Cryptid Profile: The South Skunk River Monster Battle of 1884
First historically “documented” in the early 1670s by European explorers Jacques Marquette and Louis Jolliet, the area of land which would eventually become known as the state of Iowa went through a rather hectic establishment. Originally claimed by France from 1699 until 1762, the land eventually made its way in the hands of Spain. Remaining under the control of the Spaniards until 1800, the area once again shifted ownership, this time to Napoleon Bonaparte who took control of not only it, but also an additional 828,000+ square miles of land west of the Mississippi River. This mass of land was collectively known as the Louisiana Territory and it would be under the ownership of Napoleon (for France) until 1803.
In 1803 the relatively young United States (only 27yrs old at the time), then led by President Thomas Jefferson, purchased the entire territory from Napoleon for $15,000,000 ($258,697,425.53 in today’s money) after the First Consul of the French Republic began expressing fear of the possibility of future conflict and renewed war with the UK. When all was said and done, this gigantic land purchase practically doubled the size of the country and would forever be known as The Louisiana Purchase. Over time the purchase was broken up into various smaller territories which would eventually, through constant border tweaking, go on to become 12 individual states. These included: Louisiana, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Missouri, Kansas, Colorado, Nebraska, Wyoming, Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, and of course, Iowa.
After nearly 43 years from the initial Louisiana Purchase, and only 8 years after its establishment as the Iowa Territory, the 58,272.81 sq mi piece of land known as Iowa was granted statehood on December 28, 1846. Since that time, a rich history filled with many notable events have taken place within the borders of the Hawkeye State. Some of these events include the birth of William Fredrick Cody, aka “Buffalo Bill” in 1846, the establishment of the Iowa State Fair in 1850, the arrival of Samuel Langhorne Clemens, aka Mark Twain, in the city of Muscatine in 1854, the robbing of Obocock Bank by Jesse James and his gang in 1871, the destruction brought on by 17” hailstones falling in Dubuque in 1882, and the first appendectomy which took place in America in Davenport by Dr. William W. Grant in 1885. But there is one event which is believed to have occurred in Iowa in 1884 that will not be found on any list documenting the states interesting history. A strange and terrifying event that resulted in the death of countless livestock at the hands of a strange aquatic beast and brought together both man and monster in a fight to the death. An amazing event that is forever known as The South Skunk River Monster Battle.
The story begins in November 1884, on a farm located around five miles from the city of Oskaloosa and situated not far from the South Skunk River. The farm, which was owned by a Mr. James Wright, was a hog farm and was said to possess roughly one hundred swine prior to the incident. These porkers were noted as ranging in size from 250lbs to nearly 400lbs, and the area in which they were kept was said to be roughly 132 feet away from the edge of the river. The hog’s designated roaming zone was secured by a thick barbed wire fence that had massive timber posts located every six feet around the perimeter and the only way into the pen was through a single entry point located opposite the riverside. To top it all off, Farmer Wright employed a loyal bulldog to keep watch over the hogs and drive away any potential threats that should find themselves within close proximity to the fence. All in all, the livestock which resided on the Wright farm were kept safe and out of harm’s way. That is until the night of November 14 though.
At some point during the chilly night, one of Farmer Wright’s massive hogs had simply gone missing. Upon checking the area it was discovered that the fence was fully intact and no secondary exit was present in which the hog could have escaped. It had appeared that the hog had just vanished into thin air. At no point during the night was the bulldog alarmed at an unwelcome intruder, and there no signs within the pen to signify an altercation of some sort, everything was found as it should be. The only thing wrong was that the hog was gone. The surrounding area was searched to no avail and the other farmers in the area had not seen or heard the large pig, so there was nothing Wright could do except continue on with his duties and hope the hog would eventually return.
As the day turned to night and the night back into day, Farmer Wright awoke in hopes of seeing his missing hog wandering around once again near the pen which housed his companions. Unfortunately, this was not to be, and strangely enough, instead of gaining his missing hog, he had actually lost another one. The circumstances surrounding the second animal were identical to the first one, zero disturbances or signs of a break-in, so it appeared to have simply vanished like the first. Obviously upset, Farmer Wright set out yet again to search for the swine and converse with his fellow countrymen on if they had any information. But just as before, the answers were less than satisfactory and the farmer had to return to his land now two hogs down.
Proving that it did not care about the farmers’ issues, the sun went down once again and the day became night. When the sun came back the next morning, Farmer Wright awoke yet again to find another hog missing. The full process was repeated without change and he was no closer to figuring out was going on than he was with the first hog. He had found himself in the middle of one of the greatest mysteries of his life, and he was bound and determined to figure out what was going on, no matter how long it took him to do so.
Fast forward to December 4 and Farmer Wright is now missing a total of 20 hogs. With all previous attempts to find the missing hogs having failed, the farmer decides to give it one last shot. If he can not solve the mystery and loses one more hog during the night, he has made the decision to pack it in and move the farm. That evening, Farmer Wright bundles up to spend the night outdoors near the river’s edge in order to watch the hog pen from a different angle. He grabs his lantern, his rifle, and motions for his loyal bulldog to follow suit. The two make their way towards an area partially concealed by thick brush, trees, and shrubbery and settle in for a long watch. The farmstead is covered in darkness and a frigid wind has moved into the area. All seems normal and as it should be as the hours tick by. Farmer Wright, growing more tired as the night passes without incident, begins to drift off with his dog by his side. The only sounds disrupting the silence are the hogs rummaging around in their pen, and an oddly intense splashing coming from the Skunk River. None of these noises are enough to fight off the exhaustion though, and soon the farmer is claimed as yet another victim of the infamous Sandman.
The remainder of the night passed by like normal, nothing out of the ordinary occurred around the farm which was noticeable enough to rouse the farmer from his slumber. For all intents and purposes, both the man and the bulldog had a very peaceful sleep, but then, as the sun began to rise, the sound of splashing started once again. The farmer, now slowly beginning to shift from his night sleeping against a tree, cracked open in his eyes in the direction of the river and was instantly shocked by what he saw. From out of the river and onto the bank came an absolutely massive creature with a long neck, thick body, and huge teeth.
The beast, which Farmer Wright had never once seen in the area before, slowly moved forward on four legs out of the river and towards the hog pen. Appearing to employ some sort of sneak tactic, the giant creature continued forward, quietly and at a snail’s pace, with its head and neck held high, not giving any indication of its intent. The hogs, obviously not showing any concern at the approaching danger, continued about their business without a care in the world. The creature, whose bulky body was now only a few feet away from the border fence, slowly rose onto its back legs and stood silent and motionless with its head and neck held high above the pen. Farmer Wright, who was still concealed by the thick brush, watched silently with eyes wide and a firm hand wrapped tightly around the mouth of the dog in order to prevent it giving away the location of their hiding spot.
Suddenly and without any indication, the large creature shot its head down into the pen, opened its large tooth-filled mouth, and picked up a 300lb hog from below. With the speed and ferocity of what can only be compared to that of a bear trap, the beast snapped its jaws around the body of the hog and the unlucky swine immediately went limp. The unknown river creature then quickly shot its head back up high over the pen, lowered itself back onto all fours, and began to move backward away from the fence. The limp body of the dead hog disappeared within the largemouth and in an instant, it was gone. Appearing satisfied with its meal, the large creature quickly turned towards the direction of the river and began to run back to the safety of the dark muddy water. Within just a few seconds, the beast reached the water’s edge, disappeared with a large splash, and just like that, it was gone. The entire sighting lasted only a few minutes and as soon as it was over, both Farmer Wright and his bulldog sprinted out of the bushes and back towards the safety of the farmhouse.
After taking some time to compose himself, Farmer Wright headed towards Oskaloosa to alert the authorities of what he had seen emerge from the river only a few miles away. Once there, a crowd naturally began to form around the farmer as he described in great detail the monster he had witnessed with his own eyes. The Skunk River Monster was described by Farmer Wright as being nearly 78ft long from the tip of its nose to the tip of its tail. The estimated length of the neck was 18ft, the distance between the forelegs and the hind legs was 40ft, and the tail was believed to be 20ft. The creature’s legs were described as being 3ft long and were roughly as thick as a grown man’s body. The diameter of the body appeared to be around 4 or 5ft, and while walking the creature appeared to stand around 7 to 8ft tall. The teeth looked as if they were 17in long, and it was unknown if the skin was actually scally or just looked incredibly rough.
While nobody in the crowd knew whether to believe him or laugh at him at first, they slowly began to trust the words of the shaken farmer after he urged them to come to his farm and see for themselves. He assured them that while they could easily brush off his words without a second thought, they would not so easily be able to brush off what they would see with their own eyes. The farmer let everyone know where his farm was located and the proceed back, alone, to figure out how to rid his property of the monster. But he wouldn’t be alone for long, because after only an hour, around 40 men on horseback arrived at the farm with weapons in hand and enough ammo to bring down a small army. Not long after their arrival, around 100 more armed individuals arrived on foot to also help lend a hand in bringing down the monster who had turned the Wright farm into its own personal buffet.
With guns in hand and eyes focused intensely on the water, the large posse of amateur monster hunters spread out along the bank of the South Skunk River. The men on foot stood equal distances apart like fenceposts so as to not miss anything that may swim by, while the men on horseback patrolled back and forth like generals keeping watch over their troops. While still not fully sure of what exactly they were looking for, the men scanned the water for anything that appeared odd and out of place, and after nearly two hours they spotted something.
Spotted roughly a mile away from the farm, one of the men spotted what appeared to be the back of a large creature slowly moving through the water. Immediately recognizing that what he was witnessing was not a normal animal, the lone gunman shouted for every available man to hurry towards his location. With rifles loaded and aim taken, several men fired multiple shots at the creatures back as it moved slowly through the water. Yet after the smoke had cleared, it was apparent that none of the shots had managed to pierce the thick skin of the creature. What it did do though, was cause the large creature to change direction and move slowly towards the bank of the river. The same bank in which they were all standing.
Unaware of what was about to occur, the men standing alongside the river watched as the massive beast moved slowly, practically at a snail’s pace, closer and closer to where they were standing. Even though only a small portion of its back was all that could be seen above the surface, those who were looking upon it appeared hypnotized by the simple fact that they were gazing upon a true monster. Realizing the dangerous situation the onlookers were unknowingly putting themselves in, a man on horseback by the name of William T. Smith rode up in front of the group in order to push them back away from the water’s edge. While doing so though, he had inadvertently put himself in the direct line of fire for what was about to happen next.
Without warning, much like how it occurred at the hog pen, the creatures large head and neck shot forward from under the water and snapped around the head of the horse ridden by Smith. With incredible strength, the horse was lifted off the bank by the creature and pulled forward into the water. Smith, who at the time was holding onto the reins of the horse prior to its unfortunate attack, was taken right along with it. Lucky for Smith though, only a few moments prior to the incident, another man on horseback by the name of John Aiken had ridden up alongside him. As the unlucky horse was made into a quick meal for the creature, Aiken reached out and grabbed onto the leg of Smith. When the horse was lifted, Aiken pulled Smith off the creature and down onto the muddy bank. With a large splash and the sound of cracking bones, the men watched as the monster pulled the horse below the surface and completely disappear from view.
But just because the actual body of the creature could not be seen, that didn’t mean the men on shore could not follow it. Large ripples and splashes on the surface clearly indicated where the creature was at to everyone who was looking for it. Now knowing what kind of danger the creature ultimately possessed, every available man onshore with a weapon fired at the creature whenever possible. Both rifles and revolvers kept a steady onslaught upon the creature and at one point it was estimated that nearly two thousand shots had been fired at the creature. But just as before, when the smoke had cleared and the ammo ran low, the men on shore could see clearly that no shot had penetrated the thick skin of the river beast. At that moment they knew that the size of their bullets were of no use against a creature of such immense size and of thick skin. The realization left them with only one other option, they were going to have to get bigger weapons.
At 3 pm word was sent back to Oskaloosa that a large weapon was needed at the Wright farm in order to take care of the monster problem. At 4 pm, a twelve-pound cannon and an entire keg of railroad spikes arrived. The cannon, which was accompanied by a man referred to as Capt. Wilber, was loaded with powder and packed full of the heavy railroad spikes. When packed to the approval of the Captain, the cannon was moved into a firing position near the edge of the river.
After being brought up to speed on the current situation regarding the creature, and from having first-hand knowledge of battle from leading the 23d Indiana Battery in the Atlanta Campaign during the Civil War, Capt. Wilber knew the enemy in the water was not going to willingly come near shore after enduring constant attack for the past few hours. So, in order to bring the beast in, the Captain ordered the men along to river to basically retreat. But instead of leaving completely, they were told to back up just enough so that they were no longer visible to the creature in the water, and after all had vacated from the line of sight, the small impromptu army hunkered down and waited.
Finally, at 5:20 pm, after nearly an hour and a half of waiting, the creature made its presence known yet again when its large back broke the surface of the water. Capt. Wilber watched as the large beast made its way through the river and approached what appeared to be a decent-sized sand bar roughly 40ft away. Making an assumption that the creature was going to try and pass over the shoal, the Captain ordered the cannon aimed at that particular area and notified the gunner to be ready to fire. Anxious, the men watched the water with sharp focus and prayed that the Captain was correct in his assumption. They would only get one opportunity to do this right.
Proving himself as a knowledgeable man when it came to battle, Capt. Wilber’s assumption was ultimately correct. The creature had fully committed to exiting the water and climbing up and over the raised sandbar, thus putting itself in the direct line of fire of the cannon. Without any hesitation, Capt. Wilber ordered the gunner to fire, and with a blast of smoke and a mighty roar, the cannon shot forward a barrage of railroad spikes directly towards the monster. Almost immediately the beast let out a loud wail and began to thrash around wildly. Sand and water flew into the air with every hit from its powerful tail and blood poured out from the deep wound behind its front leg and slowly turned the river red.
After only a few minutes it appeared that all remnants of life had faded from the creature and it was nothing more than an empty shell of the terror it once was. Fully confident the monster was no more, the men onshore brought in a team of 24 oxen in order to haul the large body out of the river and onto dry land. With chains wrapped around the head, neck, and behind the front legs, the powerful herd slowly pulled the giant beast out from its former watery home and onto solid ground. Blood continued to pour out from the wound and filled the deep grooves the creature’s body had created in both the sand and dirt as it was pulled by the team. This too eventually ceased and before the hour of 6 pm, it was recognized throughout Mahaska County that the citizens of Oskaloosa had officially killed a monster.
With the body of the beast now able to be seen in all its glory, accurate measurements could officially be taken. On the scene to document the size and appearance of the creature was a Dr. Huntsman and an Al Swalm. Together the men took notes regarding both the outside appearance of the creature as well as the state of the internal organs. When the examination was complete, the men were in possession of what was considered to be the most accurate information on a monster thus far.
The entire overall length of the creature was noted as being 81ft long from the tip of the nose to the tip of the tail. The distance from the forelegs to the nose was 21ft, the distance between the forelegs and the hind legs, 40ft, distance from hind legs to the tip of the tail, 20ft. The skin was noted as being like that of a gigantic lizard, incredibly thick and dark gray in color. The teeth were measured at 17.5in and were like those of an alligator. The heart was said to weigh 80lbs and possessed four chambers. The lungs and all other organs looked remarkably similar to other known reptiles except they were much larger. The creature appeared to be strictly an air breather, but from the testimony of the witnesses and noticeable size of the lungs, it was able to hold its breath under the water for extended periods of time. A quick examination proved the assumption that no bullets had pierced the thick skin and the only wound present was that of the cannon fire.
After the examination by Huntsmen and Swaim was complete, the job of skinning the creature commenced. The plan was to send the monster’s hide to an Oskaloosa taxidermist and have the creature stuffed. When that was complete, the specimen would then be sent to the Academy of Natural Science located in Philadelphia for display. The skeleton of the creature would be preserved separately and wired for display in Oskaloosa. Obviously, the city wanted to hold on to this trophy in commemoration of what was without a doubt the most famous battle to ever take place near its borders. So, when all was said and done, the two displays were packaged up and sent to their final locations to be enjoyed by curious onlookers for years to come. Except, we all know that never happened.
While the account of the battle at the South Skunk River in 1884 makes for an absolutely fantastic story, there is sadly no proof that the incredible event happened at all. You see, as we’ve mentioned before in past articles, fictional accounts of both monsters and the battles that killed them ran rampant through newspapers of the 1800s. Stories such as these were later classified as “Yellow Journalism” and were oftentimes created to help raise slumping newspaper sales, fill in dead page space during a slow news week, or bring in sightseers and onlookers to a specific location in order to help boost a local economy.
A majority of the time, traveling writers who excelled in creating fantastical stories such as these, sold the story to a random newspaper in a one time deal and moved on without ever providing a follow-up. This is why so many monster stories featured in papers from the 19th century never appear to offer any final answers to the casual reader regarding questions they obviously had after reading the larger than life accounts found within. But even though most of these fictional stories came from writers specifically hired to do them, that was not always the case. Sometimes the stories originated from the very same people who ran the paper in the first place.
Case in point, the South Skunk River Monster was believed to have been created by none other than Al Swalm himself. If that name sounds oddly familiar to you, its because you just read about him not even five paragraphs up. He was reported as one of the men who examined the creature after its death. What the story fails to mention though is that when Mr. Swalm was not busy examining dead monster bodies, he was busy operating the Oskaloosa Weekly Herald newspaper, both as the co-owner and as the editor. You see, at the time when the monster battle was said to have taken place, 1884, Mr. Swalm was known around Oskaloosa as a seasoned practical joker. If you were to compare him to anyone, it wouldn’t be outrageous to describe him as Iowa’s version of Wisconsin’s most famous practical joker, Mr. Eugene Shepherd himself. And as most readers of The PBI already know, Mr. Shepherd is ranked among the best of them, so to be compared to him is pretty much an honor in our eyes.
Now, while the above may seem like a pretty straight forward answer as to where the story of the river monster came from, you may be wondering where we gathered this “smoking gun” information, and all truth be told, you should be asking this question! It’s only logical to question everything in order to have the best information moving forward, that’s what we do, and we assume many others do it as well. So when it came time to figure out where the background information on Mr. Swalm came from, we found ourselves on an unexpected path that in turn lead to an unexpected source. What we found, was “The Goldfinch”.
We know, that last line above comes across as sort of dramatic. It seems almost like the alias of a villain in an old spy movie, but in reality, it was something much cooler. You see, ‘The Goldfinch’ was a quarterly published historical magazine for children put out by the State Historical Society of Iowa starting in 1975 and running until the year 2000. Each issue focused on a specific theme and was comprised of historical articles, games, photos, and fictional stories. Some of the themes that could be found throughout the magazines run included famous Iowa inventors, toys and games, state symbols, the environment, early explorers, and even an entire issue on corn. But the one that caught our eye specifically was the one published in the spring of 1999. The one whos theme for the season was showcased in giant black letters atop a red background. The one simply entitled, “Myths & Legends”.
Within the 33 pages of stories, crossword puzzles, and legends of buried treasure compiled for children between the ages of 8 and 13, there was a story on page 27 titled, “On The Trail of an Iowa Sea Monster”. This 4-page story talked about the legend of the South Skunk River Monster and even went so far as to talk about the search into whether or not it was a genuine event or nothing but fiction. During their investigation, ‘The Goldfinch’ got in touch with local newspaper editors, librarians, archivists, and historical society members. What they discovered, when all was said and done, were multiple discrepancies between the original published story and the actual history of Oskaloosa and the surrounding area. Some of these errors touch on subjects like the weather at the time, the locations of certain areas mentioned in the original article, and even the reputations of some of the men listed by name during the original publishing. They went so far as to get confirmation that the Academy of Natural Science in Philadelphia never received a stuffed river monster in 1884, and they even settled on a possible motivator for the creation of the story itself by Swalm. That motivator, if you can believe it, was politics.
So when all is said and done, at the end of the day we are pretty comfortable with chalking the entire story of the South Skunk River Monster up to nothing but a clever hoax. But as we always say, just because the events of the story may be nothing but fiction, that doesn’t mean the story itself is any less fun. What these stories set out to do during their original publishing date was to entertain their readers and provide an escape from the monotony of everyday life, and they without a doubt succeeded. And honestly, they are still succeeding to this day as people of all ages still thoroughly enjoy reading about these supposed “real” encounters with monstrous beasts. We highly doubt that the writers of these stories ever thought they would go on to be anything more than just the means of a paycheck, let alone still read over 100yrs later with the same awe and wonder. But that just goes to show, even though you might wake up thinking that what you do won’t make history, you still may inadvertently become one of the most enjoyable parts of it. And that is pretty darn amazing.
-The Pine Barrens Institute
Image Credit: Archibald MacNeal Willard (1836-1918)
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“…many people were in their homes enjoying what they thought was just a normal evening. But when they ran outside to see what was the matter, and heard the ever-growing roar steadily moving closer towards them, they also caught sight of a strange object both rotating and moving through the sky above the trees.”