A few days ago I told you about the Snarly Yow, the devil dog from Maryland. Another beast in Appalachian folklore is located a bit south of there, in southwestern Virginia.
Saltville, Virginia, is a town in Smyth County. Known historically as a source of salt for early settlers and later for the Confederacy, it also became known for sightings of a strange creature known as the Devil Monkey.
The story goes that in 1959 a couple was driving near the town of Saltville one night when they were suddenly attacked by a large and powerful ape-like creature that left scratch marks on the car. According to this couple’s daughter the beast had “light, taffy colored hair, with a white blaze down its neck and underbelly…it stood on two, large well-muscled back legs and had shorter front legs or arms.”
The creature was seen a few years later by two nurses in Saltville who were driving home from work early one morning. Again this beast attacked their car, ripping off the convertible top. Something about cars with this one, it seems. Oh, nobody was harmed in either attack.
The last encounter with the Devil Monkey happened in 1994, when an Ohio woman was driving on a dark country road around 2:30 in the morning. Suddenly a creature that looked like a hybrid between a monkey and a wolf jumped out in front of her car in the middle of the road. According to this woman, what she saw was “all black with very short sleek fur, pointy ears and had a long thin tail.” She also reported that it was very powerfully built. She wasn’t harmed in the incident but, oddly enough, for a few weeks after the incident livestock in that area suddenly began disappearing.
The only advice I’d give is to not be driving on any backroads near Saltville late at night if you can help it.