FIELD FILE · SQUONKOTHERFOLKLORE
Squonk
Also known as Lacrimacorpus dissolvens
A warty, miserable creature of Pennsylvania’s hemlock woods that weeps constantly and, if caught, dissolves into tears – a lumberjack tall tale.
The squonk is the saddest monster in American folklore. It belongs to the family of “fearsome critters” – joke animals invented in logging camps to tease greenhorns and liven up long evenings in the bunkhouse – and it was first set down in print in 1910 by forester William T. Cox in his little illustrated book Fearsome Creatures of the Lumberwoods, with a Few Desert and Mountain Beasts, with drawings by Coert du Bois.
According to Cox, the squonk lived only in the hemlock forests of Pennsylvania and was almost unknown elsewhere. Its skin fit so badly and was so covered in warts and moles that the poor animal was ashamed of itself and wept all the time. Hunters tracked it by its trail of tears, and the best time to hunt it was on cold, moonlit nights, when it moved reluctantly and could be heard sobbing under the dark hemlock boughs.
Cox’s punchline is a story credited to one J. P. Wentling, formerly of Pennsylvania, who supposedly caught a squonk near Mont Alto by imitating its cry so that it hopped into his sack. As he carried it home the load suddenly grew lighter and the weeping stopped; when he looked inside, there was nothing left but tears and bubbles. Cox even gave the beast a mock-scientific name, Lacrimacorpus dissolvens – “tear-body dissolving.”
Later writers embellished the tale: Henry Tryon’s 1939 Fearsome Critters joked that the squonk had migrated to Pennsylvania from the desert, and Jorge Luis Borges included it in his Book of Imaginary Beings. It became an odd little pop-culture star, giving its name to a 1976 Genesis song and a nod in Steely Dan’s “Any Major Dude Will Tell You.” Chemists even borrowed the word for compounds that fall apart when isolated.
- Type
- Other
- Status
- Folklore
- First reported
- 1910
- Best-known location
- Hemlock forests of Pennsylvania, near Mont Alto
- Also called
- Lacrimacorpus dissolvens
- Reported in
- Pennsylvania
What witnesses describe
A small, pig-like or dog-sized animal with loose, ill-fitting skin covered in warts and moles, usually drawn hunched and sorrowful with tears streaming from its eyes. Later versions give it webbed feet on one side.
Where and when it’s seen
The dark hemlock forests of Pennsylvania, especially the south-central mountains around Mont Alto; it travels at twilight and dusk and hides from its own reflection.
Notable sightings
- 1910<em>Fearsome Creatures of the Lumberwoods</em> Washington, D.C.
William T. Cox published the first description of the squonk, including the tale of J. P. Wentling’s capture near Mont Alto. The book collected tall tales told by loggers across the country.
- 1939<em>Fearsome Critters</em> Cornwall, New York
Henry H. Tryon’s book retold the squonk legend with new details, helping keep the lumberjack critters alive for a new generation.
- 1976Genesis records “Squonk” United Kingdom
The British rock band included a song named after the creature on A Trick of the Tail, spreading the obscure Pennsylvania legend worldwide.
What could explain it?
- The squonk was never a real animal report – it is a lumber-camp tall tale, told as a joke and written down as one.
- “Fearsome critters” were used to tease newcomers to the camps, who might be sent out on snipe-hunt-style searches for them.
- Its mock-Latin scientific name and comic ending show that early writers like William T. Cox presented it with tongue firmly in cheek.
Legend, culture and tourism
The squonk is one of the best-loved of the American “fearsome critters,” alongside the hodag and the hidebehind. It appears in Borges’s Book of Imaginary Beings, in songs by Genesis and Steely Dan, in fantasy fiction and games, and as a shorthand among chemists for “chemical squonks” that vanish when isolated. In Pennsylvania it has become a whimsical emblem of the state’s forest heritage.
Places to visit
The forested South Mountain country where Cox’s tale sets the famous squonk capture.
Where it’s reported
Squonk in the news
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Sources
First published · Updated
