A howl echoes across the snowy hills of Connecticut. Sheep are mutilated and pets vanish without a trace. Locals report strange sightings of a wolf-like creature with a feline face and glowing red eyes.
Calling all cryptozoologists: this is the Glawackus of Glastonbury.
In the winter of 1939, months after a hurricane swept across the eastern seaboard, residents of Glastonbury, Connecticut were convinced a creature stalked their woods. Large paw prints were discovered in the snow; farmers found the grisly remains of mauled livestock.
Many attributed the attacks to a lynx. Others pointed to the recent story of an escaped mountain lion from a Vermont zoo. Eyewitness accounts, meanwhile, suggested something far more terrifying.
William F. Bonvouloir was hunting near Diamond Lake when a “beautiful black creature with a tail two feet long” jumped out from the brush. Startled, the hunter fired his rifle. A single shot ripped through a gnarled tree and sent the creature fleeing. Bonvouloir watched it disappear into the forest.
Hunting parties gathered. Men with shotguns combed the surrounding wilderness while gun clubs hung sketches of the monster for target practice. Hartford Courant, the local paper, had a field day with the story, producing intricate maps that pinpointed every sighting and attack.
The creature terrorized the region throughout the winter and spring. Finally, in July of 1939, hunters shot down a large wild dog in the woods. The Courant’s headline: “Mysterious Glawackus Is No More.”
Sightings subsided thereafter, and many presumed the case was closed. But everyone knows you can’t kill a legend. In the 1950s, new reports of blood-curdling screams and eerily similar animal attacks emerged, this time spreading from Glastonbury to Granby, a town 30 miles north. Every few years a new person steps forward and claims they spotted the mysterious Glawackus…
Clearly, something is out there – roaming the woods and inspiring adults to believe in monsters all over again.
[via Hartford Courant and Damned Connecticut]
Courtesy of Dean Miller
