Jon Solo Sebastian 03/30/2025:

You know you’ve got a serious contender in a cryptid when a president of the United States of America considers postponing an international safari in order to go hunt the beast. That’s right, folks, President Theodore Roosevelt caught wind of the Snallygaster, and was ready to take up arms to hunt the beast in Maryland in the early 1900’s. This isn’t the first creature I’ve written about that a president found so intriguing he went to investigate the situation himself. Andrew Jackson, before becoming the seventh president of the United States, caught wind of the Bell Witch in Tennessee. The Snallygaster is no witch, though.

On top of Teddy Roosevelt wanting to hunt the creature, the Smithsonian offered a reward for its hide after the public took notice to the strings of sightings in the area. So, what is the Snallygaster?

The North American Dragon; Also Known As Snallygaster

Witnesses in the area began telling stories of a half-reptile, half-bird with a metal-like beak, razor sharp teeth, and tentacles like an octopus for a beard terrorizing the community. Most reports of the beast also describe it as having one large eye rather than two eyes. The creature would allegedly swoop down from the sky like a dragon to pick up livestock or children. It is believed to drain them of their blood like a vampire, but no real evidence proves this theory. Sometimes it would drop the blood drained body nearby, and other times, folks claimed, it would take its victims to its cave in the South Mountains.

While this terrifying dragon-like monster doesn’t breathe fire, it still poses a threat to the community. How can one protect themselves, their children, and their livestock from such a creature? Settlers painted seven-pointed stars on their homes to hopefully keep the beast away.

“Seven-pointed stars, which reputedly kept the Snallygaster at bay, can still be seen painted on local barns. It has been suggested that the legend was resurrected in the 19th Century to frighten freed slaves. Newspaper accounts throughout February and March 1909 describe encounters between local residents and a beast with “enormous wings, a long pointed bill, claws like steel hooks, and an eye in the center of its forehead.” It was described as making screeches “like a locomotive whistle.”

Aside from painting symbols on their homes, what else could stop the attacks of the Snallygaster? Luckily for the townspeople, or not, the Snallygaster had an archenemy—the Dewayo. The Dewayo is a werewolf-like creature who had been seen around the same times as the Snallygaster sightings in West Middleton, Maryland. They reportedly had intense Godzilla-like battles in the Middleton Valley. No one has ever reported the winner of the battles, but can you imagine taking a hike and witnessing one of these encounters? It’s a shame smart phones weren’t a thing back then.

Hoax or Not a Hoax?

It’s impossible to say whether the German’s folktale brought to the United States was a hoax or not because that came to the U.S. in the 1700’s, and likely dates back much further throughout European culture. What we do know is a local newspaper tried to reignite the terror of the Snallygaster around the time of Theodore Roosevelt’s presidency. “Reports were part of a hoax perpetrated by the newspaper editor George C. Rhoderick and reporter Ralph S. Wolfe in an attempt to increase readership. They invented the descriptions of the snallygaster by borrowing elements from existing German folklore and from the Jersey Devil, another cryptid that had been spotted weeks earlier. They also fabricated letters from eyewitnesses and experts to lend credibility to their stories.”

The hoax didn’t last very long, but what it did was create a buzz around town and nearby areas. There is a beer festival called Snallygaster in Washington DC. The beast makes appearances in various books and video games, as well. Whether it’s real or not, there’s a museum dedicated to it that was created to keep the buzz of the beast alive in Frederick County, Maryland. You can find all the details of the museum here—The American Snallygaster Museum

While there were sightings in Ohio, and New Jersey, most of the sightings took place in Maryland. Sadly, none have been reported for a very long time. The Snallygaster supposedly perished in Washington County after it flew near a 2500 gallon vat of alcohol. The fumes took it down from the sky and it landed inside the vat. Shortly after it died, the vat and the carcass of the beast were allegedly destroyed. If the Snallygaster was real, wouldn’t they have tried to recover the body to run tests on it to determine what it really was? I know I wouldn’t just destroy all evidence of something so unique; unless they were trying to hide its true identity. *cue the X-Files theme*