Slide-Rock Bolter
A whale-shaped mountain predator that slides down Colorado slopes to swallow hikers whole.
Late 1800s
Colorado Rocky Mountains, USA
Enormous (whale-sized)
Ambush predator
Tall tale
The Lore
The Slide-Rock Bolter is a lumberjack tall-tale creature from the mountains of Colorado. Described as an enormous whale-like animal that hooks its tail over a mountain peak and waits, mouth open, for prey to wander into the valley below. It then releases its grip and slides down the mountainside at tremendous speed, devouring everything in its path. The tale is believed to have originated among miners and loggers in the late 1800s.
Body Type
Folklore Origin
Media Appearances
- Fearsome Creatures of the Lumberwoods (1910 book)
Similar Real Animals
You might also like
Hodag
MediumA spiny, fire-born beast from the Wisconsin woods with a taste for white bulldogs.
Jackalope
LowThe antlered rabbit of the American West, born from taxidermy humor and frontier tall tales.
Thunderbird
HighA colossal bird from indigenous legend with a wingspan that blots out the sun.
Wendigo
HighA gaunt, insatiable spirit of the frozen north that was once human.
Wampus Cat
HighA six-legged panther-witch from Cherokee legend that screams through Appalachian hollows.
Gloucester Sea Serpent
LowHundreds of witnesses watched a giant serpent patrol Gloucester Harbor for weeks in 1817.
Tahoe Tessie
LowA serpentine lake dweller hiding in the frigid depths of Lake Tahoe since Washoe legend.
Altamaha-ha
LowGeorgia's river serpent, a long-necked mystery lurking in the murky Altamaha.