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Revision as of 23:13, 18 December 2007 by Admin (talk | contribs)
Illustration c 1930.

The tatzelwurm is a dragon-like beast and cryptid reported from the Alps mountains areas covering part of Austria, Bavaria and Switzerland.

It is known by several names in different regions.

  • Stollenworm (Tunnel Worm)
  • Bergstutzen (Mountain Stump)
  • Springwurm (Jumping Worm)
  • Daazelwurm
  • Praatzelwurm
  • Arassas (French Alps)


Description

The tatzelwurm has a snake-like body between 2 and 6 feet in length, with two clawed front legs, but no hind legs. It has smooth hairless skin covered with delicate scales. Its most distinctive trait is a large head with big eyes similar to the head of a cat, except for it having scales instead of fur. The tatzelwurm can grow to at least six feet long, but some specimens, possibly juveniles, are considerably smaller. Local folklore holds that the Tatzelwurm is able to defend itself by expelling poisonous fumes that are capable of killing a human

One claimed photograph of the Tatzelwurm exists. It was taken in 1934 by Swiss photographer named Balkin who took a photo of what he thought was a very peculiar log. When the camera flashed, the "log" darted away.


Theories

Reports of these creatures have become very rare, so cryptozoologists think that, if the tatzelwurm did exist in the first place, it may be extinct today. Speculations on what it might have been center on lizards, salamanders, snakes and otters.

  • Some salamanders have vastly shriveled legs, so perhaps the tatzelwurm was a giant salamander that was once native to the European Alps, an equivalent creature to known giant salamanders that are found in mountainous regions.
  • Trying to classify it as an otter presents some problem as the creature has no back legs.
  • Heuvelmans thought that since the tatzelwurm has been described as poisonous that it might be a relative of the Gila monster, one of the very few poisonous lizards in the world. Gila monsters also have "fat" tails that closely resemble those in illustrations and reports of the tatzelwurm. Gilas normally live up to 4,800 feet in elevation in rocky foothills. They live in burrows usually dug by other animals and stay in their burrows up to 95% of the time. If the Tatzelwurm is related, the "shyness" of the Gila would explain why sightings were rare of them.
  • The general description of the Tatzelwurm (apart from size) bears also some resemblance to an amphisbaenian, the Mexican Mole Lizard.


Stories

First tale

The little girl of a farmer’s familiy from the ‘Oberhof’ (lit. upper farm, very common name for farms in Switzerland ) was ordered to cut bean poles in the mountain forest of ‘Saal’. So she was busy with the stem of a young fir, which stood on three evenly protruding roots like a stool, forming a hollow underneath. After the first cut of the axe, a young ‘Stollenwurm’ (Tunnel worm = Tatzelwurm) emerged from underneath and attacked the child. It was grey in colour, not quite as long as an arm, the mid-body about the thickness of a cat, had two upright, round-cut ears, fleshy and hairless, and walked on two short front-legs with small wide paws. Thus was the whole appearance cute, only at the front of the head sat two strangely huge eyes, as big as little wheels and as bright as stars. This extremely bright glance made the child flee immediately. The narrator, which experienced this in her childhood, is now a seventy-year old widow. She not only still insists on the unmistaken veracity of the experience, but adds that the appearance of this ‘Stollenwurm’ coincided with an exceptionally hot summer. (Source: Tales from the Fricktal", Frick, 1987/88 )


Second tale

In the summer of 1717, the herb collector and root-digger Joseph Scherer from ‘Näfels’ was busy at the foot of the ‘Glärnisch Hirschenzungen’ (mountain), whilst his boy was picking all sorts of flowers. Suddenly the boy gave a loud shriek. “What’s the matter”, the father called over. But the boy gave no reply, only stared with a pale face and horror-filled eyes at a big rock. The father found that strange. He left his bundle of herbs and hurried over. What did he see? From beneath a block of rock hissed a gruesome animal, from whose cat-like head two wild, protruding eyes were sparkling.

As soon as he tried to shoo the cat-beast away, it stirred and the whole body became visible. Four short legs armed with claws carried a spotted body, which was covered all over with scales and was about as thick as a half-filled pitcher. The animal whipped the long tail excitedly side to side, and surely it would have jumped at the two people, if the herb-gatherer wouldn’t have quickly sharpened a stick and pierced the animal with it. To Scherer’s amazement, the stick penetrated the flesh very easily, as if he pierced a slab of butter. But poisonous, stinking blood shot out of the wound. A few drops splashed onto the botanist’s leg, which immediately swell up massively, so that Scherer could only limp home with great difficuly. Over a month he had to ‘salve and doctor’ until the swelling finally vanished. Everybody was convinced that the herbalist had killed a dragon. Although it was only about two foot long- and consequently must have been only a very young one. Who knows what father & son would have experienced if they would have come upon a full-grown ‘Lindwurm’? (Source: Glarner tales", collected & publ. by Kaspar Freuler und Hans Thürer, 1968).


See also


External links


References

  • Karl Shuker (2003). The Beasts That Hide From Man. Paraview, New York. ISBN 1-931044-64-3