The Prime Hook Swamp Monster

by Cole Herrold

Swamp monsters have always been an enduring part of fantasy, comic books, and science fiction. From Meg Mucklebones, the semiaquatic hag from Ridley Scott’s Legend to my second favorite comic book character Swamp Thing and his Marvel equivalent Man-Thing these creatures exist in a muddied mixture of the earth and water coexisting and proving to be either interconnected with all forms of nature or the ultimate predators. In the world of cryptozoology, there are several famous swamp monsters like the Lizard Man of Scape Ore Swamp that plagued Bishopville in South Carolina or the Crocodile footed Honey Island Swamp Monster of Louisiana, who is probably the best of the murky marauders. Swamp monsters are extremely predominant in the south, constantly slithering in and out of the marshy mire, yet the south is not the only area of this country to own swamps and strange creatures.

I first across the creature known as the Prime Hook Swamp Creature or Prime Hook Swamp Monster was on the now-defunct About.com site. It was one of the first online cases I came across in a time when every case and info I knew about cryptids came from books and magazine sources. I thankfully was able to procure the only information that was ever posted on the creature. This creature has since teetered on the point of unknown since then.

Prime Hook Swamp is located in the Prime Hook National Wildlife Refuge, which is found along the Western Shore of the Delaware Bay. The entire 10,000-acre area of the refuge is a massively biodiverse area due to the fact that it is a migratory bird sanctuary. The area has wooded swamps, salt marsh, freshwater marsh, ponds, upland grasslands, and forests. The area was designed for that exact purpose in 1963 by none other than President John F. Kennedy. The area, while home to over 308 different species of birds, is also home to 51 species of fish, 45 species of amphibians and reptiles, and 37 species of mammals, and one potential unknown species.

The first known sighting of the Prime Hook Swamp Monster was sent in by a woman known only as Helen J. She sighted the strange aberration on an unspecified day in July of 2007. The sky had just begun to darken with the bright reddish-orange hues of dusk. She and her daughter were driving down Broadkill Road in the Broadkill Beach area, which is located next to the Prime Hook Swamp. As she drove down the ever-darkening road, she and her daughter were distracted by movement coming from the side of the road closest to the swamp. It was there that the shrubbery began to shake and move away, and at that moment, it revealed a strange creature that was unknown to the Mother and daughter. The creature stood about 2 and a half to 3 feet tall on long legs. Its body was a tannish color and bore a long tail, and appeared to weigh 30lbs. Its face was flat and puggish in appearance with small ears. The Mother and daughter stared at this strange beast before passing it on the Broadkill Road, leaving the strange creature behind in the dust. Upon returning home, the pair sat and discussed the strange creature that left its primordial lair and decided to tell her other daughter about the strange creature she had witnessed. It was upon this choice of communication that her other daughter's face grew serious, and she said that she too had seen this strange beast a year earlier with her friend around the same area of Broadkill Road. The daughter would tell of her and her friend's encounter with the beast stating that one night the previous year, while around that same area, a commotion occurred in the vegetation resulting in the unknown beast leaving its lair and crossing the road in front of their car. The pair speeded off and never spoke of their harrowing encounter until her Mother's own experience.

The Mother, with a zeal to rival Fox Mulder, would later proceed to ask others if they knew of some strange beast lurking in the Prime Hook Swamp. It was in a shop in Broadkill Road that a woman would elaborate on the legend of the creature. The woman who owned the shop would tell her about how she had seen the same strange beast while dirt biking in the same area with her father several years before even her daughter encountered the beast. She and her father were both Broadkill natives all her life and had no idea what this creature was. The shopkeep was most positive about the Mother seeing the creature going so far as saying only a few have seen it and that it's lucky that she was one of the few. The Mother continued her investigation at the Prime Hook Reserve Museum, and the staff had not heard of any creature like it and have no idea what it could be. That was both the end of the Mother's search for answers and also of any information on the beast.

When trying to find out any more information on this strange creature, I came up empty-handed. I had actually driven down Broadkill Road while camping and going to the beach in Rehoboth and wanted to stop and check out the swamp to look for the creature. During that time, however, I was with my family, and they were not too keen on checking out a swamp. I had almost completely forgotten about the creature, and it wouldn't be till some time later that I would find another source and reference to this strange creature. I found an article on the creature by Denver Michaels on his personal website. This article was actually an excerpt from his book Detours into the Paranormal: Atlantic City Road Trip.

It was in Denver Michael’s book and article that a new patina to this case was revealed. Michael's describes the creature as both a canine and a gremlin type creature. Based on the original description, the first appearance seemed to be the more appropriate, but if his information is correct, it could mean that witnesses are actually seeing several creatures in the Prime Hook Swamp. The question is, as with most cryptids, what? All we really have to go on description wise is what Helen described, and it is very ambiguous compared to most unknown creature reports, and so several possibilities exist for what it could be.

When I initially read the account, the first impression I had of this creature was that of a Devil Monkey. The small ears, flat puggish face, tail, tannish colored body, and height is similar to what is often described and connected to Devil Monkeys. The Prime Hook Swamp would be ideal for an unknown primate species to dwell and exist, especially something that is generally rather small in stature. The only problem is that Devil Monkeys tend to exist in the Midwest and Upper Southern states like West Virginia and reside in the more mountainous regions of the United States. This is a far cry from the swampy beach-like environment of the Prime Hook Swamp, which makes this option not as likely.

Denver Michael's description of the creature as an unknown canine seems to be a very plausible possibility for the identity of the Prime Hook Swamp Creature as many of the features could easily describe that of a dog or wolf-like creature. The only problem with this is the small ears wolves, coyotes, and other known canines have large noticeable ears, which if the ears were wolf-like would be something Helen would most certainly state as a way to compare or contrast to the strange creature she had seen. Another element is the fact that the creature is described as having longer back legs, which, partly due to ambiguity, raises the question of whether this creature walked bipedally or if it, much like some Chupacabra accounts, actually have larger hind legs than the front set. Upon reading the account, however, it seems to be almost of a bipedal creature, something that does not match with known canines.

A gremlin is the final term used to describe this creature, and while I have entertained the notion of multiple creatures being sighted in the same area while being called the same beast if we go on the assumption that what is being seen is all the same, it emphasizes some of the problems with the canine hypothesis. A gremlin is a humanoid bipedal creature that, even excluding the amazing Joe Dante film of the 80s, has a look that does not match the canine appearance, which is hypothesized. If anything, it points towards something more primate or reptilian than canine. The appearance of the creature in the account does not describe whether it is furry or scaly, which is a feature that would truly affect how and what the creature is. It could be possible that what is being seen is a tailed brown bipedal reptile with ears as opposed to a primate or canine. Yet reptiles, even cryptid ones, do not have external ears, so a reptilian type of creature is unlikely unless people are seeing multiple creatures in the same area.

The biggest problem with this case is the ambiguity of the description. There are so many questions that if just one is right could truly change what the beast could actually be. I would love for Helen or her children or children's friend to come forward to elaborate more on what was seen so there could be a more in-depth study done on this strange creature so then more studies can be done on it. I would hope that others who have seen this creature would come forward as there is aside from Denver Michael's book and article and the original case report, which is now unavailable for the most part online. As with most Cryptids sightings, a vast majority do not get reported out of fear of ridicule or a lack of places to report the sightings or lack of information on others who have seen the same creature; It is my hope that by writing this that others will have the courage or luck to find this article to tell their stories so that possibly an answer to what is roaming in the swamp may finally come to light.

Quick Facts:

Species/Potential Species: Primate, Canine, Reptilian Creature

Location: Prime Hook Swamp, Broadkill Road, Delaware

Year: 2007 (First Reported Sightings Before and assumedly after)

Works Cited:

 

Michaels, Denver Detours Into the Paranormal: Atlantic City Road Trip. Denver Michaels. 2018.

---. “A Swamp Monster” Denver Michaels. March 27, 2019 https://www.denvermichaels.net/a-swamp-monster/ Accessed. January 17, 2021

Wagner, Stephen “Primehook Swamp Creature By Helen J.” About.com http://paranormal.about.com/od/othercreatures/a/tales_10_08_14t.htm. Accessed. 5/22/2013.

“Prime Hook” U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. https://www.fws.gov/refuge/Prime_Hook/about.html Accessed. January 17, 2021