
Artist's rendering
The Dungavenhooter (Crocodilus hauriens) is a fearsome critter from the tales of the lumberjacks from North America in the 19th & early 20th Century.
Description[]
It lived in Maine and in the upper peninsula of Michigan. It was described as a deadly alligator-like creature that has no mouth, but its nostrils were abnormally large. It also had short legs and a thick powerful tail. It makes no noise except a snort.
It preys on lumberjacks by hiding behind a bush with satanic cunning. When a person stumbles by, the Dungavenhooter leaps out and knocks its prey to the ground with its tail. The Dungavenhooter then jumps up and down on its victim until gases are produced which it inhales through its large nostrils. The Dungavenhooter is now thought to just have been an alligator, although Michigan and Maine are almost certainly too far north with too cold a climate. Rum-sodden prey are killed with especial eagerness. The Dungavenhooter is also not to be confused with the famous New Brunswick ghost legend, The Dungarvon Whooper.
In Popular Culture[]
The Dungavenhooter as depicted in MetaZoo: Cryptid Nation
Further reading[]
"The Dungavenhooter" from Fearsome Critters (1939) by Henry H. Tryon