Fearsome critters was a collective term coined in early lumberjack folklore to describe a variety of mythical beasts that were said 'to inhabit' the frontier wilderness of Anglo-America.[1][2][3]
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Most of the fearsome critters were inventions of oral tradition, either as a jest for teasing newcomers and gullible cityfolk[4] or as sheer entertainment in tall tales. Some of them, such as the Hidebehind, were derived from Algonquian legends. A few turned out to be based on descriptions of actual creatures: the Glutton, for example, is now recognized as a description of the wolverine, while the Fisher-Cat was a description of a type of marten. (In some rural areas the term, now often shortened to "fisher", is still used in reference to martens.) In a typical fearsome critter gag, a person would casually remark about a strange noise or sight they encountered in the wild earlier. Subsequently, another abettor would suggest that whatever it was, was in fact the work of some peculiar named beast. This is when the listener would inquire, "What's a, etc.?" and the game would commence, as Henry H. Tryon recorded in his book, Fearsome Critters (1939) --
| “ | Sam would lead with a colorful bit of description, and Walter would follow suit with an arresting spot of personal experience, every detail being set forth with the utmost solemnity, and with exactly the correct degree of emphasis. At the end, so deftly had the cards been played that the listener was completely convinced of the animal's existence. This method of presentation is widely used. For the best results, two narrators who can "keep the ball in the air" are necessary, and perhaps an occasional general question is tossed to someone in the audience, such inquires being invariably accorded a grave, corroborative nod. | ” |
Other times fearsome critters were the product of elaborate hoaxes (commonly utilizing taxidermy or trick photography) or used as explanations for the difficulties and dangers that were a part of the desolate environment of the 19th-century lumberjack community. Others trades such as cattle and agriculture had their own creatures, but neither showed the popularity or prominence as those of the timber industry.[5] Fearsome critter stories have been collected by historians, folklorist, and backwoods enthusiasts.
Frequently the creature's name indicates some aspect of its behavior, such as the Come-At-A-Body or the Hidebehind; in other instances the name is derived from an older word such as the Fibbertigibbet (a witch's familiar's name) or Harpy-Hag (a monster of English folklore). It was common, since each time a creature was carried through word-of-mouth from one lumbercamp to the next, that it would begin to adopt new or lose old traits. The effect of this was that portrayals of a certain critter would differ wildly from region to region. These consistency problems were correct when woodsmen familiar with binomial nomenclature, used in classifying plants and animals, applied the same method to fearsome critters. For instance, Henry H. Tryon described a fiend, known as the gumberoo, as having eight pairs of springy legs, three bowed rear legs, and a pair of monkey-like forearms. The same creature was previously described by William T. Cox, twenty-nine years earlier, making no mentioned of these features, and with the accompanying illustration clearly depicting the beast as quadruped. However, Tryon lists the brute's scientific name as, Formax rotor. While in Cox's work the gumberoo is known as, Megalogaster repercussus, thereby making a distinction between two variants of the same creature.
Other fearsome critters have multiple representations, such as the hodag with four distinct varieties. Some creatures are just renamed each time, like side-hill gouger, which is known by at least ten other names.
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