This is just a quick article on something I’ve been meaning to post for a while and have finally got around to. One day on the 4th of July weekend of 2018, either July 6th, 7th, or 8th in 2018, a West Virginia couple found what they purported to be a set of strange large…
Author: Zero
[1870] [08/18]: Mysterious White Creature In The River [WV]
The Wheeling daily intelligencer (Wheeling, W. Va.), August 18th 1870 The Conservative says Clarksburg, W. Va., is excited over some kind of a mysterious creature which disports itself in the river there at night – “a big white something, which splashes around and makes a noise, to the dismay of the neighboring dogs” – the…
When Folklore Meets Fiction: The “Apple Devil” Mix-Up – Clearing Up Misinformation
Allow me to take the opportunity to address and attempt to clear up a bit of misinformation, a mix-up of sorts, that has come about in regard to a certain piece of West Virginia folklore. Misinformation unaddressed will fester like an undressed wound, so let’s lay it all out and begin the mending process. Sunlight…
[1764] The Beast of Gevaudan
[Context: The Beast of Gevaudan is a purported beast that reportedly attacked people in the region of Gevaudan in France in 1764 before being shot and killed in September of 1765. Many called the creature a wolf but others thought it to be a hyena. Whatever the case, the story became very influential in Werewolf…
[1852] [05/30]: “The Wild Man of Arkansas” [AR]
The Sunday Dispatch (New York [N.Y.]), May 30th 1852 The Wild Man of Arkansas. Every now and then we see it stated in the Western papers that a Wild Man is roaming through the great Mississippi bottom in the State of Arkansas. Numerous travellers and hunters have asserted that they have seen him, but none…
[1883] [12/11]: “Man or Monster” [OH]
The Wheeling Daily Intelligencer (Wheeling, W. Va.), December 11th 1883 Man or Monster. Thrilling Experience of a Couple of Hunters CALCUTTA, O., December 10. – The citizens of this place and for miles throughout the surrounding country are now laboring under the most intense excitement over the appearance of a desperate looking creature, supposed to…
[1857] [03/12]: “A Wild Woman” [AL]
The Lewistown Gazette (Lewistown, Pa.), March 12th 1857 A Wild Woman. Linden, Marengo county, Ala., is all astir on account of a wild woman that recently appeared in the woods and hills of that neighborhood to a party of huntsmen. She is a medium sized woman, fair, and quite naked, with the exception of moccasins….
[1907] [04/20]: “Wild Woman Found.” [KY]
The West Virginia News (Ronceverte, W. Va.), April 20th 1907 Wild Woman Found. Living in a supposed haunted cavern in the rock-ribbed cliffs of the Kentucky river, near Beuna Vista, Ky., evidently subsisting on roots which she digs from the earth with her hands, wearing the garb of nature along, is a wild woman, who…
[1900] [11/03]: “Wild Woman Roams Woods” [NY]
The Gazette (Cleveland, Ohio), November 3rd 1900 Wild Woman Roams Woods. North Tonawanda, N. Y., Citizens Attempt Her Capture And Fail. A handsome woman seen roaming about the woods in the vicinity of North Tonawanda, N. Y., is causing interest and excitement. The supposed wild woman was first seen Sunday afternoon by Mrs. William Kane…
[1929] [08/09]: “Gorilla Roaming Woods In Illinois” [IL]
The Organized Farmer (Red Wing, Minn.), August 9th 1929 Gorilla Roaming Woods In Illinois FREEPORT, ILL. – A reign of terror exists among residents near Elizabeth because a huge gorilla, believed to have escaped from a circus, was seen wandering in the woods near the town. Farm women locked themselves indoors as the rumor of…


