my mawmaw's town in Arkansas had a 'gowrow' panic — is this just a tall tale or was there a real animal scare

Half family story, half I-need-help. My mawmaw is from the Ozarks near a place called Marshall, Searcy County Arkansas, and she always talked about the 'Gowrow' like it was something everybody up there just knew about. Way she told it: late 1800s, there were stories of a giant reptile thing, like a ……