The first written reports of the snallygaster date to 1735 when German immigrants to Maryland talked of the “schneller geist” or fast ghost. The flying beast was alternately described as being like a bird, a dragon, a harpy, demon, or some combination of them all. It was only sighted at night and was unbelievably fast, so unsurprising reports disagreed. Most agreed that it had wings, a razor sharp beak with teeth, tentacles on the face, scales, a scream like a steamtrain whistle, and an extremely bad attitude.
Most sightings were in Maryland but snallygaster would sometimes fly to other states and terrorize the local people for as well. Usually it stole children and livestock but it would occasionally go after adults as well. In 1909 it had an hour-long confrontation with three men on a train platform who eventually managed to drive it away. Theodore Roosevelt was contacted to try and hunt it down but sightings died down for awhile and the former president went hunting for big game elsewhere.
In the 1920s some federal agents managed to get a good look at one as it had been attracted to a still and drunk so much moonshine it fell down dead, into the mash. The agents were rather surprised to find a monster in the mash, but they had a job to do so blew up the still and the monster in it.
The only real check on snallygaster is the Dewayyo. It has dark, spikey fur, stands like a man, but has a wolfish head. Occasionally it will chase locals if provoked, but its full fury is reserved for the snallygaster.
Dewayyo hatch out of clutches of snallygaster eggs from apparent duds that hatch much, much later. So they are born with the smell of snallygaster all around them and spend their whole life hunting down the beasts to have a bloody family reunion.
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The tentacles on the face description of snallygaster made me think of the wattle on the turkey, so I designed the tentacles as if they were a more elaborate version of that. The beak full of teeth definitely screamed “goose” to me, so the head, neck, and body structure are based more on that. We had a watch goose when I was a kid and those are TERRIFYING when they actually chase you.
The rest of the body design I went with the more serpentine body to end up with something that looks rather like if a cockatrice came out of a goose egg rather than a chicken egg. Considering how unpleasant a cockatrice is, a goose based one would be that much more terrifying! (gandertrice?)
In researching this, there really was no reason given for the animosity between snallygaster and dewayyo, but I did see some versions that referred to dewayyo as hatching from snallygaster eggs. So I went for familial strife. Maybe if Snallygaster had waited for him to hatch, Dewayyo wouldn’t be so damn angry. WHY DID YOU ABANDON ME?
I went with that putrid yellow green color scheme for snallygaster’s plumage to sort of call up that ‘rotten egg’ theme between the two. what happens when the cockatrice’s egg goes rotten?
Acrylic on masonite
Most sightings were in Maryland but snallygaster would sometimes fly to other states and terrorize the local people for as well. Usually it stole children and livestock but it would occasionally go after adults as well. In 1909 it had an hour-long confrontation with three men on a train platform who eventually managed to drive it away. Theodore Roosevelt was contacted to try and hunt it down but sightings died down for awhile and the former president went hunting for big game elsewhere.
In the 1920s some federal agents managed to get a good look at one as it had been attracted to a still and drunk so much moonshine it fell down dead, into the mash. The agents were rather surprised to find a monster in the mash, but they had a job to do so blew up the still and the monster in it.
The only real check on snallygaster is the Dewayyo. It has dark, spikey fur, stands like a man, but has a wolfish head. Occasionally it will chase locals if provoked, but its full fury is reserved for the snallygaster.
Dewayyo hatch out of clutches of snallygaster eggs from apparent duds that hatch much, much later. So they are born with the smell of snallygaster all around them and spend their whole life hunting down the beasts to have a bloody family reunion.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The tentacles on the face description of snallygaster made me think of the wattle on the turkey, so I designed the tentacles as if they were a more elaborate version of that. The beak full of teeth definitely screamed “goose” to me, so the head, neck, and body structure are based more on that. We had a watch goose when I was a kid and those are TERRIFYING when they actually chase you.
The rest of the body design I went with the more serpentine body to end up with something that looks rather like if a cockatrice came out of a goose egg rather than a chicken egg. Considering how unpleasant a cockatrice is, a goose based one would be that much more terrifying! (gandertrice?)
In researching this, there really was no reason given for the animosity between snallygaster and dewayyo, but I did see some versions that referred to dewayyo as hatching from snallygaster eggs. So I went for familial strife. Maybe if Snallygaster had waited for him to hatch, Dewayyo wouldn’t be so damn angry. WHY DID YOU ABANDON ME?
I went with that putrid yellow green color scheme for snallygaster’s plumage to sort of call up that ‘rotten egg’ theme between the two. what happens when the cockatrice’s egg goes rotten?
Acrylic on masonite
Vision serpent sculpture.
I combined together some attributes from both the vision serpent and feathered serpent. Most of the carvings of vision serpent have lost their color after all this time, so the color choices are really taken more from feathered serpent depictions.
I gave it a skin texture on main body that’s more scaley and put scutes within the curling tails and tendrils. The head also have very obvious scale pattern and around the mouth. I went for making the head/nose appear beaklike and the flowing sort of beard tendrils are designed to be more reminiscent of various bird species.
I combined together some attributes from both the vision serpent and feathered serpent. Most of the carvings of vision serpent have lost their color after all this time, so the color choices are really taken more from feathered serpent depictions.
I gave it a skin texture on main body that’s more scaley and put scutes within the curling tails and tendrils. The head also have very obvious scale pattern and around the mouth. I went for making the head/nose appear beaklike and the flowing sort of beard tendrils are designed to be more reminiscent of various bird species.
Monsters and cryptids of the Americas.
Wendigo are made, not born. They initially exist as spirits of hunger, cold, and greed. They are ever hungry, always wanting more…especially human flesh.
Humans whose greed or gluttony match that of the wendigo invite them in. So too do the desperate who are starving and resort to cannibalism to stave off death, even if they ate the flesh without knowing where it came from. The wendigo doesn’t care about justification, only finding someone whose hunger will let them in.
The wendigo is always hungry for flesh and warmth. It kills to fill its belly and to feel warm briefly, for it is always cold. Its skin is gray and cold like a corpse that has frozen and refrozen. It has no life or heat of its own, only that which is consumes. Its lips are ragged and cracked from chewing on them. Eventually it will chew them all the way off to feed its hunger.
Wendigo grow bigger and bigger with each kill so their hunger grows greater and greater. No amount of food or flesh will sate them. Each bloody meal makes them less and less human and harder and harder to hide their presence.
Who will the wendigo take? The child whose parents would do anything, ANYTHING, to keep them from starving, even die for them, or the neighbor with more wealth than they could ever use who stood by and watched them starve? The wendigo does not care for innocence or guilt, it cares only for whose hunger matches its own.
Are you hungry?
Humans whose greed or gluttony match that of the wendigo invite them in. So too do the desperate who are starving and resort to cannibalism to stave off death, even if they ate the flesh without knowing where it came from. The wendigo doesn’t care about justification, only finding someone whose hunger will let them in.
The wendigo is always hungry for flesh and warmth. It kills to fill its belly and to feel warm briefly, for it is always cold. Its skin is gray and cold like a corpse that has frozen and refrozen. It has no life or heat of its own, only that which is consumes. Its lips are ragged and cracked from chewing on them. Eventually it will chew them all the way off to feed its hunger.
Wendigo grow bigger and bigger with each kill so their hunger grows greater and greater. No amount of food or flesh will sate them. Each bloody meal makes them less and less human and harder and harder to hide their presence.
Who will the wendigo take? The child whose parents would do anything, ANYTHING, to keep them from starving, even die for them, or the neighbor with more wealth than they could ever use who stood by and watched them starve? The wendigo does not care for innocence or guilt, it cares only for whose hunger matches its own.
Are you hungry?
sasquatch- also known as bigfoot, the skunk ape, grass man, wood ape, skookum, honey island monster, Fouke monster, Mogollon Monster and many other regional variations.
Sasquatch us a legendary biped of North America alternately described as a hairy man or bipedal ape. It leaves tracks that look as if a giant human had been walking around the woods. It’s sometimes said to pull down and break branches to mark territory.
I went for treating sasquatch as if it was an unknown type of large sloth that ended up looking similar to great ape. Ground sloths, which could stand and walk on two feet for extended periods are plantigrade and left fossilized tracks that are somewhat similar to modern sasquatch track casts… but way bigger. So I sort of split the difference between the giant ground sloth and smaller, familiar tree sloths to get something that might have ended up rather apelike. Since there were no apes native to Americas, something occupying ecological niche might end up looking very similar. convergent evolution is cool like that!
The actual painting is quite large. acrylic on masonite. it’s almost 3’ tall!
Sasquatch us a legendary biped of North America alternately described as a hairy man or bipedal ape. It leaves tracks that look as if a giant human had been walking around the woods. It’s sometimes said to pull down and break branches to mark territory.
I went for treating sasquatch as if it was an unknown type of large sloth that ended up looking similar to great ape. Ground sloths, which could stand and walk on two feet for extended periods are plantigrade and left fossilized tracks that are somewhat similar to modern sasquatch track casts… but way bigger. So I sort of split the difference between the giant ground sloth and smaller, familiar tree sloths to get something that might have ended up rather apelike. Since there were no apes native to Americas, something occupying ecological niche might end up looking very similar. convergent evolution is cool like that!
The actual painting is quite large. acrylic on masonite. it’s almost 3’ tall!
DETAIL OF LARGER PAINTING.
sasquatch- also known as bigfoot, the skunk ape, grass man, wood ape, skookum, honey island monster, Fouke monster, Mogollon Monster and many other regional variations.
Sasquatch us a legendary biped of North America alternately described as a hairy man or bipedal ape. It leaves tracks that look as if a giant human had been walking around the woods. It’s sometimes said to pull down and break branches to mark territory.
I went for treating sasquatch as if it was an unknown type of large sloth that ended up looking similar to great ape. Ground sloths, which could stand and walk on two feet for extended periods are plantigrade and left fossilized tracks that are somewhat similar to modern sasquatch track casts… but way bigger. So I sort of split the difference between the giant ground sloth and smaller, familiar tree sloths to get something that might have ended up rather apelike. Since there were no apes native to Americas, something occupying ecological niche might end up looking very similar. convergent evolution is cool like that!
Sasquatch us a legendary biped of North America alternately described as a hairy man or bipedal ape. It leaves tracks that look as if a giant human had been walking around the woods. It’s sometimes said to pull down and break branches to mark territory.
I went for treating sasquatch as if it was an unknown type of large sloth that ended up looking similar to great ape. Ground sloths, which could stand and walk on two feet for extended periods are plantigrade and left fossilized tracks that are somewhat similar to modern sasquatch track casts… but way bigger. So I sort of split the difference between the giant ground sloth and smaller, familiar tree sloths to get something that might have ended up rather apelike. Since there were no apes native to Americas, something occupying ecological niche might end up looking very similar. convergent evolution is cool like that!
TAILYPO
It’s a long lean winter and a hermit goes out hunting with his three dogs for something, anything, to eat. He catches a rabbit, but that won’t go very far between him and three dogs.
Just before dark, his dogs tree a critter he’s never seen before, with a great bushy tail, tufted ears and weird eyes. He can’t get a good shot at it, but can almost reach it in the tree. He tries to hit it with a hatchet but just cuts its tail off. The creature shrieks and runs off through the tree tops as darkness falls.
The hermit takes the tail home and makes a stew of it and the rabbit. It tastes funny, but at least its filling. The dogs get the leftovers and he goes to bed while they lick the pot.
He wakes to a scratching noise and there’s the beast he wounded earlier, climbing up the end of the bed.
"give me back my taily-po!"
He screams at the strange talking animal and his three dogs wake up and attack it. They go round and round, tearing up cabin so he opens up the door and they run outside. It gets quiet and two dogs come back, covered in scratches. There’s no sign of the third.
He tries to get back to sleep, but its not long before he hears scratching again.
"Give me back my taily-po!"
He screams even louder and his two remaining dogs leap up and attack the beast, going round and round the cabin. He again lets them out but this time only one dog comes back, even more scratched up.
He settles down with the dog to wait out the night.
But the scratching returns and the beast is back again.
"Give me back my taily-po!"
He doesn’t even get to scream this time, the dog’s already up and after the beast. He lets them out one more time and then waits and waits…. but the dog doesn’t come back at all.
He sits up. waiting. There;s broken furniture and scratches all around the inside of the cabin from the last three fights. And then hears the scratching sounds again.
"give me back my taily-po!"
"I haven’t got your taily-po!"
"Yes you have! INSIDE!"
And it leaps on the man and rips his stomach out.
It got its tailypo back in the end.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
A variation on the Tailypo story. I added some details to the basic version of story that would make logical sense for some gaps in the story, like why nobody was injured by Tailypo in the first encounter. Tailypo is supposed to have dark fur, tufted ears, long claws, and a huge tail. Size isn’t really specified in most versions of story, but its neither described as very large or very small.
So for painting I choose to base its rough body shape on a weasel, as that would make sense for a relatively small animal killing three dogs and a human. I also chose to make it a climber since this would let it leap down on large prey, like wolverines do. It would also account for its claws being the primary weapon in these stories. It’s got sharp claws for climbing and the muscle to leap from tree to tree unseen. Or to dig tasty critters out of hollows in trees. The long tail is to let it turn midair so it can get around branches quickly.
Since it’s apparently quite capable of tracking down people for murderous vengeance, I went with giving it an extra long nose and large ears. It can smell you and hear you long before you see it! It ran off during the initial encounter as its primarily a nocturnal ambush predator.
Obviously since it TALKS its not exactly your run of the mill fearsome critter. Never eat anything that talks. It never ends well. Same deal with Raw Head. don’t eat talking animals! They will get even!
Acrylic paint on masonite.
It’s a long lean winter and a hermit goes out hunting with his three dogs for something, anything, to eat. He catches a rabbit, but that won’t go very far between him and three dogs.
Just before dark, his dogs tree a critter he’s never seen before, with a great bushy tail, tufted ears and weird eyes. He can’t get a good shot at it, but can almost reach it in the tree. He tries to hit it with a hatchet but just cuts its tail off. The creature shrieks and runs off through the tree tops as darkness falls.
The hermit takes the tail home and makes a stew of it and the rabbit. It tastes funny, but at least its filling. The dogs get the leftovers and he goes to bed while they lick the pot.
He wakes to a scratching noise and there’s the beast he wounded earlier, climbing up the end of the bed.
"give me back my taily-po!"
He screams at the strange talking animal and his three dogs wake up and attack it. They go round and round, tearing up cabin so he opens up the door and they run outside. It gets quiet and two dogs come back, covered in scratches. There’s no sign of the third.
He tries to get back to sleep, but its not long before he hears scratching again.
"Give me back my taily-po!"
He screams even louder and his two remaining dogs leap up and attack the beast, going round and round the cabin. He again lets them out but this time only one dog comes back, even more scratched up.
He settles down with the dog to wait out the night.
But the scratching returns and the beast is back again.
"Give me back my taily-po!"
He doesn’t even get to scream this time, the dog’s already up and after the beast. He lets them out one more time and then waits and waits…. but the dog doesn’t come back at all.
He sits up. waiting. There;s broken furniture and scratches all around the inside of the cabin from the last three fights. And then hears the scratching sounds again.
"give me back my taily-po!"
"I haven’t got your taily-po!"
"Yes you have! INSIDE!"
And it leaps on the man and rips his stomach out.
It got its tailypo back in the end.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
A variation on the Tailypo story. I added some details to the basic version of story that would make logical sense for some gaps in the story, like why nobody was injured by Tailypo in the first encounter. Tailypo is supposed to have dark fur, tufted ears, long claws, and a huge tail. Size isn’t really specified in most versions of story, but its neither described as very large or very small.
So for painting I choose to base its rough body shape on a weasel, as that would make sense for a relatively small animal killing three dogs and a human. I also chose to make it a climber since this would let it leap down on large prey, like wolverines do. It would also account for its claws being the primary weapon in these stories. It’s got sharp claws for climbing and the muscle to leap from tree to tree unseen. Or to dig tasty critters out of hollows in trees. The long tail is to let it turn midair so it can get around branches quickly.
Since it’s apparently quite capable of tracking down people for murderous vengeance, I went with giving it an extra long nose and large ears. It can smell you and hear you long before you see it! It ran off during the initial encounter as its primarily a nocturnal ambush predator.
Obviously since it TALKS its not exactly your run of the mill fearsome critter. Never eat anything that talks. It never ends well. Same deal with Raw Head. don’t eat talking animals! They will get even!
Acrylic paint on masonite.
Glawackus is strange mix of panther, dog, and bear that was first seen near Glastonbury, Connecticut in 1939. The strange creature was heard screaming in the night and was blamed for missing livestock. A two mile long trail of footprints was found east of Glastonbury.
Through 1939 numerous hunts were organized to catch the beast. Local spelunking clubs explored many nearby caves, trying to find its den. A pair of special panther hunting hounds were brought in to try and find it.
But Glackus was nowhere to be found. It vanished until is reappeared in the 1950s to kill some more livestock. It wandered further afield and was seen all the way up in Granby where it vanished all over again.
Or are the sightings of strange big cats actually Glawackus?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
For Glawackus’ design I went with a heavy bodied feline for most of body and the more canine looking head. I bulked up the shoulders and forelimbs to give it that little bit of bear like body shape and so it would have extra power for muscling up trees, even if it was carrying food. I gave it fully extended claws like a canid or bear. I used some photos of binturongs for that sort of boneless flop on a tree limb sleeping position.
Since folks were looking and not finding in caves, failure to look UP seemed like most likely reason it wasn’t seen. One of the likely suspects for actual animal was also the fisher cat which is a powerful climber. One of the other possible native animals that could be easily mistaken for a “cat dog” hybrid is the grey fox, which is also a good climber and thus rarely seen. When they shed off their winter coat, they can look like a dog in front, cat in back.
The coloring is a mix of cougar, grey fox, and fisher. The cougar and grey fox both have light bellies, but the fisher is a more uniform color overall. So I went for the paler grey and tan of cougar and grey fox but with the more uniform brown of fisher all over, so flash of lighter belly fur wouldn’t give it away to creatures below. That particular shade of faded tan and grey almost perfectly matches weathered leaves, so it would easily blend with leaf snags in winter. Is that a tangle of leaves caught on that limb or glawackus taking a nap? from 50 feet below, could be either… or both.
Through 1939 numerous hunts were organized to catch the beast. Local spelunking clubs explored many nearby caves, trying to find its den. A pair of special panther hunting hounds were brought in to try and find it.
But Glackus was nowhere to be found. It vanished until is reappeared in the 1950s to kill some more livestock. It wandered further afield and was seen all the way up in Granby where it vanished all over again.
Or are the sightings of strange big cats actually Glawackus?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
For Glawackus’ design I went with a heavy bodied feline for most of body and the more canine looking head. I bulked up the shoulders and forelimbs to give it that little bit of bear like body shape and so it would have extra power for muscling up trees, even if it was carrying food. I gave it fully extended claws like a canid or bear. I used some photos of binturongs for that sort of boneless flop on a tree limb sleeping position.
Since folks were looking and not finding in caves, failure to look UP seemed like most likely reason it wasn’t seen. One of the likely suspects for actual animal was also the fisher cat which is a powerful climber. One of the other possible native animals that could be easily mistaken for a “cat dog” hybrid is the grey fox, which is also a good climber and thus rarely seen. When they shed off their winter coat, they can look like a dog in front, cat in back.
The coloring is a mix of cougar, grey fox, and fisher. The cougar and grey fox both have light bellies, but the fisher is a more uniform color overall. So I went for the paler grey and tan of cougar and grey fox but with the more uniform brown of fisher all over, so flash of lighter belly fur wouldn’t give it away to creatures below. That particular shade of faded tan and grey almost perfectly matches weathered leaves, so it would easily blend with leaf snags in winter. Is that a tangle of leaves caught on that limb or glawackus taking a nap? from 50 feet below, could be either… or both.
