The Gumberoo: A Fearsome Critter From Cascadia

Along Washington’s coast, a beast lumbers through thick evergreen forests. Only a few lumberjacks have ever seen it … and they were lucky to escape its ravenous hunger. Meet the Gumberoo, a fearsome critter from Cascadia.

Early Sightings In Coastal Forests

Lumberjacks first reported seeing the Gumberoo in the 1870s, but it wasn’t until 1910 that William T. Cox documented the monster. He noted the reports and critter description in his classic work, Fearsome Creatures of the Lumberwoods.

But the reports focused on strange sounds coming from the deep, dark coastal forests. Loggers detailed fiery explosions and strange sounds coming from forest fires, not a bear-sized, ravenous monsters.

While Cox was the first to write about the Gumberoo, another writer, Henry H. Tryon, confirmed a handful of sightings in Fearsome Critters (1939). This time, the Gumberoo thrived in burned cedar forests that dotted the coastal timber country.

And we got the first descriptions right from the loggers …

Gumberoo Anatomy

Loggers described the Gumberoo as roughly bear-sized, but with:

• Coal-black, hairless skin that shines “like rubber or wet leather.”
• A few bristles on the chin and heavy eyebrows.
• An elastic hide that repels anything hurled or shot at it: Cox claimed even bullets bounce off.
• A voracious appetite, capable of swallowing mid-sized animals like ponies, deer and dogs.

I suspect the dark skin color comes from its diet of burned cedar. As for its elastic hide, it might be caused by a dense subdermal fat layer.

Cox also recorded the creature’s one weakness, fire. He wrote that the Gumberoo “burns like celluloid, with explosive force,” and that loggers near Coos Bay, Oregon once smelled “burning rubber” after forest fires.

Possible Natural Explanations

No one has ever recovered any Gumberoo remains for a deeper biological analysis like DNA testing. And now that it’s been over 100 years since the last sighting, we likely won’t get a sample soon.

There are a few natural explanations for the creature. These include:

• Misidentified wildlife: Hairless bears, victims of mange or burns, can appear smooth and shiny, fitting Cox’s description.
• Acoustic phenomena: The “explosions” could be trapped gases from decomposing vegetation or chemical pockets in cedar stumps igniting during fires.
• Loggers’ imagination: Lumberjacks may have let their minds run wild during wildfire outbreaks … and simply imagined the monster.

Habitat & Range

From the Olympic Peninsula to Humboldt, California, the Gumberoo has a long range, but its habitat is limited. This creature needs to hug the coastline with cool fogs, damp soil and western red cedar thrives. It makes me think the monster needs some sort of moisture (or high humidity) for its skin.

The Gumberoo also needs to eat burnt cedar trees. Now, this is actually commonly found along the Pacific Northwest coast. In the summer, it rarely rains, so wildfires frequently happen. Those burnt tree oases lure the Gumberoo.

From the clues in lumberjack reports, and Cox’s and Tryon’s writing, it’s likely the monster would inhabit old burned cedar hollows for a den. Coastal fogs would help conceal its movement from predators, and the coastal rainforests would have an ample supply of burnt wood, animals and carrion for food.

Closing Reflection

We may never see the Gumberoo roaming the Cascadian coastal forests again. For one, human populations have taken over the territory, and a Gumberoo needs a lot of space. Logging also reduced its habitat, and wildfires have become a larger threat to both humans and the beast. Fire is the biggest threat to monster. Perhaps they’ve moved farther north into Canada?

The PSMC will continue to track sightings of the Gumberoo. But we haven’t had a verifiable report since 1910.

Sources & Further Reading

Cox, William T. (1910). Fearsome Creatures of the Lumberwoods. Minneapolis: Press of the American Forestry Association. Full text online via lib.lumberwoods.org

Tryon, Henry H. (1939). Fearsome Critters. Stephen Greene Press.

Washington State Historical Society, Logging Folklore Collections (archival summaries).

“Fearsome Critters.” Encyclopedia of American Folklore. ABC-CLIO, 2006.

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Thanks for reading PSMC’s entry on the Gumberoo. If you’ve encountered a strange beast like this along the coastal forests, let us know in the comments below.