THE BEAST OF BOGGY CREEK: The True Story of the Fouke Monster (3 page)

When these reports hit the newspaper, it not only sent a chill through the residents, but also brought to light other incidents involving the “monster” that had not been widely known up until that point. Apparently, the creature had also been prowling around the homes of residents living near Boggy Creek. One man had even taken a few shots at the creature with his old Army rifle but had never succeeded in bringing it down.

Fouke’s constable, Ernest Walraven, pointed out that similar horrifying reports had also circulated years earlier when a creature fitting the same description had been seen in Jonesville, a small community a few miles southwest of Fouke. In one instance, a teenager had come face-to-face with a hairy wildman while squirrel hunting. He fired three times and ran. By the time he made it back home, the boy was frantic. Though many of the townsfolk had heard the story over the years, it had never been made public by way of a news report. It was not something they wished to speak about if they could avoid it. But when the new rash of incidents made headlines in ’71, the old stories began to resurface. This only added more fuel to the growing fire. As the weeks went on, it was becoming apparent that a strange animal might be living in the woods near Fouke.

For some locals it was laughable, for others it was frightening. A few were not surprised by the stories as they had heard about the creature for years. But to the outside world it was nothing short of intriguing. In no time, the town was the subject of rumors and gossip, as well as waves of monster hunters, filmmakers, documentarians, and a steady stream of tourists which continues even today.

And throughout all the highs and lows that come with the limelight, sightings of the monster
did not stop
. Some uninformed outsiders may tell you the reports stopped back in the late 1970s, but this is
definitely
not the case. The locals know better. By all accounts, there is still something mysterious living in the woods out there, and it is no less intriguing now than when the creature first came to fame all those years ago. The story is still unfolding. Like a slow Southern drawl, things take their own sweet time in the South.

The Natural State

It’s hard to imagine a setting more suitable for a monster tale than southern Arkansas, a land populated by thick trees whose gnarled limbs cast misshapen shadows on the swampy bottoms. Here, the buzz of modern American life is easily replaced by the drone of insects, and an occasional howl in the darkness is hard to distinguish as animal, human, or perhaps something more mysterious. This is a long-standing patch of American landscape that has, in many ways, retained the essence of its foundation built by the generations of hardworking people who forged a living from its rich soil. And not unlike other regions of deep-rooted Americana, this land possesses its share of legends and lore that have served to fire the imaginations—and fears—of not only the people of this area, but of others beyond its boundaries.

Arkansas’ state slogan, “The Natural State,” effectively describes what can be found throughout much of the state today. Acres of unblemished forestry, miles of swampland, caves, lakes, rivers, and other points of natural beauty make up a large portion of the attraction, and bolsters their tourist trade, which lists “outdoors” at the top of the list on state’s official tourism website. The state boasts three national forests, which collectively engulf over 2.9 million acres. Toss in 9,000 miles of stream and river waterways, and upwards of 600,000 acres of sprawling lakes, and it leaves little doubt that this land is brimming with wildlife of all sorts, most of which has occupied space in the state far longer than most people realize.

The first record of humans inhabiting the Arkansas area begins about 13,500 years ago during the Pleistocene epoch. [2] Referred to as Paleoindians, these early humans survived as hunter-gatherers forging off the land and hunting game such as deer and rabbits. During this time North America’s climate was much colder than it is today. As such, the Paleoindians would have also existed alongside many now-extinct animals, such as the mastodon, giant sloth, and cave bear.

As the climate began to moderate and increase in average temperature, many of the larger mammals became extinct, leaving only the familiar fauna we find today (plus or minus any unknown apes, of course). The forests expanded and the waterways changed course as they twisted across the Arkansas landscape looking for the best seaward routes. One of these waterways was the Red River, which carved out a rich and plentiful basin across the southern corner of Arkansas. This mighty river offered a dependable lifeline for both human and animal alike, making the area desirable for all varieties of inhabitants.

In close proximity to the Red River, and only a few miles southwest of Fouke, lies the vast Sulphur River Bottoms where it has long been conjectured the monster dwells. Deriving its name from the Sulphur River—a long tributary that winds its way from Wright-Patman Lake in Texas, across the corner of Arkansas, and on down into Louisiana—the bottoms include the 18,000 acre Sulphur River Wildlife Management Area, one of the last remaining tracts of untouched habitat along the Red River Valley. The land here is covered with dense patches of hardwoods, cypress breaks, and a spidery network of creeks and oxbow lakes. A tangle of thorns and a variety of poisonous snakes and other dangerous animals add to the unfriendly wetland terrain to make the entire bottomlands extremely inhospitable and remote.

In fact, if there were such a place to hide a throw-back to the time when ape and man occupied a closer proximity on the branches of life, this particular spot must surely rank near the top. Even today, this land contains large pockets of swampland and forestry that are difficult to access. The sparse county roads often dead-end into brackish swamp water where one would need to trade wheels for a sturdy canoe or pirogue in order to continue the journey. Standing waters such as Mercer Bayou extend in all directions from the Sulphur River, holding the land captive and wholly undesirable for modern renovation. Duckweed grows everywhere like a green carpet over the stagnant bayous, and cypress trees grow thick and hang low, making it difficult to see any local inhabitants who might be hiding beneath the waters or in the long shadows of the crowded flora.

The Sulphur River as it winds through an area southwest of Fouke.
(Photo by the author)

Looking out over the Sulphur River Wildlife Management Area from a high vantage point or from the air, it is easier to grasp just how dense and uninhabited the area is. The tree tops extend for miles in an endless canopy, while the rivers and creekbeds weave through the land like giant watery snakes. If something wanted to hide there, it would not be hard, especially if the species population was thin and it had an affinity for surviving beyond the reach of civilization.

As the Sulphur River winds southward, it eventually converges with the Red River and flows south to join the greater network of waterways known collectively as the Mississippi Waterweb. Upon its journey, the Red River meanders near other equally spooky areas sprawled along the Louisiana-Texas border, such as Black Lake Bayou, Cypress Bayou, and Caddo Lake. These areas themselves boast a long history of similar “monster” sightings. When considering the relatively close proximity to the town of Fouke, it would seem as though the entire area where the tri-states converge adds up to the kind of place that a monster could only dream of.

Aerial photo of the Mercer Bayou area.
(Photo by Ken Stewart)

But is it more than just dreaming? Do the spooky swamps and riverways
inspire
such monster sightings, or does an unknown creature live here
because
of the remote privacy that the area affords? That remains to be proven, but either way, it is certain that these parts of Arkansas have remained close to their original state when the North American ice age shaped the terrain long ago.

The Arkansas Wild Man

Throughout history, in all corners of the world, people have reported seeing “hairy wild men” who occasionally emerge from the forests and cross paths with those of the civilized world. Often interwoven into the lore of werewolves or modern day Bigfoot, these wild men have a long history of sightings, which are eerily similar in all cultures. Arkansas is no different, having a few bona fide wild man stories of its own dating back to the time when early Americans began settling the area.

Whether or not these can be attributed to the Fouke Monster—or Sasquatch in general—is, of course, impossible to determine due to the lack of solid evidence and typically sketchy details. However, these accounts are certainly important in that they provide a historical record of hairy creatures being reported in the state long before the notion of Bigfoot became popular in American culture.

As Spaniards began to explore the Arkansas region starting around 1541, they wrote of encounters with Native American tribes such as the Tunica, Caddo, Quapaw, and Osage. In looking at these early tribes and others, we find that they too may have encountered wild men or Sasquatch-like creatures in the area. In fact, most Native American cultures have stories or mythos about some kind of large, hairy man-like creature said to inhabit the forests of North America and British Columbia. Though the stories and representations differ slightly from tribe to tribe, each has a specific word to represent this creature in their language. According to Kathy Moskowitz Strain, archaeologist and author of
Giants, Cannibals & Monsters: Bigfoot in Native Culture
, the Caddos used the word
Ha’yacatsi
to describe such a creature. The word literally translates to “lost giant,” which seems consistent with the modern mythos of the Sasquatch. Others include the Cherokee word
Kecleh-Kudleh
(hairy savage), the Creek word
Honka
(hairy man), and the Choctaw words
Kashehotapalo
(cannibal man) and
Nalusa Falaya
(big giant).

Some researchers argue that these entities were nothing more than spirit animals, but others point to evidence suggesting that they were real living, breathing creatures. For example, masks and totem poles made by these early Americans depict faces that are eerily similar to those of apes. If no such ape-like creatures existed on the continent, it is hard to understand how they could have visualized such a design. Likewise, cave paintings from this era contain drawings of a large hairy, bipedal creature referred to as “Hairy Man.” One such site is Painted Rock, located in the Sierra Nevada foothills of California. The pictographs found here include animals such as the coyote, bear, eagle, condor, frog, and lizard. Looming over these common animals is another more mysterious one: a towering, hairy two-legged creature that bares a striking resemblance to the modern-day Sasquatch. Since every other animal in the Painted Rock pictograph is a known creature, it is reasonable to assume that the Hairy Man is likewise a real creature, albeit a very large one with a shadowy history.

Real or not, by the 1700s the native tribes of Arkansas had more to worry about than hairy giants. As French colonial settlers began moving into the area, the Indians suddenly found themselves competing for their own land. At first they were able to coexist by establishing new social and political relationships, which benefited both peoples through trade and commerce, but this eventually collapsed when Arkansas came into the hands of the Union during Thomas Jefferson’s Louisiana Purchase of 1803. To make way for American settlers, the United States concocted various treaties that ultimately forced the long-standing Arkansas tribes onto reservations far from their homeland.