Pennsylvania

1Squonk Told story

Beast · Hemlock forests of northern Pennsylvania · first reported 1910 (in print) · also called Lacrimacorpus dissolvens

The squonk is the saddest creature in American folklore. It comes from William T. Cox's 1910 book Fearsome Creatures of the Lumberwoods, a collection of logging camp tall tales. Cox placed it in the hemlock forests of northern Pennsylvania and described an animal so ashamed of its ill-fitting, warty skin that it weeps all the time and hides from sight. Hunters track it by its trail of tears, but when cornered it dissolves completely into a puddle. Cox gave it a mock scientific name meaning dissolving tear-body, and told of a man named J. P. Wentling who caught one in a sack, only to find nothing but tears inside. The squonk later inspired a 1976 Genesis song.

• 1910Told story William T. Cox described the squonk in Fearsome Creatures of the Lumberwoods, including the tale of J. P. Wentling bagging one that dissolved into tears. Source: en.wikipedia.org

Visiting: Johnstown holds an annual Squonkapalooza in August.

2Albatwitch Told story

Ape-like · Chickies Rock, near Columbia, Lancaster County · first reported 1920s (reports) · also called Apple-snitch

Along the Susquehanna River near Columbia, a rocky cliff called Chickies Rock is home to the Albatwitch, a small, hairy, ape-like creature about four or five feet tall. The name is often explained as a local twist on apple-snitch, because the creature is said to steal apples from orchards and throw the cores at picnickers. Reports are said to go back to the 1920s, with more in the mid-century decades. Paranormal investigator Rick Fisher reported a sighting in 2002. Explanations range from escaped circus apes to Susquehannock folklore to a small Bigfoot. Columbia now celebrates Albatwitch Day each October, and the event draws thousands of visitors.

• February 2002Told story Investigator Rick Fisher reported seeing the creature near Chickies Rock. Source: preston-posits.com
• 2014On the record Columbia began holding an annual Albatwitch Day festival. Source: preston-posits.com

Visiting: Chickies Rock County Park; Albatwitch Day in Columbia each October.

3Raystown Ray Told story

Water monster · Raystown Lake, Huntingdon County · first reported 1962 · also called Ray

Raystown Lake is a big reservoir created by a dam in the 1970s, and its monster grew up alongside it. Ray is described as a long serpent-like animal, sometimes fifty or sixty feet long, with a long neck and reptile-like head, usually seen mostly under water. Reports are said to go back to 1962 and cluster in the 2000s, with sightings near Seven Points Marina, Panther Cove and Marty's Island. A fan website collects reports, and a TV show tested a video claim. Skeptics point to large fish, floating logs and boat wakes on the busy water.

• July 1, 1994Told story A witness named as John R. Pendal is listed among early reported sightings. Source: preston-posits.com
• 2006-2009Told story A run of reports came in from Seven Points Marina, Panther Cove and other spots on the lake. Source: preston-posits.com
• September 23, 2022Told story A more recent report was logged by fans of the legend. Source: preston-posits.com

Visiting: Raystown Lake Recreation Area, including Seven Points.

4Pennsylvania Thunderbirds Told story

Winged · Black Forest and the north-central mountains (Potter, Clinton, Cameron, Lycoming counties) · first reported 1892 · also called Black Forest Thunderbird

The remote mountains of north-central Pennsylvania are America's thunderbird country. For more than a century, people have reported huge dark birds with wingspans of twelve to sixteen feet, often described as buzzard-like with hooked beaks and sometimes bald heads. Stories include a flock near Dents Run in 1892, a missing man in 1897 whose disappearance was blamed on a giant bird, and a photo said to have been taken by Hiram Cranmer in 1963 that was lost, possibly in a house fire. Local researcher Robert Lyman wrote about his own 1973 sighting. Reports continue, including an alleged attack in Montgomery County in 2021. Skeptics point to turkey vultures, eagles and herons, whose size is easy to overestimate.

• 1892Told story Fred Murray reportedly saw a flock of giant birds near Dents Run, Cameron County. Source: preston-posits.com
• 1963Told story Hiram Cranmer was said to have photographed a thunderbird; the photo is lost. Source: preston-posits.com
• October 14, 1973Told story Bob Lyman reported a sighting; his writings helped spread the regional legend. Source: preston-posits.com
• April 2021Told story A woman in Montgomery County said a huge bird with fiery eyes and an eight- to ten-foot wingspan swooped at her property. Source: preston-posits.com

Visiting: Susquehannock and Sproul state forests cover much of the area.

5Potter Nondescript On the record

Ape-like · Nelson Run and Denton Hill, Potter County · first reported April 21, 1897 · also called Potter County Nondescript

In April 1897, Potter County papers reported a hairy creature about six feet tall that walked upright and had tusks six or seven inches long. A fisherman reported it first at Nelson Run, and a week later a Denton Hill resident named William Butler was linked to another sighting. Stories said it could cover thirty feet in a bound, beat its chest, and liked apples. The thing seemed to move on to Kettle Creek in May. Two rival local papers, the Potter Democrat and the Potter Enterprise, traded accusations over the coverage. An escaped carnival gorilla was suggested and rejected. 'Nondescript' was a nineteenth-century word for an unclassified animal.

• April 21, 1897On the record A fisherman reported a tusked, hairy, upright creature at Nelson Run. Source: preston-posits.com
• Late April 1897On the record William Butler of Denton Hill was linked to a second sighting about a week later. Source: preston-posits.com

Visiting: Denton Hill State Park on Route 6.

6Susquehanna Seal On the record

Water monster · West Branch Susquehanna River near Kettle Creek, Clinton County · first reported February 1897 · also called West Branch Dugong, Kettle Creek Monster

In February 1897, a Clinton County newspaper reported that lumbermen on the West Branch of the Susquehanna had seen a large river animal they compared to an ox or a hippopotamus. It was said to rarely surface, to rub against log rafts, and to roar. The creature picked up nicknames such as the West Branch Dugong and the Kettle Creek Monster. Reports have trickled in over the years, with one modern account from an outdoor guide. Writers have floated a wandering seal or sea lion, a manatee, a prehistoric survivor, or simple legend. The nickname Susquehanna Seal stuck, and occasional modern reports keep the story alive on the West Branch.

• February 27, 1897On the record The Daily Democrat of Clinton County reported lumbermen's sightings of a large roaring animal in the river. Source: preston-posits.com
• About 2017Told story An outdoor guide and a friend reported a recent sighting. Source: preston-posits.com

Visiting: Kettle Creek State Park lies up the creek from the river.

7Giwoggle Told story

Beast · West Keating Township, Clinton County · first reported 1800s (folklore)

The Giwoggle is a Pennsylvania Dutch-flavored mountain monster from Clinton County. In the tales passed down by local folklorist George Rhone's family, it is a six-foot, wolf-like thing with bird-like talons on its front legs and horse hooves behind. Witches were said to summon it to do petty mischief, and a local man known as Loop Hill Ike was remembered as the one who could drive it off. When the Jersey Devil craze of 1909 reached the region, some people compared the two. Clinton County has embraced it as an official county monster. Folklorists see it as a survival of old European werewolf and witch lore brought by German settlers.

• 1800sTold story Family tradition recorded by George Rhone told of the Giwoggle and of Loop Hill Ike, a local man said to banish it. Source: preston-posits.com
• 1909Told story During the Jersey Devil excitement, local talk compared sightings near Lock Haven to the Giwoggle. Source: preston-posits.com

8Yellow What-Is-It On the record

Humanoid · Near Topton, Berks County · first reported October 1879

In October 1879, Berks County was rattled by reports of a small, strange creature near Topton. It was described as about four feet tall with smooth, hairless yellow skin, long arms ending in two clawed fingers, and lumpy stumps instead of proper feet, with a small face and a furrowed or horned head. The first witness found it in the mud near a gate and said it sprang at him. A local hotel owner organized a posse, and a man named Jared Rissmiller was among later witnesses who said it stood blinking at them. An escaped gorilla was proposed and dismissed by those who saw it. After a few months, the reports stopped for good.

• October 1879On the record A young man surnamed Schmehl said the yellow creature leapt at him and fled into a cornfield. Source: preston-posits.com
• Late 1879On the record Hotel owner O. Hinnershitz organized a search party; Jared Rissmiller reported a later encounter. Source: preston-posits.com

9Philadelphia Purple Blob On the record

Other · South Philadelphia · first reported September 26, 1950 · also called Star jelly of Philadelphia

One night in late September 1950, Philadelphia police officers saw what looked like a parachute drifting down into an open field in South Philadelphia. When they shined flashlights on it, they found a dome of jelly that glowed purple, felt sticky, and soon dissolved away without a trace. The story got national press, though many outlets treated it as a joke. It belongs to a centuries-old category of reports called star jelly, gooey masses found after meteors or storms, usually explained as frog or toad remains, slime molds or algae. It is often credited as an inspiration for the 1958 film The Blob.

• September 26, 1950On the record Police officers reported a purple-glowing, sticky mass in a field that dissolved soon after they touched it. Source: en.wikipedia.org

10Butler Gargoyle Told story

Winged · Chicora and surrounding Butler and Armstrong county towns · first reported March 18, 2011 · also called Chicora Gargoyle

In the spring of 2011, people around Chicora, East Brady and Rimersburg in western Pennsylvania reported a winged humanoid seven or eight feet tall. Descriptions mention brownish leathery skin, pointed ears, claw-like hands and a flattened face. A local businessman and a motorcyclist were among witnesses, and some reportedly took lie detector tests to back their stories. Reports thinned out after April but popped up again in 2012 and 2017. In the 2017 case, law enforcement suggested the witness saw a bear. Writers compare it to an older 1993 winged figure report from Allentown and to the Mothman wave next door in West Virginia.

• March 18, 2011Told story The first report of a tall winged humanoid came from the Chicora area, starting a spring wave of sightings. Source: preston-posits.com
• June 5, 2017Told story A truck driver reported the creature; officials suggested it was a bear. Source: preston-posits.com

11Waterford Sheepman Told story

Humanoid · Waterford Covered Bridge area, Erie County · first reported 1970s · also called Sheepman

Near the old covered bridge in Waterford, south of Erie, teenagers in the 1970s and 1980s told of the Sheepman: a gray-furred figure six or seven feet tall with curling horns, sharp claws and a guttural, sheep-like bleat. In the stories it attacks couples parked on back roads, climbs on car roofs, steals tools and kills livestock, and in some versions carries a hook. A man named Herb Kinney is often cited as a key witness, and Amish farmers are said to have had trouble in the summer of 1973. Folklorists see it as a classic lovers'-lane bogeyman, a story that works mainly to keep teenagers home at night.

• Summer 1973Told story Amish farmers near Waterford were said to have reported livestock losses blamed on the creature. Source: preston-posits.com
• 1970s-1980sTold story Herb Kinney and a friend reported an encounter with the horned figure near the covered bridge. Source: preston-posits.com

12Ridge Road Monster Told story

Humanoid · Ridge Road, Blair County · first reported 1960s

The Ridge Road Monster comes from one Blair County family's experience. During a 1960s hunting season, John Steele, who later worked in animal control, said he met a naked, skeletal, seven-foot figure with thin gray skin stretched tight over its bones, arms hanging below its knees, and glowing red eyes. It went down into a sinkhole. About nine years later, his son David said he saw the same kind of creature near the family's dog kennel, with their German Shepherd present. Neighbors spoke of howling at night for years afterward. The figure was menacing but never attacked anyone in the stories. No independent records back up the account.

• 1960sTold story John Steele reported a gaunt, gray, red-eyed figure that disappeared into a sinkhole during hunting season. Source: preston-posits.com
• About nine years laterTold story David Steele reported a similar creature near the family kennel. Source: preston-posits.com

13Red Devil-Bat of Chester On the record

Winged · Chester, Delaware County · first reported August 23, 1928

Early on the morning of August 23, 1928, a Chester family said a bright scarlet flying creature with horns came buzzing into their bedroom. A woman named as Mary Strichter, her daughter and her husband described it hiding behind a curtain until they drove it off with a chair. The story made the papers as a red devil-bat. Writers who have looked at the case suspect an ordinary bat, whose size and color grew in the panic of a night-time intrusion. Pennsylvania's biggest native bats have wingspans of only about a foot, which makes the 'devil' description all the more a product of fright and dim light.

• August 23, 1928On the record The family reported a red, horned, buzzing flyer in their bedroom and beat it back with a chair. Source: preston-posits.com

14Beaver Run Snow Gator On the record

Beast · Beaver Run Reservoir, Westmoreland County · first reported September 2011

Not every cryptid is unknown to science. In September 2011, security guards at Beaver Run Reservoir, a water supply east of Pittsburgh, reported an alligator, an animal with no business in western Pennsylvania. The state fish and boat commission got involved, and staff from the Pittsburgh Zoo joined the search. A local woman led a public campaign to rescue rather than kill it. The gator proved hard to catch and was reportedly still around after a mild winter, earning the nickname Snow Gator. It was almost certainly a released or escaped pet, the same source as most out-of-place alligators in the North.

• September 2011On the record Reservoir security guards reported an alligator; the fish and boat commission and Pittsburgh Zoo staff searched for it. Source: preston-posits.com