Tatzelwurm

In the folklore of the Alpine region of south-central Europe, the Tatzelwurm (German: [ˈtatsl̩ˌvʊʁm]), Stollenwurm, or Stollwurm is a lizard-like creature, often described as having the face of a cat, with a serpent-like body which may be slender or stubby, with four short legs or two forelegs and no hindlegs.

The name Tatzelwurm is not traditionally used in Switzerland,[1] and the creature is usually known by the Swiss as Stollenwurm or Stollwurm ("tunnel worm"[2] or "dragon of the mine-tunnels"[3]) in the Bernese Alps.

[28] An anecdotal "cat-headed serpent" with a black-grey body and no legs [b][29] was said to have been encountered by Johann[es] (Hans) and Thomas Tinner[c] at a place locally known as "Hauwelen" on the mountain of Frümsen in the Barony of Altsax, Switzerland.

Wangersberg in Sarganserland (Landvogtei of Sargans), and when it reared up on its hind legs it became tall as a man, with boar-like bristles running down its back (pictured right).

[18][19][27] The naturalist Karl Wilhelm von Dalla Torre writing on the "history of dragons of the Alps" in 1887 explained that these creatures could all be identified as species of lizards or snakes (seemingly ignoring the cat-headed features).

[14] Scheuchzer was frequently ridiculed for his credulity in the dragons, evident in the tone of his work,[23] but one scholar has discovered that in an earlier piece of writing, he had actually expressed skepticism in the material.

Supposedly before he died, he told his family of the encounter, describing the creature as 5 to 7 feet in length with a serpent-like body, two clawed front legs and a large feline-like head.

[39] Although both authors give expression to the idea that the Stollenwurm (rather than Swiss dragons) have heads that look like cats,[14][40] this is not to say that actual examples of lore they collected from Alpine people speak of any cat-headed creatures.

The people considered them to be poisonous and harmful, and to resemble short, stubby serpents, with a round head similar to a cat's, and clawed feet.

[42][43] In 1811, a Stollenwurm with a forked tongue, serpent-like but rather wide head, and two stubby feet was reported by a Schoolmaster Heinrich,[f] which he claimed to have seen in Guttannen-tal, Canton Bern, Switzerland.

To the standard description of the Stollenwurm as a sort of snake with a cat's head and short feet, he added it was sometimes said to be hairy, and not just 2 or 4 but multiple limbs like a caterpillar.