The Agropelter (Anthrocephalus craniofractens)[1] is a mythical fearsome critter[1] said to inhabit hollow trees of the conifer woods from Maine to Oregon.[2] From this vantage point, the creature would await an unwary person and hurl wooden splinters and branches at the intruder.[2][3][4][5] Some have described the creature as being so quick that it has never been seen.[3] One reference describes the creature as having a "slender, wirely body, the villainous face of an ape, and arms like muscular whiplashes, with which it can snap off dead branches and hurl them through the air like shells from a six inch gun."[5]
The agropelter subsists on woodpeckers, hoot owls,[5] high-holes,[4] and dozy (rotten) wood.[4] Its pups are born on February 29 and always arrive in odd numbers.[4] They are blamed for the disappearance of people in northern forests.[6] When loggers died from branches falling on their heads, the agropelter was blamed for throwing the heavy branches.[7] Another reference describes the creature as having "the head of a gorilla or some other terrifying ape, but fully furred, and its body was like that of a stretched-out, starving bear."[8] They are also said to be "completely black save for its face, which had a spoken ash-grey skull pattern contrasting with the black of the rest of the animal".[8]
In one account, an agropelter kidnapped a pioneer surveyor and fed him raw fish until he escaped.[9]
↑ 5,05,15,2Cox, William T. with Latin Classifications by George B. Sudworth. Fearsome Creatures of the Lumberwoods. (Washington, D.C.: Judd & Detweiler Inc., 1910
