The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1895-02-08
A REMARKABLE ANIMAL.
IL Was Seen Near swamp in
screHen County.


killed by the hunters in this county. one
animal was seen. however, which was not
killed, and the description OF which by
the hunter who saw It sounds weird and
awful. 1t was seen in the outer edge OF
the swamp over in what is known as
the fork"-where Brier creek empties
/ into the Savannah river. and where the
swamp Is four or five miles thick and IN
many places impenetrable On several
occasions before this the animal describ-
| ed has been heard in the cane brakes and
/ lagoons. but no one ever got a glimpse
/ OF it before. After it was seen by the
/ hunter mentioned a party went in search
/ of the strange creature, but, although its
I tracks and trail were seen, the animal it.
I self has not yet been found. From all
/ that has been told Of it. it will be a curl
! osity in natural history should it ever be
caught or killed
/ The animal is best described in the Ian
I guage Of the man who saw tan old
/ hunter-who writes the following account
/ to the Telephone here:
/ 1t was about o'clock in the morning,
/ and 1 was standing with my gun behind
/ some trees, about a hundred yards from
| the outside, waiting to get shot, II pOssi-
l BILE, at a passing deer. Suddenly l heard
I noise in toward the river that made my
/ hair stand on end. 1t was not such a loud
l noise, nor did Ii sound so very ferocious-
| but it was peculiar; I had never heard
/ anything like ii before, and l hope I may
/ never hear it again. 1t was a sound some
/ what like the quacking Of duck and the
/ Kissing Of a snake combined. That is as
/ near as l can describe it, and yet that
I does not give any idea of how it sounded.
/ 1t was stronger and louder than either.
/ and yet that is the impression II gave
/ me-either that II was a monster duck or
\ else huge snake, and then 1 thought it
/ must be both.
THE sound seemed to issue from a thick
/ place surrounding kind OF lagoon. kept
my eyes fastened on the spot, with cooked
| gun In hand. I had not long to wait. In
] a few seconds I heard kind of splashing
/ in the water, and peerlng through the
/ bushes / saw. about hundred yards away,
what seemed to be the head of an enor>
/ nous duck. But / thought surely, II
was the king of all the ducks-for the bill
was at least a foot long and as black
as could be. 1t was still making that
| bloOd-curdling half kissing, half quackng
noise, and seemed to be wadng or swim
ming slowly along in the mud and water.
Before l had time to think-even If
my brain had been in any condition for
such work-the creature raised itself up
a little, and I saw the blacklist ugliest,
most loathsome-looking animal that ever
inhabited this earth, 1 do firmly believe.
It's body was between three and for feet
long, and was also black. When I first
caught a glimpse of IL 1 thought I must
! have been mistaken in the head and that
it was an alligator coming out to sun him
self. And yet 1 had never seen an alli-
| gator like that before.
Coming on up nearer to where I
| crouched in terror behind a tree / soon
| had an opportunity to see the thing in
| all its strangeness and ugliness. There was
| a little knoll where the puddle Of water
ended, and-horror of horrors-what /
had thought was an alligator stepped up
on this little elevation. and I then saw
that IL had only two feet AS near as
could judge, its legs were about a foot
and a half long, and it stood there like
some huge. black bird of the night, with
its bill stuck downward and still EMIT
ing that unearthly kind of noise.
To say that was paralyzed with fear
would hardly give you an idea of my con-
dition. If the creature had seen me and
started in my direction. am sure I would
| never have been alive when it reached me
1t never occurred to me that my gun
would have been any protection; 1 was
so completely terrified by the appearance
of the unnatural looking thing that I
couldn't think of anything else. believe
/ would rather have faced a thousand alli-
gators than that bird, or beast or what
1 ever you might call it.
It stood there, 1 suppose about a min
ute, and l had good opportunity to ex-
| anime L with my eye. Its body was rough
and scaly like an alligators, and the tail
went off to point. 1t had legs like a tur-
| key or duck, only they were larger and
! longer; its feet l could not see on ac-
count of some bushes. 1t kept turning its
bill up and down and around, but try as
could l never did locate its eyes. They
were the features I was right then most
/ interested in not seeing, and / SUPPOSE
they were so black that at that distance 1
| could not make them out
can never describe to you the awful
sound the thing made with it's mouth
IT made my blood run colder every time
heard it. After a short while, that seemed
an age, the creature gave a kind Of
| spring from the ground, and before l could
! realize what it was doing it went up into
large tree and sat on the lowest limb
| As 1t did so, l could hardly believe my
! eyes when 1 saw two dark wings spread
out from its side and strike the air with a
| heavy sound that made my heart sick I
| had not noticed before that it had wings.
| but wings they certainly were, although
l could see no feathers. AS soon as it had
| poised itself on the limb, its wings were
| drawn so closely to its body that IL was
impossible to detect where they were. I
looked at it for a second or two, and then
Dc rs DdCh was lOWdTu me, thought it
was favorable opportunity to get out of
| the swamp, as ! was hungry anyhow
1 stole quietly out and never took a long
breath until 1 had left the swamp a full
half mile behind That afternoon 1 went
back with party of four or five we'll
| known hunters of this county, but 1 could
then see nothing of the creature, although
We could plainly trace where il had
| crawled along in the mud, and also where
1t had stood on the soft little knoll.
Now, do not pretend to know what kind
of animal this was; I only state to you
the facts in the case. 1t may be a regular
| species, but ! have never seen anything
like it here before Several times / have
been told the strange noise 1 have describ-
/ ed was heard by timber cutters in
this part Of the swamp but no one ever
saw the creature itself before. I am not
a naturalist and know very little about the
different kinds of animals and birds. but
I am convinced that this thing that I
! saw was the unnatural offspring of two
animals-Or 1t may have been an animal
and fowl, that should not have cohabited
| together. l can account for 1t in no other
way, only that it was a monstrosity.
| something that should not have been ana