through the night skies and attack any living thing unlucky enough to cross their path. The nineteenth-century American book South-Mountain Magic (1882) by Madeleine Vinton Dahlgren also refers to schnelle geister, warning readers to beware these malevolent phantoms on Halloween.
In the twentieth century, the appearance of the Snallygaster changed dramatically. It began to be embodied not as a group of ghosts but as a flying reptile that soars through the heavens so quickly it can go unnoticed—until it swoops down to assault victims. Particulars about the look of this creature differ from story to story. But the creature is typically described as a kind of dragon with scaly skin and enormous feathered wings. Usually, the beast has a single eye and a fearsome beak. Some witnesses speak of long, sharp teeth, while others mention a mouth full of tentacles.
Although the Snallygaster is closely linked to the northern Blue Ridge region, sightings place it in other states including Ohio, West Virginia, and Pennsylvania. Some believe the monster originally appeared in Pennsylvania Dutch country before migrating south with itinerant settlers. However, a number of twentieth-century newspaper articles cemented the creature’s association with Maryland. The most prominent of these articles dates back to 1909 when the Middletown Valley Register announced a Snallygaster in the skies around Frederick. It fell upon a man named Bill Gifferson while he was out for an evening stroll, carrying him to a secluded spot where it killed him by drinking his blood. Shortly afterwards, the Hagerstown Mail, Cumberland Times, and Emmitsburg Chronicle reported additional appearances of the monster. More than one story wrote that the beast left behind eggs.
After a few years out of the spotlight, the Snallygaster remerged in 1932, when a number of eyewitnesses observed the beast in flight. Near the end of the year, the Baltimore Sun told of a Snallygaster swooping down upon a moonshiner, only to drown in a barrel of the alcohol. Federal agents enforcing Prohibition subsequently destroyed this barrel and its contents, so no evidence of the monster remained. However, the Snallygaster returned just a few years later. Interest in the monster continued to build, fueled by more sightings, and in 1976 the Washington Post sponsored a Snallygaster hunt. The event attracted great interest from readers, even though it did not yield results.
While bound to Maryland, the Snallygaster has received national attention. Following the first Middletown Valley Register story, the Smithsonian offered a reward for Snallygaster specimens, claiming the hide of the monster was extremely rare and valuable. Around the same time, Teddy Roosevelt expressed interest in hunting a Snallygaster before deciding instead to pursue exotic game in Africa. The monster was also mentioned on national radio during the 1930s.
Some cryptozoologists align the Snallygaster with another flying monster of the East Coast: the Jersey Devil. This terror was born in 1735, the same time as the first mention of the Snallygaster. Perhaps the two came from the same brood. Or maybe one aerial menace commutes hundreds of miles back and forth between the Pine Barrens and the northern Blue Ridge region. The Snallygaster also has a relationship with the dwayyo, a dogman or werewolf from Maryland. It might be the offspring or the nemesis of the Snallygaster, depending upon who is being asked. What is not debated is that after several centuries, the Snallygaster continues to be one of the most prominent supernatural beasts haunting the imaginations of Marylanders.
Noel Sloboda
See also Dwayyo; Jersey Devil; Mothman
Further Reading
Cannon, Timothy L., and Nancy F. Whitmore. 1979. Ghosts and Legends of Frederick County. Frederick, MD: Studio 20.
Fair, Susan. 2013. Mysteries and Lore of Western Maryland. Charleston, SC: History Press.
Okonowicz, Ed. 2012. Monsters of Maryland. Mechanicsburg, PA: Stackpole Books.
Spitzer, Leo. 1952. “Snallygaster.” American Speech 27 (3): 237–238.