The Armless Horror of the Susquehanna
By Cole Herrold
The world of Cryptozoology is chock full
of strange chimeras, hairy hominids, prehistoric remnants, and beasts that seem
to have escaped from a 1950s drive-in monster movie. In the annals of
cryptozoology, countless of these drive-inn monsters were reported, especially
throughout the 1950s and 1970s. Tales from Ohio of the Loveland Frogman have
echoed in the Little Miami River since their initial report in 1955. The Lake
Thetis Monster, a kind of Gill-man from British Columbia, has one of the most
cinematic encounters reported. The creature was seen rising from the dark,
murky depths, which resulted in the beast to charge after two eyewitnesses hanging
around its aquatic domain. These creatures from the black lagoon have captured
the imaginations of many a paranormal investigator and cryptozoologist, but
there is one case that occurred before any of the previously mentioned beasts
that have not been brought to the surface of the vast public. This strange
creature is a haunting part of Pennsylvania's rich lore and history and one I
have come to call… The Armless Horror of the Susquehanna.
The Susquehanna River is a large body of
water that stretches throughout New York, my home state of Pennsylvania, and
empties into the Chesapeake Bay in Maryland. My hometown is actually located
right on the river itself, with my house facing the darkened water that surges
down throughout the state. The river has always been a source of recreational
boating, tubing, swimming, and fishing. Growing up, I would hear tales of monster
catfish and carp that would hide in the muddy sections of the river, but never
would I have dreamed of something much more mysterious swimming below the
churning brine.
The story of the Armless Horror is recorded briefly in
the October 23rd issue of the Wilkes-Barre Record in 1905.
The events of the article occurred the day before publication near the town of
York Haven, which is located in York county. York County is at the very bottom
of the state, and the mighty banks of the Susquehanna separate York from
Lancaster County. This area of Pennsylvania is a mixture of both relatively
decently populated towns and cities as well as vast areas of back road type
communities. These communities are where the scene takes place.
Photo of the Susquehanna River and Three Mile Island taken in November of 2020 this area is an approximate section of the river where the sighting should have taken place.
The Record describes in the
exceptionally short article the events of two anonymous couples and their
encounter with something that biologically should not exist. The Record
describes how in broad daylight, the two anonymous couples out near the river
observed what the title of the article rather blandly states as "Fish
Walks Like Man." The creature is described as the following: "The
creature, whether fish or animal, is described to be as large as a man. When
seen, it came out of the water erect like a man and is described as looking
like a man but without arms". The article does not state where the
beast was headed or if it even came on land or simply arose cinematically from
the muck and churning mire. The article
does not even describe the actions of the witnesses. Were they curious,
terrified, or simply trying to process the strange apparition before them? The
article does give us this one insight into the witnesses' thought process to
what occurred, and that is "Those persons who have seen it declare they
are not the victims of an optical illusion." The article's author who
tries to give as much credence to these anonymous witnesses as possible states"
As it was seen in broad daylight more credence is given to the story than
would be if it had been seen at night, when people are more prone to see
"things".".
While the exact location of where these
anonymous couples encountered the beast is not stated, the article does say
that the sighting had reached the ears of people residing between Cly and
Goldsboro. Cly is a small community in Newberry Township that is actually right
along the bank of the river, and Goldsboro is located north of Cly. The total
distance between the two boroughs is a mere 2.4 miles, which is not an
extensively long stretch of the river. Arguably it is a safe bet to the point
that this particular section of the Susquehanna is the approximate location
where the sighting took place. Both
communities are located along the bank of the Susquehanna and interestingly
enough located by Three Mile Island and several other smaller islands. Three
Mile Island is home to the infamous Three Mile Island Nuclear Generating
Station and is considered part of Dauphin County. The Island was home to a
partial meltdown in 1979 that resulted in the leak of radioactivity.
Even with figuring an approximate location of where
this creature was spotted, we are still no closer to determining what this
beast is. This creature, as with most cryptids, is something we have never seen
before. There are no bipedal fish and no reptiles that bipedally walked exactly
like a hominid in the fossil record. This aquatic monstrosity, scientifically
speaking, should not exist. So, what are some possible explanations for the
phenomenon? Well, here are some of the possibilities ranging from most probable
to most unlikely.
One of the most common possibilities with
any monster report is a newspaper hoax. At the same time, this account does
take place later on than the typical Hoaxed papers. A monster story is still a
perfect way to get individuals to pick up and purchase a paper. The account
also raises several red flags like the nameless witnesses. The paper could
attempt to hide this possible controversy by making their monster appear in the
day so it would not be mistaken for anything other than what was reported.
While this seems to be the most probable explanation, the simplicity of the article
appears to be the opposite of what we would see in a newspaper hoax. If the
article really wanted to capture some public notoriety at the time, you would
think that the creature would come out of the river and attack the witnesses or
at least capsize the boat. The article even seems to try to lend credence to
the witnesses by expressing the difference between seeing a creature in the day
versus night. As for the anonymity aspect of the witnesses, this could be to
avoid ridicule or mocking, which is a reasonable response to reporting an
encounter with a beast. With this lack of sensationalism and the article's
attempt to not only lend credence to the account with the author's rationale but
the simplicity, it does appear that the witnesses, whoever they may have been,
had actually seen something strange. The question remains, what?
Could it have been someone in an early diving
suit? Diving suits and wetsuits are not new inventions. The earliest diving
suit was made in the 1700s and was a clunky, heavy piece of maritime
technology. As time went on, however, the diving suit became more streamlined
and less bulky, but even in the early portion of the 1900s, the suits bore a
resemblance to droids from Star Wars. It is very possible that the
witnesses misidentified a diver for a monster. There are also the possibilities
of a hoax with a diving suit. A suit with its arms wrapped or sewn to the sides
might give off the impression of the creature being an armless creep from the
deep. The only possible problem with this hypothesis is with the restriction of
movement in the suit. At the same time, there are individuals who, due to
accidents or birth conditions, have been able to dive without the use of arms. Typically,
they do need some additional help unless they are truly masters at diving. It's
always smarter and safer to always have others with you when doing anything
underwater, and if the witnesses themselves did not perpetuate it as a hoax.
There's not enough information to truly paint a picture of who else could have
been out on the water.
The most common skeptical take on any
cryptid report is misidentification. So, one would have to include the
possibility of an individual mistaking a common or invasive species as what
they are witnessing. There are many large species of fish that swim up and down
the Susquehanna. The largest species of known fish being muskies and catfish,
and like most fish, they will come up to the surface of the water if there is not
enough dissolved oxygen in the water for them to breathe. Fish will also come
to the surface to feed if need be. In 2019 a 50lbs flathead catfish was reeled
in, breaking the state record. With that said, a 50lbs catfish is a big fish
but nowhere near the size of the creature reported in the Record. With
that said, that could be the result of classic "fish stories" where
the witness exaggerates the size of the fish for a reaction. A man-size Fishman
monster could actually be, in reality, an oversized catfish.
Other organisms could be beavers,
muskrats, river otters, raccoons rearing up to head onto the bank. These, to
me, are extremely unlikely, but for the sake of argument, they should be
included. A black bear, while not as aquatic as the others, could also be a
possibility, and it would be closer in size to what has been reported, but a
black bear has evident arms and ears, which is entirely opposite to that which
has been reported.
An undiscovered species is arguably the
final possibility for what this creature could have been. While some can argue
that Pennsylvania is a strange location for a species to remain hidden for
countless years, the state itself is vastly forested and full of small islands
and deep sections of rivers that some small troop of an undiscovered species
could carve out a section to remain unseen. Interestingly enough, creatures
similar in description to The Armless Horror were seen in Ohio and Kentucky.
These creatures are described as armless, and both are semiaquatic in nature.
The most famous of these two lesser-known cryptids is the Charles Mill Lake
Monster, which was seen in 1959. Its description is shockingly identical to
that of the Armless Horror, everything down from the lack of arms to its
bipedal locomotion.
This case, to me, is interesting for
several reasons and why I felt the need to write this article. For one thing,
the general lack of sensationalism in the article for something that very
easily could have fallen in the same category of the countless penny dreadful
type monsters seen throughout the decades of yellow journalism. In the 1800s,
monster attacks were a dime a dozen lake monsters ate numerous individuals
swimming in their abodes, Spring Heeled Jack of London belched blue flames and
tore at the flesh of young London women, even possibly killing them in some
accounts, even bigfoot type creatures seemed to be overly aggressive as
countless articles reported them devouring children and attacking horse-drawn
carriages. This case has none of that and echoes a lot of modern monster
reports that we take very seriously, seeing as it is a creature that simply
appears mysteriously, and that is it. Granted, there is a lot of ambiguity in
the article in the Wilkes Barre Record that does not describe what the
creature did after being sited or how the witnesses reacted; one can imagine
they hightailed it out of their obviously, but the lack of action is something
that is reminiscent of many bigfoot reports where the creature simply walks
across the road into the woods or a lake monster sighting where it appears
above the surface and submerges. These accounts are almost believable in their
simplicity as opposed to something more extravagant, that is what one would
have expected in an encounter with the unknown, and this case is no different.
Another element is the description I have
stated previously about the depiction is similar to other creatures reported in
the late 50s, and the concept of a fish-man in the media was not common in 1905.
The account taking place in 1905 is almost fifty years older than the most
famous aquatic humanoid in pop culture the Gillman from the Creature from
the Black Lagoon, so unlike other marine humanoid encounters, the chance of
a lie or hoax inspired by this film or a similar film is quite literally out of
the water. Folklore around the world describes merfolk, or semiaquatic
human-like creatures whether it be the Mermaids, Dagon, River Sprites, Nixies,
Merrow, Selkie, Finfolk, Kappa, Neck, Ceasg, Amabie, Ningyo, Naga, or Melusine
that appear as a chimera of various aquatic organisms or as elementals that
reside in bodies of water and are bipedal in nature. While some folklorists
could argue that there is some underlying cross-cultural trend, whether it be
these creatures are manifestations of our fears of deep pools, which are
environments very much alien to us, or that they symbolize our connection or
the deification of nature. There is another possibility, however, that these
cultures, many of whom developed these stories independently from each other,
are, in fact seeing species hitherto unknown to science currently.
While it is safe to say that gathering any
more specific information on this particular case would be almost impossible
unless by some miracle a diary or the descendants of those unnamed witnesses
come forth with more details, it is still an enduring mystery, and while the
account is relatively short and somewhat vague as with most potentially real
cryptid encounters the impact is significant, Not just for those who have
encountered a strange creature but also for those who actively read, search, or
theorize about the subject. For every new or under looked through case that we
do not consider can result in ideas or connections being lost. Yet whether it's
lake serpents, Bigfoot, Mothman, or something far more mysterious, there is
something that drives all of us as humans and makes life indeed more
interesting if not more meaningful for those of us genuinely encapsulated by
the possibility of those mysteries still hidden in nature.
Quick Facts:
Species/Potential Species: Amphibian/ Fish
Location: Susquehanna River, Cly and
Goldsboro, York County, Pennsylvania
Sighted: October 22, 1905
Works Cited
Coleman, Loren, Curious Encounters:
Phantom Trains, Spooky spots, and Other Mysterious Wonders. Faber and
Faber. 1985.
Hayes, John “50-pound flathead catfish
caught on Susquehanna River sets Pa. record” Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.
May 9, 2012. https://www.post-gazette.com/life/outdoors/2019/05/09/Pennsylvania-catfish-state-record-Susquehanna-River-flathead/stories/201905090101.
Accessed November 14th, 2020.
The Wilkes-Barre Record “Fish Walks Like
Man. Strange Animal Alarms Pennsylvania Residents Along Susquehanna” October 23rd,
1905
“The story of early diving suits,
1900-1935” Rare
Historical Photos.
June 18, 2020. https://rarehistoricalphotos.com/vintage-diving-suits/. Accessed
November 5th, 2020.
“The Susquehanna River” Susquehanna
River Valley. https://www.visitcentralpa.org/things-to-do/the-susquehanna-river.
Accessed November 5th, 2020.
“Three Mile Island Nuclear Generating
Station” Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation. November 29, 2020. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Three_Mile_Island_Nuclear_Generating_Station.
Accessed November 30, 2020.
“Dissolved Oxygen (DO)” https://www.enr.gov.nt.ca/sites/enr/files/dissolved_oxygen.pdf#:~:text=Fish%20and%20other%20animals%20that,water%20need%20oxygen%20to%20live.&text=For%20example%2C%20Northern%20Pike%20cannot,the%20strongest%20fish%20may%20suffocate.
Accessed November 22nd, 2020.
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