The Ozark Monster

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I'm Lauren Orton and this is one strange thing. The show where we search the nation's

news archives for stories that can't quite be explained.

Strangers, we are familiar with plenty of monster stories here on the podcast.

Some are tied to specific events that we've traced through the news,

like the two dozen or so bigfoot that ran rampant through the US in the 1970s.

Others though, they're sometimes more complex to track, mostly because their origins are caught

up in the quilt of local folklore. And one of the best places to start tracing a monster tale

is in the legend and lore of the Ozark Mountains. Now, we dipped Darto into the weird world

of the Ozarks a few episodes back when we brought you the dark history of the crescent hotel.

But, of course, that's not the kind of story the region is most famous for, not by a long shot.

Rather, it's the monsters that have made the biggest impact. The Ozarks might just be our

country's richest breeding ground for cryptids. And the overlap between folklore, belief and events

that have wriggled their way into the news, it is surprisingly broad. Why does this region produce

so many interesting creatures? Well, according to Vox, quote, location has a significant impact on

folklore. As the folklore they interviewed explained, quote, in the Ozarks, residents are generally

more isolated, leaving them more likely to encounter wildlife. So, isolation plus exposure

equals folklore, often built around the concepts of real creatures, bears, lizards, big cats that are

given a tall-tailed twist. That's probably why the monsters of the Ozarks aren't just appealing

to cryptosuologists. They're the subject of serious folklore study. We've come across articles

about librarians designing exhibits dedicated to the creatures and places like Springfield, Missouri,

and scholarly papers and books on Ozark tales that date back to at least the first half of the 20th

century. For instance, in 1950, famed arcans and folklorist Vance Randolph. He wrote the

similar book on the topic, titled, We Always Lie to Strangers. He commented on the role of monsters

in Ozark lore. In part, he opened an essay on the area's monsters as follows. Quote,

There are many legends of gigantic beasts and mythical varmints in the Ozark country. It may be

that credulous backwoodsmen believe some of them even today, but I wouldn't know about that.

At any rate, the stories are still in circulation. Some of these items seem to be local,

confined to certain clans or family groups. Others are much more widely known and have been

published in the newspapers. So even back then, folklorists had tracked the tales in a few different

directions. Local lore and the more widespread and formal vehicle of the press. And that bit is

important. Coverage by reporters helped keep the monsters alive. So much so that you can find books

and viral videos and articles dedicated to them to this day. And there are a lot of creatures

to keep up with. In the mid 20th century, Vance Randolph compiled a roster of the Ozark's most

distinctive creatures. And many of them are still mentioned today as part and parcel of the region's

history. In fact, in October of 2024, Northwest Arkansas Daily published an extensive list of some

of the most well-known Ozark cryptids, like the hench-tailed Bing Buffer, a, quote, large hippo-like

beast, or the side hill hoover and the snoffice, which are both deer-like creatures. And there's

the aptly named Ozark Haller, a, quote, shaggy animal resembling a mix between a panther, a canine,

and even a bear. It's known for its, quote, mournful howl, a sound set to echo through the night,

sending shivers down the spines of those who hear it. The Haller is often treated as an omen,

though of what? Well, opinions are mixed. It might portend to death. A lot of things seem to

don't they? But our very favorite might be the Gal-Row, or the Gal-Growl depending on the source.

Perth and Northwest Arkansas Daily, you should imagine something like, quote,

a lizard-like beast stretching around 20 feet in length with giant tusks.

Vance Randolph also noted that, quote, there's a persistent report that Gal-Rowls hatched from

soft-shelled eggs as big as beer kicks. He noted that the monster was, of course, a carnivore,

and it might eat people. Reports, again, are mixed. That's not exactly the kind of beast you'd

expect from Arkansas, right? But the creature, which allegedly hides out in caves and is often

compared to a wingless dragon, it's deeply embedded in the state's lore, and in its archival news.

So far back, in fact, that the reference is state to at least the late 19th century,

which isn't necessarily surprising for the region. After all, many of the Ozark monsters

made their first public appearance in tall tales, involving the actually was a real person

frontiersman, Daniel Boone. But the Gal-Rowl, it seems to have made its big splash in the news,

and not around the campfire. Randolph mentioned that stories might date back to the 1880s,

but the earliest mention we got our hands on was from 1897, an article that appeared in the

Arkansas Gazette, formerly known as the Daily Arkansas Gazette. It was even accompanied by an

illustration of the Gal-Rowl, one that was allegedly based on a photo, or so they said.

We will post it on our social media so that you can really gain appreciation for the image.

So, this article, published in January of 1897,

purports to cover the harrowing adventure of a Mr. William Miller of Little Rock, a businessman

who found himself traveling through Cersei County in the northwestern area of the state.

He claimed that while on his trip, specifically while in Calf Creek Township,

he ran into the Gal-Rowl. Per the Gazette, he'd allegedly heard tale of it before,

but he figured being in town was the perfect chance to explore the legend.

He claimed that the monster had been running rampant and slaughtering domestic animals,

and the town's folk could hear its cries at night. That unholy noise sounded something like

thus, of course, giving it its name. Miller apparently recounted that quote,

the Gal-Rowl has terrorized the community for several months,

but though numerous attempts have been made to capture it, all of them have proved unsuccessful.

The animal would steal down from the mountains at night and commence its depredations.

He would break into cow sheds and kill and devour the cows and calves.

Several times, he'd been interrupted in his bloodthirsty work, but he always managed to escape,

carrying one of his victims with him. So, William Miller, who was apparently a very

fearless businessman, decided to rally up a posse and go searching for the beast.

They followed its big old lizard footprints, and they eventually found themselves at a rather

ominous cave. And what was in that cave? A bunch of flowers. No, sorry, just kidding.

There were a lot of skulls, and many of them belonged to humans.

Now, at that point, we would personally turn around and head back to Little Rock,

but retreat was not on William Miller's mind.

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Now, there was no monster present in the cave that they discovered,

but they were pretty sure that one would return. So William Miller and the posse decided to hide

and wait. According to the Arkansas Gazette, they were soon rewarded by the site of a great

and terrifying beast, crawling out of a nearby body of water. Apparently, they got a pretty good

look at it, because the details in the article are well detailed. Quote, its head was ponderous in size

and resembled somewhat that of a man, only two enormous tusks projected over the underlip.

Its legs were short and thick and terminated into a webfoot, which somewhat resembled

that of a duck's. Only each toe was capped by a vicious looking claw. Its body was covered with

enormous scales, while along its back bristled a series of sharp horns, which came to an abrupt

end near the root of the tail. The tail was thin and long and was provided with a sharp bone at

the end, which the gal rail could wield as a sickle, and when enraged, would prove a formidable

weapon. And what did the posse do? Well, they all fired their guns at it. And then it died.

Kind of anticlimactic, sorry about that. And then, the posse chopped up the creature with axes.

And William Miller immediately returned to Little Rock, as one does. As he opined in the Gazette,

quote, in all probability, the specimen was the last of its kind. And I regret very much that

it was killed, as it would have been a vast interest to scientists, and would have afforded

a rare opportunity for gathering trustworthy information as to the characteristics of prehistoric

animals. I have, however, made arrangements for the gathering of its bones and for their shipment

to the Smithsonian Institute at Washington. Not a bad story, right? Apparently, it was popular

because it was followed up by a slew of other articles, mostly in the Gazette.

A February 2nd article noted that, quote, Mr. William Miller's report of the killing of a

strange and terrible animal, called the gal rail, in Cersei County, printed in Sunday's Gazette,

caused no little talk among local scientists, and the members of the Arkansas General Assembly,

especially the lawmakers who represent Cersei County. Those representatives, named Moose and

Bratton, they were quite surprised to learn of such a reign of terror in Cersei. It is the sort

of thing that you'd think constituents might bring up to powerful men. Actually, Bratton,

he must have thought about that because he issued a very lengthy statement, calling the whole

story a fake, and an insult to the county at large. When William Miller received that intel,

he was surprised and offended, and said that, quote, he did not anticipate anyone not believing

the report of his great discovery, as he saw the animal killed and took a picture of him which

appeared in the Gazette. At that point, his plan for the Smithsonian was reinforced, because

Miller was, quote, of a scientific turn of mind, and he wanted his discovery to receive the proper

attention. And by the fifth of that month, the paper had received a letter to the editor,

encouraging the county to retroactively reward Miller a $500 bounty on the Gowrall,

which is about $19,000 today. But not everyone was impressed. We already mentioned the politicians,

and within a day, the Gazette ran a quote from another paper, the Selene County Times,

that offered this editorial opinion. Quote, the most fishy of all tall tales we ever met,

the one in Sunday's Gazette by Mr. Miller, of the killing of a horrible animal called the

Gowrall, takes the cake. The only wonder is that he didn't tell a story that somebody would have

given credence to. And by February 6th, the Gazette was also running satirical letters to the editor

that treated the whole affair as an obvious joke, and as for evidence to follow through. Well,

as folklorist Vant Randolph later wrote, quote, when hard pressed, Miller once declared that he had

shipped the Gowrall's skin and skeleton to the Smithsonian Museum in Washington, DC. But a newspaper

man who queered the officials at the Smithsonian was unable to confirm this claim. And? Well,

that makes sense. Because the original article, though, told from William Miller's first

person perspective, it may have actually been written by a reporter for the paper named Albert

Smithy. That's according to the encyclopedia of Arkansas, which also reported that Fred W.

Alsup, who edited the Arkansas Gazette at the time, eventually dismissed the whole thing.

He apparently called it, quote, a great fake, probably without foundation in fact.

Did he know that at the time of publication? Well, he didn't say.

But years later, when Vant Randolph asked him about the Gowrall story, he reported that

Alsup, quote, laughed and said that all he knew of the Gowrall was what he read in the Missouri

newspapers. Which is interesting, since we read about it in his newspaper. In any case,

pretty early on, it was clear to state lawmakers, to sarcastic locals who wrote into the papers,

and we guess to the news editor himself. The story was probably a fabrication.

Which isn't exactly unique, especially in an era where yellow journalism was at its peak,

and wild stories could be printed without much blowback. Did figures then that the tale would

fade as quickly as the fabrication was devised? It would figure, except for one strange thing.

The Gowrall? It did not go away. In fact, it embedded itself in Ozark creature culture,

and stories and sightings have continued, yellow journalism or not.

We already told you about Vant Randolph's work. In the early 1950s, he counted the creature

amongst established folk monsters in the Ozark region, and not just based on what he'd read.

He spoke to locals who swore that they knew of folks who'd had encounters with the Gowrall.

For instance, in elderly Arkansas native, he told Vant Randolph that his family had run-ins with the

Gowrall, and he defended that information as true. Don't have to see something he figured to believe

it exists. He explained, I'd never seen a painter neither, but lots of old-timers did see painters

and killed him right here in this county. I've listened at them old hunters are talking,

and there ain't no doubt in my mind that there was plenty of painters here in the early days.

Well, my grandpa heard about the Gowrall, just like I've heard about the painters.

Now, in case you are feeling confused about the lack of painters available on the Ozarks,

he meant panthers or big cats. It's a phrase we've heard a lot in Appalachia too,

and his point was fairly made, if based on family rumor. We are asked every day to believe in

things that we've never, ever seen, so why not a giant carnivorous lizard? One tale that's

floated around for, well, nearly a hundred years now, is of an expedition made by folks who swear

they ran into a Gowrall. The best version we've seen was recounted in 1958 in the southwestern

American. The author, famed Ozark historian Otto Rayburn,

detailed the story of an alleged encounter that probably took place in the late 1920s or early 1930s.

He wrote of a place called Devil's Hole in Boone County, Arkansas,

basically a spot that was a chasm inside a cave, right in the hillside, and, quote, 20 feet in diameter.

The owner of that particular land where the cave sat, he reported that he'd actually explored the

hole. Why people do these things, we will never know, but he gave up when he climbed down 200 feet,

and he hadn't reached the bottom. That's also when he ran out of rope, so it was a consideration.

Anyway, some other people decided that they should also try and see what was at the bottom of

this very deep and mysterious chasm, and, per Rayburn, they attempted it between the great

horse. The whole experience was written up in various publications by the group's leader,

Cleo Harper. According to Rayburn, the group brought along 1,000 feet of cord,

better to be prepared, and decided to do a test first. They decided on, quote,

a heavy flat iron to be, quote, tied to the end of the rope and thrown into the opening.

Well, that iron seemed to land on a ledge about 200 feet down, and then, well, quote,

the party of the intrepid explorers at the mouth of the cave heard a vicious hissing sound,

as if it were some angry animal whose din had been rudely intruded. The rope was pulled up,

and it was found that the handle of the iron was bent. Jim, their guide, swore he could

see marks of teeth upon it. At that point, you might assume that they'd gotten a pretty clear

answer on whether the depths should be further plumbed, but we guess they felt committed to the

bit. Rayburn wrote that they then lowered down a large rock with similar results, aka teeth marks,

and then finally, on their third attempt, pulled up a rope that had been bitten cleanly in half.

A retired journalist, who was conveniently along for the trip, pointed out the similarities

to William Miller's account from 1897, and wondered aloud if, perhaps, quote,

the Galrow had only feigned death, and as soon as the murderous posse left, had migrated to

Devil's Hole, where it had lived ever since. Which would be pretty impressive, if Miller hadn't

gone to great lengths to describe picking up its bones and sending them to a museum, or if any of it

had been true to begin with. But the veracity of the story, it's less interesting to us than

it's staying power, and the Galrow has survived. In books, in media, and stories about creepy caves

and apparently appealing chasms across the Ozarks. And that is how folklore works. The seed germinates

and grows into a plant that no one could have quite predicted. One with staying power. Sort of,

we think like Kudzu, but that is the Southern American perspective. So fill in your own

sturdy, original examples of choice. According to the American Folklore Society, that is kind

of how it all works. The society noted that, quote, folklore is present in many kinds of informal

communication, whether verbal, oral and written text, customary, behaviors and rituals, or material,

physical objects. It involves values, traditions, ways of thinking and behaving. It's about art,

it's about people, and the way people learn. It helps us learn who we are and how to make meaning

in the world around us. That all makes sense to us. One of your favorite episodes of this podcast

rangers is about the legend of Bloody Mary. That is certainly folklore. But so is the elevator game.

So is Slenderman, a creature whose creation we can easily trace through creepy pasta and has

yet become something more than it once was. And so the Gowrall, with its pretty concretely proven

hoax origin, it is a part of that tapestry too. And maybe some people did believe, or they still do.

That's what Vance Randolph heard from the locals who were familiar with the tale. Or maybe it's

simply fun to think about the concept of an ancient prehistoric like lizard creature hiding out

in the hills, waiting for a chance to nash on something tasty. After all, as the encyclopedia

of Arkansas points out, tall tales are part and parcel of frontier history. They're missed

told by people who were, in their own minds, traversing a strange and wondrous land. Why not make

sense of it with giant lizards and terrible howling beasts? What is frightening to us can be

transformed into entertainment if we stretch the edges far enough. And that stretching of edges,

it is something that human beings have always done, especially when they gather around campfires,

in the woods at night, when the noises of nature are loud and alien. And they could be mistaken

for just about anything.

We hope you'll join us next time for another real-life story from the fine print of America's

local papers. From the lives of regular people, just like you and me, except for one strange thing.

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