In late 1896, in small northern Arkansas town named Blanco, a strange creature had been slaughtering cattle, horses, pigs, dogs and cats. The creature had terrorized the community for several months, and although several attempts had been made to capture or kill whatever it was, all proved to be unsuccessful. The creature would come down from the mountains at night and slaughter livestock. The animal was relentless often breaking into cowsheds and killing cows and calves. As the community was in peril, one businessman from Little Rock, William Miller, who consistently worked in the area would lead the charge to hunt this animal, an animal known to the town as the “Gowrow”.
The Gowrow is typically described as a large being twenty feet in length with a long thin tail with a blade on the end of it. The animal has two tusks, large, webbed feet ending in claws, and a row of short horns along its back. The name “Gowrow” comes from the horrible noise it makes when it slaughters its prey.
William Miller had heard from prior trips to the area, stories of the beast from others, but on the trip, he was determined to hunt and kill the beast. After talking to people in the community, Miller would soon meet a young man who was out hunting and encountered a strange set of footprints. The young man was perplexed as to what the footprints were and ran back to town.
After speaking with Miller and other townspeople, a posse was formed, and they loaded up with shotguns and Winchesters. Miller would later recall the tracks were easy to find and follow. After following them for several miles, the tracks ended at a river.
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The groups began searching the surrounding area and would soon track it to a massive cave. The cave was somewhat hidden as it was under a shelf of rock, and it was behind cedar trees.
Miller recalled that the ground up to the cave was completely smooth as if corpse after corpse had been dragged up it.
As the men entered the cavern, they would find animal bones and some human bones littered through the cave. The Gowrow was not present, so the men decided to hide behind a large rock and wait for it to return. After around 30 minutes, the men would hear loud splashing down near the river and knew the beast was headed home.
As the creature headed toward the cave, Miller alleged to snap a photo. The men meanwhile formed into position so that they could shoot in unison. Miller then gave the command, and the men fired simultaneously. The beast was gravely injured, not dead yet, and whipped its tail violently knocking several medium size trees. In order to put it out its misery, Miller gave another fire command at which this point the beast was killed.
This legend is the main story and primary source for the Gowrow. Miller told this to journalist Elbert Smithee. Smithee would write about this incident in the Arkansas Gazette on January 31, 1897. An illustration of the Gowrow was done by Elmer Burrus based on the alleged photo from Miller.
Miller claimed to have sent the bones and Smithsonian Institute at Washington, but it never arrived.
While Miller’s story is the most famous surrounding the Gowrow, there are other accounts. However, both appear to be lacking details and are dubious in nature.
The first is from Vance Randolph a folklore collector who researched the Ozarks region and believes he found reports of this creature in the early 1880’s. Randolph’s sources suggested that the Gowrow was a new type of species. Newborns were hatched from eggs the size of beer kegs.
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Another alleged encounter happened sometime before 1935. E. J. Rhodes heard a noise in a deep cavern called Devil’s Hole, 3 miles northwest of Myrtle, Arkansas. He climbed down 200 feet to investigate but couldn’t see anything. Later, he lowered a flatiron on a rope into the same cave, and something bit through the rope.
The legend of the Gowrow has remained a popular story within the state of Arkansas.
While the Gowrow is most likely folklore or a tall tale, there are several theories concerning what this creature might have been had it existed.
The first is that the Gowrow was a gigantic alligator that inhabited the Ozarks. While many dismiss Alligators in the region as to not possible due to the cold weather, there have been cases of alligators being spotted in the Ozarks. While some say these are simply cases of pets let loose, the alligator theory fits the description of Gowrow quite well.
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Alligators’ feet match, their tails can be very powerful, and they have teeth the protrude from their mouth. It could very well be the case that the hunters killed an alligator, and hadn’t ever seen one, but thought it was new species. Miller could have easily exaggerated the size as well as other features for the story.
Miller himself believed it was some type of pachyderm. He thought it was or is a combination of hyena and rhinoceros.
One other theory is razorback pig, however this doesn’t fit the size or even come close. Could it be the case the men thought they were hunting a monster and it turned out to be a simple feral pig? Then Miller decided to greatly embellish the story?
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Of course, the last theory is that this is simple folklore and there is no truth to it.
While it’s unlikely a creature of that size could be roaming the woods undetected, perhaps in those deep caves in the remote forest there a lurks a dangerous animal, one undiscovered and waiting to be discovered.
