The state of Pennsylvania is found in the Northeastern United States and is considered to be in the Great Lakes, Appalachian, and Mid-Atlantic Regions. The state is bordered with the US states of Ohio, New York, New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland and West Virginia and also has a small coast along Lake Erie facing the Nation of Canada. The state capital is Harrisburg and the largest city is Philadelphia, the United States Declaration of Independence and its Constitution were also drafted here.
The state includes a mountainous central region and many forests and valleys but also low-lying land near the Great Lakes Region near Lake Erie and also close to the border of the Atlantic Coastal Plain and along the important Delaware River, where the Port of Philadelphia can also be found which is important to the state’s economy.
Pennsylvania has a strong economy with manufacturing, financial and insurance industries playing a major role in the state economy. The state also is home to a number of large companies including The Hershey Company, U.S. Steel and Heinz among others. The state also has a tourism sector as well due to its natural areas and its important historical areas such as those that played a role in the Civil War such as Gettysburg.
Now that the introduction is done, we shall move on to the strange and the unexplained of the US state of Pennsylvania.
First up we move on to something that reminds me of Halloween as it is a Fearsome Critter, and last year I did a week-long series on Fearsome Critters leading up to Halloween. But there were a number that I did not include/could not fit in and one of those is said to nowadays reside in the state of Pennsylvania within its northern hemlock forests. It is known as the Squonk.
Like with many Fearsome Critters, the description of the creature varies from story to story and person to person, generally though the Squonk is a very ugly looking creature that is so ugly it even dislikes looking at its own reflection, the creature walks on four legs that are clawed on the paws (with some iterations giving their left feet a webbed description), its body is short and scrunched up and it has a very small tail, its head is ugliest of all, also being wrinkled, with wide set eyes, small flat nose and flat snout. It is also covered in warts and moles.
The creature hates its appearance so much that it constantly weeps, which is said to make it easy for hunters to track them as they leave trails of tears on the ground. When greatly scared or if the creature is trapped with no possible escape it is said to have the ability to dissolve itself using its tears. As they hate their appearance so much, they will travel during dusk or the night time so they don’t risk seeing themselves as easily, they also may travel slower on a moonlit night as to not catch their reflection illuminated in a body of water.
It sounds like a terribly sad creature. But it is almost certainly just a funny little legend that likely originated from lumberjack folklore like the rest of the Fearsome Critters and doesn’t actually exist. But I really love the creativity behind these critters and so that is why I decided to include it.
Next up is a lake monster that we have covered before on this blog in the previous Paranormal Alphabet series, it is called the Raystown Ray. Like many unknown creatures of the deep its description and appearance is similar to that of the famous Loch Ness Monster. The lake in question called Raystown Lake is located in Huntingdon County, the lake is man-made via the construction of dams for the purpose of hydroelectricity and flood control and also serves as a place for recreational activities for tourists.
This makes it unusual as surely there should not be some huge Nessy-like creature living within a man-made lake unless those who were responsible for creating the lake also placed the creature in there, which is obviously not the case… unless.
One interesting thing is that the creature was first sighted in 1962 back before the construction of the 2nd dam. An event known as the Raystown Ski Club was said to be interrupted by a visit from the Raystown Ray where which many are said to have observed it moving under the water, with concerned organisers even considering cancelling the event, it would seem this incident took place sometime in the 1970s but I cannot come to a full confirmation on this – this story could simply just be a legend.
The creature has been sighted in the lake for a number of decades, but a tourist photo alleging to have captured the creature in 2006 attracted much wider attention to the great Raystown Ray mystery. In 2010 the Fact or Faked paranormal show arrived in an attempt to debunk the photo, they were able to recreate it but were unable to determine if the creature was real or not but did state that they believed something was down in the lake.
The description of the creature is as goes: 50-60 feet in length, smooth skin, long serpent-like neck with a reptilian head, in many sightings the head perched atop the long neck has been described peering out of the water while the rest of the body remains hidden under water.
In a press release in 2006 related to the tourist photo alleging the creature, the Managing Director of Raystown Lake, Dwight Beall, said that they knew the creature had been down there for a while and that it had been known to scare off 50-pound striped bass.
A Wildlife Biologist called Jeff Krause has speculated that the creature must be vegetarian as there has been no evidence of local lake life being consumed and said that due to this those doing recreational activities should feel “very safe”. He went on to say that increased weed beds on the surface could account for more sightings of the creature as it comes up to feed and also described the creature’s behavior as similar to a manatee, although such creatures are not thought to be native to the state.
Next up we have an interesting land cryptid that is unique to the state and is known as the Albatwitch. The creature is described as a hairy ape-like humanoid that are on average 4ft in height and there name has several possible origins, one of which is from the words apple and snitch as that is one of the behaviors they were said to partake in, such as invading a picnic, stealing some apples and eating them and also in some reported cases, throwing them at the people having the picnic or others nearby, many a time this may occur while they are sitting in a tree, which is another common thing they are said to do. Other possible origins for the name include corruption of the word’s apple and witch or even a corruption of the German words Alb for elf and entweichen for escape.
It is said many of the Albatwitches, which were said to be sighted much more commonly during the 1800s, mostly come from a heavily wooded area could Chickies Rock near Columbia within Lancaster County, an area that already has a spooky reputation for odd unexplained sightings and strange noises. Many residents of nearby counties and towns have claimed to see unexplained humanoid creatures, many of which could be the Albatwitch.
Some believe that since then the creature has become extinct although others believe very small pockets of them may still exist in isolated areas, which is why sightings are no longer as common, but are still reported from time to time in the area.
The local legend is famous enough to have an annual Albatwitch festival held in Columbia which includes a number of activities such as pie eating contests, live music, arts and paranormal-related attractions for example. This year’s event is meant to be held on 17th October and also includes haunted tours from 7pm, although I am not sure if it has been disrupted by the ongoing pandemic, but there is no sign that it has been cancelled as of yet.
A native American tribe called the Susquehannocks are also said to have believed in ape-like creatures living in the area, including having them depicted on some of their war shields, the tribe also lived in settlements at the base of Chickies Rock as well, making it ever more interesting.
So next time you’re in this area, make sure to keep your apples locked up tight and have a bit of extra protection on any picnics you decide to have in the area.
Next up is an odd creature known as the Butler Gargoyle, a flying humanoid creature said to be hanging around in Butler County, a number of motorists driving around in the rural areas of the county have described seeing the creature.
The creature is described as being very tall, at least 7 to 8 feet and is said to have a bicycle helmet-shaped head, pale grey skin, muscular arms with claws on the hands, and legs that look similar to a bird, with a pair of huge flat wings going down its back, reaching up to the tips of the creatures ears. It also has two elongated eyes, similar to that reported on grey aliens.
The first sighting of the creature was said to have taken place in 1993 and the most recent in 2011. Outside of the relative few sightings not much is known about the creature and it is widely known outside of the local area, like how Mothman is, which many have made a comparison with.
There was a meteor that exploded over the county in 1938 and some theorized that the being may have arrived from it, meaning it could be some kind of extra-terrestrial.
Well that shall do for Pennsylvania. There are a number of other things I have missed out as the state seems to have a lot of unexplained things to offer up, but we can come around to those on another time.
Next up we will be looking at the strange and the unexplained of the US state of Connecticut.
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