New Book Explores Secret Life Of Monsters

New Haven and Connecticut overall have a vibrant history, from the indigenous cultures that flourished here, to the religious zealots that founded the New Haven Colony, to the creation of the modern city as we know it in the 20th century. Weaving in and out of that is a folklore that includes sea serpents in the Long Island Sound, monsters in the woods in Winsted, Hamden, and elsewhere, and dragons in Fair Haven. All these and more are chronicled in Connecticut Cryptids: A Field Guide to the Weird and Wonderful Creatures of the Nutmeg State, written by Patrick Scalisi and illustrated by Valerie Ruby-Omen. The duo celebrated the book’s release with a party at Strange Ways this weekend, in which partygoers were invited to dress as their favorite fanciful creatures.

Writer, editor, and storyteller Scalisi lives in Naugatuck, where he was born and raised. ​“I really enjoy local history and trivia,” he said. Before he started the book, he had ​“some awareness” of some of the stories of the state’s cryptids — ​“the big stories,” like the Black Dog of the Hanging Hills. During the pandemic shutdown, he started to wonder what other stories were out there. ​“I didn’t know if it would be enough to fill a book,” he said, but thought: ​“let me do the research and see where the research leads.”

He started by contacting historical societies throughout the state; he learned that every municipality except Chaplin has one. He explained what he was doing and asked if they had any stories. As he gathered responses, he saw that he had enough to do a book.

That’s when he contacted artist Valerie Ruby-Omen, who also lives in Naugatuck, and who he knew through mutual friends. He asked if she would illustrate his book. ​“I obviously said yes,” Ruby-Omen said. The book was a natural fit for her, as an artist who had made the likes of the Queer Occult can label for Armada Brewing in June. The cryptids project allowed her to make images that were ​“spooky, but kind of cute — it’s very me. When Pat said he was working on this, I said, ​‘let’s go.’ ”

The project ​“tested my limits as an illustrator,” she said. ​“I got to draw so many wacky things for this project.” The one she had the most trouble with was the White Wolf of Peacedale Cemetery, in Bristol. ​“I found out doing this that I hate drawing wolves,” she said with a laugh. She had to do ​“so many iterations before it looked right. But when it looked right, I nailed it.” In all, it was the largest illustration project she had ever taken on, and the longest she’d worked on a single project. ​“I’m super-proud of it,” she said.

The book proved to be a lot of work, especially in the final month before printing. ​“We had many moments where we were like, ​‘I hate cryptids,’ ” Ruby-Omen said. ​“But now we’re planning on getting matching cryptid tattoos, so we don’t really hate cryptids.”

“We did this because we wanted to do it, and have a good time,” Scalisi said. He also learned new local folklore. One of his favorite stories came from Beacon Falls, which, according to lore, has a ​“dragon that lives up in the hills,” he said. ​“I had never heard the story before in my life.” Other stories didn’t seem to have been shared outside of their immediate locales, like the story of the Grench, a creature from Greenwich that was concocted within the town government ​“as a way to bring storytelling into their annual municipal report” in 1973, he said. In the report, ​“you follow the creature as it learns all about all the various municipal departments.” Illustrations of the Grench were provided by cartoonist Mort Walker, of Beetle Bailey fame.

“It’s such a great and charming story,” he said.

Scalisi uncovered a specific New Haven cryptid as well: the Fair Haven sea dragons.

“When the first European sailors arrived in what would become Fair Haven, they saw these creatures on the shore that they had never seen before. They had no idea what they were. We know that they were harbor seals. But they assumed they must be sea dragons,” Scalisi said. As a result, when the Europeans settled there, ​“it was originally called the village of Dragon, and the first bridge that crossed the river was the Dragon Bridge. And there was the Dragon Turnpike, and there was a company named Dragon.” Only in the 1800s was the settlement name changed to Fair Haven, but not before they used the ​“transitional name” of Fair Dragon. In the 1970s, a community festival hearkened to the old village name in calling the neighborhood ​“an old dragon with new fire.” The sailors’ misunderstanding ended up having a long impact.

Connecticut Cryptids is notable for being a fun, light, and often fascinating book that avoids being exploitative; it treats its occasionally serious subject matter with respect. The Quinnipiac story of Hobbomock, the Sleeping Giant — from which Hamden’s state park gets its name — is given a straightforward treatment that honors its source. The story of the Downs Road Monster is an occasion to dive into some of the sadder aspects of real local history. A section in the back of the book entitled ​“Problematic Tales” mentions but doesn’t elaborate on the several local legends that seem rooted in telling exploitative stories about people with birth defects or intellectual disabilities.

Nestled within the stories of cryptids, too, are kernels of wisdom about our connections to the past, and to the land. ​“A lot of the lore that we found was influenced by things immigrants brought over,” Scalisi said. The Black Dog of the Hanging Hills is an import from British and Celtic lore of demon dogs. ​“Is it just them bringing that into rotation from their own heritage?” he mused. Other cryptid stories, the book points out, are connected to some sad and uncomfortable aspects of local history. The Candlewood Lake Monster, which people have sighted since the 1970s, can be understood as a ​“supernatural agent of revenge,” as the book puts it, prowling the waters of a reservoir that flooded the town of Jerusalem after buying people out and claiming eminent domain on the rest in the first half of the 20th century.

Likewise, many feel unease when alone in the woods, or in any natural places isolated from others — or are drawn to certain natural areas by a pull they don’t fully understand. ​“I love hiking in the woods,” Ruby-Omen said. The stories of cryptids tap into ​“this innate mystery of the wilderness and the unknown,” she said. ​“It’s very poetic.”