⊕ Geocoin Club February 2020 - Dwayyo ⊕

There is currently no goal for this item.

Another great geocoin by Christian Mackey. I am not especially fond of american cryprozoology but the pagan symbology (my favourite rune Algi ᛉ) allured me.

Concerning the depicted creature:

The Dwayyo, which is "officially" known as Dwayosapientherapsida Australopithecus Rexus, is a cryptid sighted primarily in West Middletown, Maryland, but sightings have also been reported in Wolfsville, Maryland.

This mammalian is said to be hairy, have a bush tail, and is sometimes bipedal. At times it has features similar to a wolf but with the arms, stance and stature of a human. It is the mortal enemy of the Snallygaster, a cryptid described as a flying, blood-sucking reptile sighted in the Maryland Blue Ridge Mountains.

The Dewayo and the Snallygaster have reportedly had vicious encounters dating back to early settlement of the Middletown valley.

Several University of Maryland students wrote that they had investigated the origin of the unknown creature and had traced its ancestry to the Dway which according to the researchers the Dway is an animal which inhabited the left bank of the upperAmazon River and the Yo which apparently immigrated from the Yangtze River plateau via the glacier bridge which connected Alaska and China.

A newspaper account in the Frederick News Post from 27 November 1965 detailed the accounts of a run in with the Dwayyo. "Near the woods of Gambrill State Park, "John Becker" went out in his yard to investigate a strange noise. It was getting dark, and he had started back to the house, when he saw it something moving toward him. "It was as big as a bear, had long black hair, a bushy tail, and growled like a wolf or a dog in anger." As it got closer, it stood up on its hind legs and attacked him. "Becker" fought the creature until it ran into the woods, leaving him, his wife and children in horror. Deciding to remain anonymous under the alias John Becker, he filed a report with local state police, telling of an attack by a mysterious monster that he called a Dwayyo."

"Sensing a good story, Frederick News Post reporter George May wrote a series of articles on the monster, and soon newspapers throughout the area were carrying the story. These articles spawned a rash of calls and letters to the newspaper, ranging from the absurd to the furious. The County Treasurers office received an application for a Dwayyo license from a "John Becker" accompanied by the one-dollar fee. The license was issued and mailed in care of George May, Frederick News Post.

The Frederick newspapers also reported other "sightings." An Adamstown, Maryland woman called the paper and insisted that "this trash about the Dwayyo be stopped." She said her daughter was being treated for a nervous condition because of all this talk about the Dwayyo." "Several hunters saw a strange black beast roaming the woods. An Ellerton Maryland Route 17 woman reported that residents of that area had heard something cry like a baby and scream like a woman for several months. A Jefferson, Maryland woman said that she saw a strange dog-shaped animal about the size of a calf chasing some cows on a farm near her home. However, investigations by local and state police turned up nothing substantial on the John Becker-Dwayyo story. By mid-December, the story started to fade. There had not been any sightings for several days, and it was suggested that the Dwayyo had moved on to another area."

Many of these are available at a University of Maryland exhibit named Mysterious Maryland. Here you can see life-size images of - and newspaper clippings about - the Dwayyo, a coyote/hyena-like legend from Frederick County; the Bunny Man, a hatchet-wielding man who dresses in a pink bunny suit and torments people in the DC/Metro area; and the infamous Goatman, a half man, half goat creature who has been spotted around PG County since the 1950s, and who some believe may actually be the devil himself.