Other / Unknown · Hurley, South Dakota · 1884

SD-1884ID case-8b215d33d3First-hand accountFallback locationAdded to map Oct 31, 2026

The account

A witness reports a two-minute fight with a Gila monster described as being as large as an elephant, which bit his arm and breathed a blinding vapor.

See the source ↓ one document so far, so there is no trail to follow yet

We map claims, not creatures: this is what the sources say, not proof. How a case is built

Creature: Other / Unknown
Where: Hurley, Hurley Township, Turner County, South Dakota, United States
mapped to town level · from the newspaper's printing town, not where it was seen
Fallback location (drawn hollow on the map): this is the newspaper's printing town, not where it was seen.
When: Mar 1884
Account: First-hand (the witness telling it)
Backed by: 1 independent source
Added to map: Oct 31, 2026
Case id: case-8b215d33d3

Place lookups use data © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL), via Nominatim. All credits

Every link goes to where we found the account. The earliest we found is marked; it is the earliest found, not necessarily the original.

Image 3 of Turner County herald (Hurley, Dakota [S.D.]), March 13, 1884
Newspaper · 1884-03-13
Earliest found, not necessarily the original.

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