Case file · Cryptid
The Snallygaster
A winged, beaked monster of Frederick and Washington counties. In 1909 the Middletown Valley Register ran a wave of tongue-in-cheek reports of it attacking people.
1909 CE · 39.44, -77.55 · status: legend
The account
The name is usually traced to German settlers' 'schneller Geist' (quick spirit). The press revived it in 1932, when it was said to have drowned in a vat of moonshine. The hexagram 'stars' on local barns were sometimes explained as a charm against it.
The sceptical view
The 1909 reports were largely newspaper humour, possibly meant to boost circulation.