Guyascutus/Guyascutas
The Guyascutus is a giant creature from Lumberjack Folklore. It has the scientific name of Guyascutus Hunyanos, with the possible variation of Guyascutus Automobilica. The name is believed to come from the Chinook word Hyascultus, meaning worthless. In Oregon, people claim these creatures originate from Maine, while in Philadelphia, they’re claimed to originate from Boston. They are believed to live in the mountains and are consistently described as having legs that are shorter on one side than the other, much like the Sidehill Gouger. These legs can adjust telescopically to accommodate different mountain slopes, and they are also believed to have prehensile tails to grab rocks while climbing. These creatures start out moving slowly until their muscles warm up, allowing them to move fast like lightning. Some say they are never seen unless after a snake bite. Some farmers bred their sheep with Guyascutus to give their sheep telescoping legs. One farmer claimed to have domesticated a Guyacutus, and it followed him like a pet. It disliked walking on flat roads with its uneven legs, causing it to stumble. In 1844, one was reported to be stuck in a poplar tree, and several were reported in Vermont farmland. They were often described as predatory, sometimes specifically being referred to as maneaters, though in 1855, they were reported to eat hyacinth roots. Some suggest they eat lichens and swallow rocks to help digest them. There is a repeated story of a traveling sideshow advertising the Guyascutus. They would roll into town, sell out with tickets, and during the show, panic and act terrified, claiming the creature had escaped. Sometimes, one person would make scary sounds pretending to be the escaping Guyascutus, all in an attempt to scam the terrified people out of their money when they inevitably fled, having never seen the creature.
The exact physical description of the Guyascutus varies greatly, with three main descriptions.
They are sometimes described as a ten-foot-long alligators. They have hardened plates like an armadillo on the back and a ridge of horns along the spine.
They are sometimes described as resembling a whitetail deer. They also have rabbit ears and brutal jaws with sharp teeth like a mountain lion.
They are sometimes described as 40-foot-long dragons. They were said to resemble monstrous lizards with necks like giraffes, and writhing tails armed with yard-long dagger-like horns. They have teeth like a crosscut saw and could use these to grind boulders to dust. Red smoke billows from nostrils, and even looking at them can frighten men to death.
Citations:
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Brown, Charles Edward. Paul Bunyan Natural History: Describing the Wild Animals, Birds, Reptiles and Fish of the Big Woods about Paul Bunyan’s Old Time Logging Camps. United States, C.E. Brown, 1935.
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