If you’re into quirky cryptids — creatures whose existence is unproven — and bizarre folklore, you may be familiar with the squonk — a creature that’s as sad as it is strange. This legendary animal hails from the hemlock forests of Pennsylvania and belongs to a curious category of folklore known as fearsome creatures. Unlike other mountain beasts or monsters that menace, the squonk weeps……..constantly. According to accounts from the early 20th century, the squonk is a small, pig-like animal with an ugly appearance, featuring ill-fitting, warty skin. It’s said to travel alone through dark hemlock trees and weeps softly to itself. When frightened or cornered, the squonk dissolves completely into a puddle of its own tears. The squonk’s hemlock home lies mostly in Pennsylvania, especially around the Pocono Mountains and Mont Alto. These cold, forested areas, with their freezing temperatures and thick tree cover, provide the solitude the squonk craves. The animal is generally nocturnal, with alleged sightings occurring during moonlit nights as it cries its way through the underbrush. Hunters from the early American logging industry claimed to hear its cries echoing among the trees. Attempts to catch one usually ended in failure, thanks to the creature’s watery exit strategy. While fossil bones dredged from lake bottoms might offer evidence of other cryptids, there's no such luck for the squonk; it leaves no trace, only the squonk's tears (allegedly). The squonk’s story was first documented in early lumberjack folklore collections around 1910, and even a Paul Bunyan book in 1937 included the squonk alongside Babe the Blue Ox. The squonk’s legacy continues to inspire everything from art prints to plush toys — odd, perhaps, for a creature that spends most of its time weeping.
