The Puritans and the early colonists found more monsters in America than just witches. The Devil had birthed a variety of what were often called “monstrous births” and they became signs and omens for the believers in an angry god. Spectral, shape-shifting dogs, along with demonic, giant black bears, haunted the woods around the settlements. They believed they were surrounded by evil spirits in the sea, the rivers, lakes, forests, and swamps around them.

But the Puritans were not the only ones finding monsters on the American frontier. Sea serpents swam in our waters and strange beasts populated the wilderness that loomed over most new American settlements. But the response to the beasts the settlers met were not always the same and didn’t always share the Puritan desire to destroy all monsters or cleanse the American landscape – no matter how devilish the monsters might be.

Instead, they turned them into legends.

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