Gowrow

 




The Gowrow is a fearsome critter from Arkansas. It's considered a species, rather than one individual. There exists multiple different stories of hunters and locals defeating a troublesome gowrow by differing means and in different locations. It's also said that the females carry their soft shelled eggs around in a throat pouch, implying a breeding population.


The gowrows are giant reptilian monsters. They're 20 feet long from snout to tail and resemble giant lizards or wingless dragons. Gowrows are said to have massive jaws with even larger tusks, either like those of a hippopotamus or a wild boar. They have a row of bony spikes down their backs and long reptilian tails that end in a blade or a spike which they can use as a weapon. Gowrows have strong front arms which they can use to uproot entire trees and dig through solid rock. The feet are usually, but not always, webbed and and the Gowrow is considered a good swimmer. Besides these qualities, the over all body shape varies quite a bit in depictions. Some versions of the gowrow show it as a sprawling lizard, while others depict it standing erect with a dog like body. Some version of the gowrow are missing their back legs and have a serpentine tail. The length of the gowrow's neck also varied between depictions, with some being short necked and others having a longer more draconic neck.


Gowrows live underground in caves, or alternatively in bodies of water, usually ones connecting to caves. They use their webbed feet to swim through the underground lakes and aquifers of these cave systems. Gowrows would emerge from their caves at night to attack livestock, pets and unlucky travellers out at night. It was easy to tell if a gowrow lived in a cave or a lake, as there would be animal skeletons scattered around the entrance or lack shore.


While there are many local stories about the heroic defeat of gowrows, there are two legends that are well known:


One story was written in the Arkansas Gazette in 1897 by Fred W. Allsopp, and tells of the experiences of William Miller. Mr. Miller had been travelling in the Ozarks region when he came across a horrible monster who made various growls and hisses, and retreated into a cave surrounded by animal bones. Mr. Miller then learned from the locals in Calf Creek townships that the creature had been quite the problem for them, killing livestock and pets. William Miller gathered a posse of men to hunt down the gowrow. They found their way back to the gowrow's cave and waited in ambush for the creature to emerge. To the group's surprise the gowrow emerged from the lake behind them instead. They group was still able to kill the gowrow with several volleys of bullets, but not before the gowrow ripped up trees and boulders, and even dragging away one of the posse members. The group then examined the carcass of the creatures, reporting its details to the Gazette. The Gazette also printed a drawn picture of the creature along side the article, supposedly drawn from a photograph that had since been lost.


There's a second famous story from an unknown farmer in Polk County, who killed a gowrow by feeding it so many fermenting apples that the creature became bloated and couldn't leave through the narrow entrance of its cave, subsequently starving to death.


Folklore states that other gowrows still inhabit various locations in Arkansas, most notably in Devil's Den state park.


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