Abbagoochie

[AlchoPwn]

If something is totally FUBAR in the USA, it is almost always in West Virginia. The place is cursed. It doesn't matter if it is being a coal state during global warming, or the old news oxycontin epidemic, the moth man or Indrid Cold, or the sheepsquatch, or the countless cult compounds and unincorporated towns nestled in the beautiful hollows of this stunningly pretty state, West Virginia is the USA's own third world.

Enter the abbagoochie

Allegedly abbagoochies are from Costa Rica and were allegedly introduced into WV by the WVDNR to keep down the incidence of predators such as coyotes and pumas and such. They are described as "dryland piranhas" and look like this:


Does it exist? Well, either WV is the most cryptid intensive place on the planet, or probably not. In all likelihood, after sheepsquatch failed to gain enough traction with the monster hunting fraternity, the WV Chamber of Commerce decided it needed a new cryptid to market. The irony is, that being said, it is remotely possible, "ya never know" (but you probably do).

Here is a site where you can read all about the abbagoochie:
http://westvirginiaurbanlegends.com/what-is-a-abbagoochie/

 

[EnolaGaia]

The abbagoochie story was an admitted hoax created by a Jim Wilson for his column in the Webster Echo. This 2001 Field and Stream item

https://books.google.com/books?id=k...AEwHnoECCIQAQ#v=onepage&q=abbagoochie&f=false

... mentions some of the ways Wilson seeded the story with obviously bogus details and states the newspaper revealed it was all a hoax a week later.

The Field and Stream item also states the abbagoochie photos are in fact pictures of a taxidermist's folly that inspired Wilson to create the legend.

 

[Sharon Hill]

Hmm, unimpressed. I'd say Florida and California have WVa beat. The obvious reason being a higher population.

 

[AlchoPwn]

The abbagoochie story was an admitted hoax created by a Jim Wilson for his column in the Webster Echo. This 2001 Field and Stream item https://books.google.com/books?id=k...AEwHnoECCIQAQ#v=onepage&q=abbagoochie&f=false ... mentions some of the ways Wilson seeded the story with obviously bogus details and states the newspaper revealed it was all a hoax a week later. The Field and Stream item also states the abbagoochie photos are in fact pictures of a taxidermist's folly that inspired Wilson to create the legend.

That makes perfect sense. I didn't take the story very seriously. It is reported more for the sake of folkloric completeness than any other reason. I wonder how many people will see one now the story is out there though?

Hmm, unimpressed. I'd say Florida and California have WVa beat. The obvious reason being a higher population.

Do you seriously think that California and Florida are more FUBAR that West Virginia? I can't imagine by what metric you would reach such a conclusion. I mean FFS, West Virginia has a higher unemployment rate, a shrinking population and a rapidly growing heroin epidemic that took off when the oxycontin epidemic dried up. Many of the Floridian and Californian cults set up indoctrination and work compounds in WV. Given that Florida and California are both prosperous and growing both in population and economy, and have a manageable drug problem, I would suggest there is no contest.

http://www.wvdhhr.org/bph/hsc/pubs/other/HeroinFastStats/Heroinfaststats.pdf

 

[Sharon Hill]

If something is totally FUBAR in the USA, it is almost always in West Virginia. The place is cursed.

This phrasing suggests you were speaking of paranormal content, not socio-economic factors. The problems you cited with joblessness, drugs, etc. have nothing to do with a Fortean cause. If you think that those are the result of a curse, you may wish to find out more about how society works (or doesn't).

It is established that more UFO, monster, ghosts, and weirdness reports occur where there is a greater population to report them.

 

[AlchoPwn]

This phrasing suggests you were speaking of paranormal content, not socio-economic factors. The problems you cited with joblessness, drugs, etc. have nothing to do with a Fortean cause. If you think that those are the result of a curse, you may wish to find out more about how society works (or doesn't). It is established that more UFO, monster, ghosts, and weirdness reports occur where there is a greater population to report them.

Well, I think that in the case of West Virginia, the collapse of society has a lot to do with cryptid sightings, especially given the high incidence of drug usage in a next-to-wilderness environment. Now in terms of a highly urban environment, the issue is more about the concentration of people with mental health issues imo. I have had a number of friends in law enforcement, and they have told me that they get regular complaints from the same people about UFOs, but their neighbors never reported them (obviously because they were working for the aliens). More people = more crazy =/= more Foretan.

 

[Jim]

This phrasing suggests you were speaking of paranormal content, not socio-economic factors. The problems you cited with joblessness, drugs, etc. have nothing to do with a Fortean cause. If you think that those are the result of a curse, you may wish to find out more about how society works (or doesn't).

It is established that more UFO, monster, ghosts, and weirdness reports occur where there is a greater population to report them.

West Virginia has been steeped in legend and folklore for centuries. Tales of bigfoot, the Mothman, the Ventigo, the Sannygaster, the Flatwoods monster, witchcraft, devil dogs, etc. abound. The area is one of the most backwards and rugged regions in the USA. It has a low population located in rugged mountainous heavy wooded terrain.

 

[Sharon Hill]

West Virginia has been steeped in legend and folklore for centuries. Tales of bigfoot, the Mothman, the Ventigo, the Sannygaster, the Flatwoods monster, witchcraft, devil dogs, etc. abound.

Steeped in folklore and legend (and monsters) - so has most every other eastern state and many western states. Nothing exceptional there.

"Ventigo"?
You mean Wendigo.

"Sannygaster"?
You mean snallygaster.​

 

[Jim]

Only Alaska likely has more cyrtid's and supernatural folklore than West Virginia and Louisiana (another relatively backwards - rural state). Makes sense Alaska is the least populated and most rugged state in the Union (it's very backwards - primitive).

In general many more cyrtids come from earths most remote, inhospitable, backwards regions, i.e.: the Congo basin, the Amazon, New Guinea, Siberia, Himalaya's, etc..

https://www.adn.com/features/articl...-mythical-creatures-last-frontier/2012/06/13/

 

[Frideswide]

The abbagoochie story was an admitted hoax

I always feel, unprovably, that while that may be true at the point of creating the hoax......