Snoligoster – [Fearsome Critter]

[Note: This critter is not to be confused with the closely named flying “Snallygaster” of Fredrick County, Maryland. (Who’s name, seems to derive from the German word “Schnelle Geister” meaning ‘quick spirits.’)– Although the words look & sound similar, there is little evidence to suggest an etymological relationship between the two as the Snallygaster started to appear & be reported in papers from the 1900s-1940’s  – The ‘Snoligoster’ (the one we’re talking about today) gets its name directly form “Snollygoster“ which had originated in the mid 1840s as Old British slang, meaning “a shrewd, unprincipled person, especially a politician.” – Used in a sentence: “Snollygosters must be thrown out of political office and other positions of power.”) – The two beasts are in fact, of different origins: though they basically sound identical when spoken aloud, thus, they should not be conflated. – [PS: i’ll be elaborating on ol’Snally another time soon.]

• History:  The earliest appearance of the ‘Snoligoster’ as a creature, is from William T Cox’s “Fearsome Creatures of the lumberwoods”, published in 1910. – The swamps in Okeechobee Florida were often visited by hunters and trappers, but also runaway slaves and other outlaws, who would often use the swamplands as a hideout. – Cox’s entry goes as follows, To put it quite bluntly: Cox’s story for this one has some rather archaic, racial political views & wording in the mix. Reader discretion past this point is advised!

…What of the creature itself? well, I found some interesting news articles describing a ‘snake-like monster’ encountered by hunters on Lake Okeechobee, 9 years prior to cox’s fearsome critters! –

…Starting In February of 1901 – various newspapers reported about a “Strange 32-ft Snake-monster” that was killed by a Jacksonville Flordia hunter named “Buster Ferrel” on Lake Okeechobee. – [Note: The article compares this “Strange Monster” to the mythological “horned serpents“ spoken of by the local Seminole natives, however the similarities really do end at the location & it being a “Giant Horned Snake.” – let’s NOT conflate the two: as these horned serpents are often venerated, it seems to be perhaps a bit of appropriation/conflation on the writers part.] – Reprints of said article [from 1902 onward] mention a witness saying the serpent “Glides off into the swamplands at railroad speeds.” – [the way the monster is described does sound pretty close to how Cox described the movement of ‘Snoligoster.’ (The location is correct if nothing else.) So, I’d suppose it is possible that the ‘Snoligoster’ might have been loosely inspired by the creature described in these articles, with Cox replacing fellow forestry serviceman, ‘Inman’ with ‘Buster’ for a laugh??? – The timeline also checks out for the publishing of fearsome creatures, with this being a fairly recent cryptid encounter at the time, i’m sure those interested would be talking about it. if nothing else, this ‘encounter’ could have inspired the story.] – looking through the above paper, there was seemingly no further follow-up to Buster Ferrel’s finding, so who knows if he actually donated the creature’s bones to the Smithsonian or not!? – [Its almost funny how commonly these sort of monster articles just end with a ‘donation to the smithsonian’ with no follow-up.] – The main parallel between this “Snake Monster” and the ‘Snoligoster’ is of course, the location, time of report and that it is a “Giant Razor-fanged serpent that moves at terrible speeds.” any further cryptozoological or critter connection seems to end there! – On that note: a second (but even more likely coincidental) connection is the “Trident tailed” sea monster which has allegedly been sighted offshore since the 1800s! [but do note, that’s an ocean monster and not a swamp monster, science says that its more likely a manatee sighting than a sea serpent regardless.]