Gowrow
Location: Arkansas, USA.
Time: January 31, 1897, possible earlier sightings.
Another kind of fictional monster, is that kind invented by newspapers or magazines to boost sales. One such incident seems to be the shooting of the dragon-like Gowrow on January 31 1897. Supposedly the posse of townsfolk found its lair, a cave that was littered about with human and animal remains. The creature came out of the nearby lake and was eventually shot multiple times, but not before biting off one person’s leg and uprooting trees. Supposedly it was 20 feet long, with tusks, and a row of small horn-spikes down its back. Its tail was long and thin, and ended in a blade-shaped spike. A popular trick was to claim to have captured a Gowrow, charge admission, and then incite panic by claiming that it had escaped, pocketing all the admission without showing the public anything.
Such tall tales abounded in frontier North America, it was customary to fool strangers into believing in these things, as a way of hazing them. As such, the fraudulent newspaper hype, and subsequent sightings should not be taken seriously. It remains unlikely that such a large, draconic reptile could remain undetected in the USA, even if the relatively southern position of Arkansas could not pose too much of a problem for it.
So, if the Gowrow were not all stories and fraud, what would it be like? We suggest that the Gowrow (Arkansaurus cornuderma) be imagined as a giant relative of the Gila monster. A relatively sluggish, but powerful lizard with bony scutes along its back, giving it a somewhat spiky profile, it is claimed to have tusks, but the Gowrow actually has many large fangs, which are usually hidden by the lips and gums. It can give a very serious wounding bite that is also venomous, it can even sever limbs of an unwary assailant, and a secondary defence is its large tail which has a hard, pointed tip. It usually has a fairly small territory, consisting of a deep burrow dug among trees or rocks, and accessible areas of mountainous woodland in which to hunt. It appears to hunt mainly by ambush, laying in wait by commonly used game trails for prey such a deer, raccoons, and rabbits. Like its relatives, it enjoys soaking in water during warmer weather, which has led to the mistaken belief that it is a lake dweller. The relatively temperate weather in the Ozarks means that the Gowrow enters torpor in winter, and emerges in spring. Being almost 20 feet long, it is able to conserve heat fairly well during the rest of the year, but it may be that this reptile has better control of its metabolism than other lizards.
Location: Arkansas, USA.
Time: January 31, 1897, possible earlier sightings.
Another kind of fictional monster, is that kind invented by newspapers or magazines to boost sales. One such incident seems to be the shooting of the dragon-like Gowrow on January 31 1897. Supposedly the posse of townsfolk found its lair, a cave that was littered about with human and animal remains. The creature came out of the nearby lake and was eventually shot multiple times, but not before biting off one person’s leg and uprooting trees. Supposedly it was 20 feet long, with tusks, and a row of small horn-spikes down its back. Its tail was long and thin, and ended in a blade-shaped spike. A popular trick was to claim to have captured a Gowrow, charge admission, and then incite panic by claiming that it had escaped, pocketing all the admission without showing the public anything.
Such tall tales abounded in frontier North America, it was customary to fool strangers into believing in these things, as a way of hazing them. As such, the fraudulent newspaper hype, and subsequent sightings should not be taken seriously. It remains unlikely that such a large, draconic reptile could remain undetected in the USA, even if the relatively southern position of Arkansas could not pose too much of a problem for it.
So, if the Gowrow were not all stories and fraud, what would it be like? We suggest that the Gowrow (Arkansaurus cornuderma) be imagined as a giant relative of the Gila monster. A relatively sluggish, but powerful lizard with bony scutes along its back, giving it a somewhat spiky profile, it is claimed to have tusks, but the Gowrow actually has many large fangs, which are usually hidden by the lips and gums. It can give a very serious wounding bite that is also venomous, it can even sever limbs of an unwary assailant, and a secondary defence is its large tail which has a hard, pointed tip. It usually has a fairly small territory, consisting of a deep burrow dug among trees or rocks, and accessible areas of mountainous woodland in which to hunt. It appears to hunt mainly by ambush, laying in wait by commonly used game trails for prey such a deer, raccoons, and rabbits. Like its relatives, it enjoys soaking in water during warmer weather, which has led to the mistaken belief that it is a lake dweller. The relatively temperate weather in the Ozarks means that the Gowrow enters torpor in winter, and emerges in spring. Being almost 20 feet long, it is able to conserve heat fairly well during the rest of the year, but it may be that this reptile has better control of its metabolism than other lizards.