The Snallygaster

Message Share Topic Printable Version Google Delicious Digg StumbleUpon Windows Live Yahoo Bookmarks reddit Facebook MySpace Newsvine Furl Topic Search Topic Options Post Reply Create New Topic

   Reports of a strange flying beast known as the Snallygaster first appeared in Frederick County in early February, 1909. The story was carried prominently in Middletown’s Valley Register, a weekly newspaper, for about a month, when the story mysteriously died.
In the early issues, the flying beast seemed to be everywhere at once: New Jersey, West Virginia, Ohio, and headed this way.
It was reported to have created quite a stir in New Jersey, where its footprints were first discovered in the snow.
From Ghosts and Legends of Frederick County by Timothy L. Cannon and Nancy F. Whitmore

I had never heard of this.  The dating ties it to the most famous string of sightings of the Jersey Devil in 1909. It was sighted in NY, Penns, Mass. NJ, all in one night. 

The most straightforwardly and credible of these sightings took place in Rancocas NJ, the town my family lived in through the late 60's and 70's.  I had the honor of knowing one of the original witnesses.  Miss Susan was a remarkable Quaker lady who, in 1969 was in her early 90's.  She was in her early 20's in 1909.

She and a group of 15-20 others were leaving the Quaker meeting house when this "creature" landed on the roof of the "Lyceum", a building that still exists. 

In her words, " It landed and began screeching at them, I don't know what it was.  I do know it was something flesh and blood. If any of us thought we were seeing things, that was dispelled the next day when the beast's claw marks were quite visible in the slate roof tiles".

The JD was never reported to have attacked anyone.  Supposedly the Snallygaster did.

for more- 

http://wesclark.com/jw/snallygaster.html