Manassas Gap Monster

[gschwartzman]

Anyone seen this thing described below? My buddy swears up and down that he saw some really strange animal run from the shelter as we approached one day this summer. Later we found this from The Monk's "A Thousand and One Appalachian Tales". I don't know if this is fiction but...

_________________
"He reached Manassas Gap Shelter a little after 2 pm and stopped for lunch. It was quiet as he ate peanut butter sandwiches and read the Register. Then, suddenly, he heard a rustling in the bushes several feet away.

He sat frozen as the sound drew closer and approached a nearby log. One furry paw with sharp black claws and opposable thumbs, then another, grabbed the log and pulled up a strange looking creature he had never seen before.

It sat peering at him with dark beady eyes from behind the log. He instantly thought it looked like a Koala Bear. It had a long black nose, cute rounded ears, a full set of sharp white teeth and black sinister pools for eyes. For a long instant they stared at each other. It looked at The Monk as if sizing him up. It bared it's large pointy teeth as if to say it didn't think he sized up much. He got the clear impression that it thought it could take him but for whatever reason decided not to.

Then, in a blur, it fled away. Whatever it was, it left him speechless. Later, telling others about his encounter, they suggested the creature was either a Sloth or a Lemur. However, neither the Koala nor the Sloth were indigenous to the area so that left a Lemur as the prime suspect. "

[Frosty]

Then, in a blur, it fled away. Whatever it was, it left him speechless. Later, telling others about his encounter, they suggested the creature was either a Sloth or a Lemur. However, neither the Koala nor the Sloth were indigenous to the area so that left a Lemur as the prime suspect. "

Lemurs are found only on Madagascar, quite a ways from the AT.

[Flash Hand]

oh whew its not chupacbras the one that terrorized mexicans, but might escape into USA.. The one that have red eyes that glows in the night

Flash Hand

[MisterSweetie]

Was it like this? :

[NotYet]

I remember a Manassas Gap Monster in 2000. I was the largest RAT I ever saw, and it kept coming after us during the night!!!!

[Kerosene]

That same rat, or her cousin, was still there in October 2001! Fortunately, a weekend camper showed up and hung his Bonfire lamp up, so the constant glow kept the moster rat to the rafters. Even so, I barely slept a wink!

There's a recent post under the Manassas Gap Shelter that says that the rodent problem has been eliminated.

[food]

I don't know what one would be doing on the AT but was it this?

http://www.desertusa.com/mag01/mar/papr/ringt.html

[gschwartzman]

MisterSweetie - my buddy says this looks like it, but it may have been a little more brown in color, he thought.

Thanks! What is it??

Was it like this? :

[bailyrosco]

I don't want this thread to get lost in the shuffle. What is this a picture of looks like a cross between a rat and a wild pig?

[TDale]

THAT is a real, non-animated Tasmanian Devil.

[gschwartzman]

THAT is a real, non-animated Tasmanian Devil.

If that's a real Tasmanian Devil, something tells me it's not what my friend saw at Manassas Gap....unless they're known to run the hills of north western Virginia. My girlfriend sent me a link saying they're only in Australia. Anybody lose a pet Devil??

The mystery continues....

[gschwartzman]

I don't know what one would be doing on the AT but was it this?

http://www.desertusa.com/mag01/mar/papr/ringt.html

no, he looked at your link and said it wasn't the Ringtail....

[Newb]

Sounds to me like he saw a raccoon or a weasel. No big mystery there. Of course...there's tales in the mountains around those parts of a hideous mutant Weasel-Coon that escaped from a government research lab under Weather mountain back in the 1980's. But, then again, those are just stories.....right?

[TOW]

he saw a animal that he never saw before perhaps? and once he can identify it, we will find that it was not some kind of mysterious creature after all