The Fearsome Critters are a group of mythical beings from the stories told by European colonists to North America, mainly in New England (naturally) in the 19th and early 20th centuries, but there are stories of Fearsome Critters spread all across the country, including several notable "species" specific to the southwest. Fearsome Critters are notable for being described primarily by their behavior, not by their appearance, and for often having names that reflect that (Hide-Behind, Come-at-a-Body, et cetera), meaning that what they actually look like fluctuates wildly from tale to tale in the style of Paul Bunyan--whose loyal friend and partner, Babe the Big Blue Ox, might well be a Critter himself.
Attributes | Values |
---|
rdfs:label
| - Fearsome Critters of American Folklore
|
rdfs:comment
| - The Fearsome Critters are a group of mythical beings from the stories told by European colonists to North America, mainly in New England (naturally) in the 19th and early 20th centuries, but there are stories of Fearsome Critters spread all across the country, including several notable "species" specific to the southwest. Fearsome Critters are notable for being described primarily by their behavior, not by their appearance, and for often having names that reflect that (Hide-Behind, Come-at-a-Body, et cetera), meaning that what they actually look like fluctuates wildly from tale to tale in the style of Paul Bunyan--whose loyal friend and partner, Babe the Big Blue Ox, might well be a Critter himself.
|
dcterms:subject
| |
dbkwik:all-the-tro...iPageUsesTemplate
| |
dbkwik:allthetrope...iPageUsesTemplate
| |
abstract
| - The Fearsome Critters are a group of mythical beings from the stories told by European colonists to North America, mainly in New England (naturally) in the 19th and early 20th centuries, but there are stories of Fearsome Critters spread all across the country, including several notable "species" specific to the southwest. Fearsome Critters are notable for being described primarily by their behavior, not by their appearance, and for often having names that reflect that (Hide-Behind, Come-at-a-Body, et cetera), meaning that what they actually look like fluctuates wildly from tale to tale in the style of Paul Bunyan--whose loyal friend and partner, Babe the Big Blue Ox, might well be a Critter himself. Genuine belief in the Fearsome Critters was never widespread; even in most of modern America they're relatively obscure, and almost completely unheard-of in other parts of the world. They originated, variously, as exaggerated accounts of native fauna unfamiliar to the European travelers who described them and as a humorous means of describing the strange goings-on in the woods by lumberjacks, carnies, and other outdoorsy types. Fearsome critters are not cryptids, nor are they associated with Native American faiths; the sasquatch and the Wendigo are not Fearsome Critters. Some of the notable Critters are:
|