Written by Richard Lapidus
Amongst the outlaws, lawmen, cacti and mesquite, scorpions and rattlesnakes roamed a creature so famously terrible that the mere sight of it brought tremors and fear to some of the bravest and baddest hombres in Arizona Territory. Unlike the rattlesnake, which would likely sound a warning, or the scorpion, which would generally hide during daylight hours, gila monsters were believed to be aggressive, deadly and behind every boulder. In actuality, they were none of those things.
With the word “monster” in their name, it is not surprising that there would be many myths and legends relating to North America’s largest lizard. Even their scientific name, Heloderma suspectum, loosely translates to suspect with the terrible skin. Animals having red in their coloration, such as certain wasps and snakes, also seem to elicit fear in humans. The gila monster is large, up to three feet, and is colored with bumpy skin of red (or orange) and black. It is a myth that they are aggressive. For a lizard, they are rather slow and clumsy. However, the belief that they will bite and hang on with long teeth and powerful jaws, is factual. But they don’t attack unless provoked.
Although gila monsters are one of two venomous lizards, it is a major rarity that their bite is fatal. Tombstone’s famous Doctor George Emery Goodfellow heard many stories about the deadly nature of these reptiles. His curiosity caused him to collect a few specimens for study. Eventually he irritated one into biting him so he could analyze the effects. The bite forced Goodfellow into bed for five days, but his conclusions were weighted on the side of the lizard. “The belief in the [deadly] poisonous nature of the lizard [is] purely mythical and superstitious, the remnant of primitive man’s antagonism to all creepy things.”
When Doc Goodfellow discovered that two deaths, which were attributed to the bite of gila monsters, were actually due to acute alcoholism, he published his work, “The Gila Monster,” in Scientific American.
Many images of gila monsters were captured by pioneer photographers in Arizona. Here are a couple from my collection.
The Dreaded Gila Monster
Gila Monster And Other Creatures
