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Cryptozoology. My love for you grows daily!!!
Truly it does, friends.
Within these pages we will outline some of the great cryptids believed to exist in this great country. Remember, we at OTF focus on American legends and folklore. This is a part of my attempt to make this website the oft-mentioned "nexxus" of information. When we started research for the "On the Fringe" pilot episode, we had no idea how time consuming and taxing it would be just to find a place we could go investigate. We learned the tricks, and we learned the hard way...which I believe is the best way to learn. This is my attempt to help you all to have a somewhat extensive archive of unexplainables. The other links follow suit.
I want to say one thing before we start. I ask you all to remember this: the "giant squid" WAS officially listed as a cryptid for many years. Much like Sasquatch or any other cryptid...until somebody CAUGHT one. It is no longer considered a cryptid.
We'll start wiiiiiiiiiiiith..................
Fouke Monster
The Fouke Monster is a legendary cryptid reported near the town of Fouke in Miller County, Arkansas during the early 1970s, where it was accused of attacking a local family.
The creature was named by journalist Jim Powell, who reported on it for the Texarkana Gazette and the Texarkana Daily News.
Check out OTF's Fouke Monster Investigation here.
Various reports of the creature made between 1971 and 1974 described the creature as being a large hominid-like creature covered in long dark hair, which was estimated to be about 7 feet tall with a weight of 250-300 pounds.
Some accounts describe the Fouke Monster as running in a 'hunched/slouched' posture and swinging its arms in a similar fashion to a monkey. Reports also describe it as having a terrible odor and as having bright red eyes, about the size of silver dollars.
A variety of tracks and claw marks have been discovered which are claimed to belong to the creature. One set of foot prints reportedly measured 17 inches in length and 7 inches wide, another appeared to show that the creature only had three toes.
Although most cases date from the early 1970s onwards, Fouke residents claim that an apelike creature had roamed the area since 1964, but that sightings had not been reported to news services. Local legend also holds that the creature can be further traced back to sightings in 1946. Most early sightings were in the region of Jonesville. With this, the creature was known as the "Jonesville Monster" during this period.
Despite claims of earlier sightings, the Fouke Monster first made headlines in 1971, when it was reported to have attacked the home of Bobby and Elizabeth Ford late on the night of May 1.
According to Elizabeth Ford, the creature, which she initially took to be a bear, reached through a screen window while she was sleeping on a couch. It was chased away by her husband and his brother Don, who were returning from a hunting trip. The creature returned shortly after midnight (Sunday, May 2), when it was reported to have grabbed Bobby Ford across the shoulders as he stood on the porch, throwing him to the ground. Bobby managed to crawl free and was later treated in St. Michael Hospital, Texarkana, for scratches across his back. He was suffering from mild shock when he arrived.
After an initial surge of attention, public interest in the creature decreased until 1973. It was boosted significantly when Charles B. Pierce released a documentary-style horror feature on the creature. By late 1974 interest had waned again and sightings all but stopped, only to begin again in March 1978, when tracks were reportedly found by two brothers prospecting in Russellville, and there were sightings in Center Ridge; both approximately 4-1/4 hours drive northeast of Fouke. There was also a reported sighting in Crossett; 4 hours drive east of Fouke, on June 26 that year.
During this period the creature was blamed for missing livestock and attacks on several dogs.
Since the initial clusters of sightings during the 1970s, there have been sporadic reports of the creature. In 1991 the creature was reportedly seen jumping from a bridge.There were forty reported sightings in 1997 and, in 1998, the creature was reportedly sighted in a dry creek bed five miles south of Fouke.
The Legend of Boggy Creek
In 1973, the story of Bobby Ford's encounter with the Fouke Monster was turned into a semi-factual, documentary-style horror feature, The Legend of Boggy Creek, (initially titled "Tracking the Fouke Monster") which played in drive-in theaters around the country. It was written by Earl E. Smith and directed by Charles B. Pierce. The part of Bobby Ford was played by Glenn Carruth and the part of Elizabeth Ford was played by Bunny Dees. Fouke Garage owner Willie E. Smith, on whose land three toed footprints were found, starred as himself. Many characters were named after the people who played them.
Much of the film was shot on location in Fouke and nearby Texarkana, though some scenes also were filmed in Shreveport, Louisiana. Most of the cast were local people or Texarkana college students. It ran for 87 minutes and is believed to have cost $165,000 to make. It grossed $22 million, making it the 7th highest grossing movie of the year.
Return to Boggy Creek
A second Fouke Monster film, Return to Boggy Creek , was filmed and released in 1977. The movie had an entirely fictional plot and was not intended to be a sequel. It was directed by Tom Moore, written by John David Woody, and starred Dawn Wells as the mother of three children who become lost in the swamp. Sone of the film's scenes were shot on location in Dallas, Texas, and Loreauville and Iberia Parish, Louisiana.
Boggy Creek II: The Legend Continues
In 1985, a third Fouke Monster film was released. It was titled Boggy Creek II:The Legend Continues and written as a sequel to the original film. Charles B. Pierce wrote, directed, and starred in it as Brian Lockart, a University of Arkansas professor who leads a group of students into the swamps around Fouke.
In 1999, Boggy Creek II: The Legend Continues was used by Mystery Science Theater 3000.
How to get there
This ones simple. Get yourself to Texarkana, and then head south on highway 71, or highway 549. Its a fun little place to stop, but dont expect the locals to take you any tours.
Bigfoot/Sasquatch
Bigfoot, also known as Sasquatch, is an alleged ape-like creature purportedly inhabiting forests, mainly in the Pacific Northwest region of North America. Bigfoot is usually described as a large, hairy, bipedal humanoid.
Check out OTF's Bigfoot Investigation here.
The scientific community considers Bigfoot to be a combination of folklore, misidentification, and hoaxes, rather than a real creature. In general, mainstream scientific consensus does not support the posited existence of megafauna cryptids such as Bigfoot, because of the improbably large numbers necessary to maintain a breeding population and because climate and food supply issues would make such purported creatures' survival in reported habitats unlikely. Despite these facts, Bigfoot is one of the more famous examples of a cryptid within cryptozoology.
Bigfoot is described in reports as a large ape-like creature, ranging between 6–10 feet tall, weighing in excess of 500 pounds, and covered in dark brown or dark reddish hair. Alleged witnesses have described large eyes, a pronounced brow ridge, and a large, low-set forehead; the top of the head has been described as rounded and crested, similar to the sagittal crest of the male gorilla. Bigfoot is commonly reported to have a strong, unpleasant smell by those who have claimed to have encountered it. The enormous footprints for which it is named have been as large as 24 inches long and 8 inches wide. While most casts have five toes—like all known apes—some casts of alleged Bigfoot tracks have had numbers ranging from two to six. Some have also contained claw marks, making it likely that a portion came from known animals such as bears, which have five toes and claws. Proponents have also claimed that Bigfoot is omnivorous and mainly nocturnal.
Bigfoot is more or less world-wide. Variations found in other cultures are know as Yeti and the abominable snowman, as well as many other much harder to pronounce names in regional dialects. Almost all terms basically mean "Hairy-Man", or "Hairy Ape-Man".
The number of sightings is wide ranging from state to state, but the state of washington boast the most at 466, with california close behind at 411. Next in line is Oregon at 211.
Other notables*
Ohio-197
Texas-174
Florida-163
Michigan-108
Colorado-102
Oklahoma-70
As mentioned before, Bigfoot is thought to be nocturnal, and highly territorial, which proponents put forth as reasoning for the inability to catch one. By that reasoning, there may only be 1 for hundreds of square miles, and only rarely do they meet up for mating.
Honestly, google Bigfoot. You will find a plethera of information.
Keeping with the theme of Bigfoot and his cousins, we move onto...
The Honey Island Monster
Less than an hour away from New Orleans lies a backwater bayou known as the Honey Island Swamp. Considered by many naturalists to be one of the most pristine swampland habitats in the United States, the Honey Island Swamp covers an area that is over 20 miles long and nearly 7 miles across, with 34,896 of its 70,000 acres government sanctioned as permanently protected wildlife area.
This swamp is known to be the home of black bears, red wolves, cougars, feral hogs and a dwindling population of Florida panthers. But there are some who believe that deep in the vast expanses of the swamp, in an area so impenetrable that one can only travel there by foot, horseback or boat...there lives a ferocious predator more lethal than all others who lurk there.
The legend of the Honey Island Swamp was first revealed to the world in 1974, when a pair of Air Traffic Controllers, Harlan E. Ford and Ray Mills, shambled out of the deep antediluvian sloughs of Honey Island with an unbelievable story... and something even more incredible.
The veteran hunters claimed to have discovered a pair of unusual footprints imbedded in the soft earth next to a wild boar whose throat had been torn open. They saw something else that day. They saw the "monster".
They described a vicious looking creature that stood on two legs. A man-like animal that was covered with a coat dingy, gray hair. The men estimated that this beast stood over 7 feet tall and weighed somewhere between 400 and 500 lbs. But what they remembered most were its sickly yellow eyes, set far apart on its skull, and the horrific stench which surrounded this creature... it was the smell of death.
Thus begins the first official report of the Honey Island Swamp Monster, but the stories of this enigmatic beast date back for hundreds of years. Native Americans called this creature the Letiche, "a carnivorous, aquatic-humanoid" which they believed was once a once an abandoned child who was raised by alligators in uncharted regions of the swamp. Cajuns called the beast the Loup Carou, which has often been misinterpreted as a werewolf. This animal has been blamed for the numerous human and livestock deaths which have plagued the area for decades.
Perhaps the most bizarre legend surrounding the swamp monster revolves around a train wreck which allegedly occurred outside of the Pearl River in the early part of the 20th century. According to this account, the train was full of animals from a traveling circus, some of which escaped into the swamp. While most of these tropical beasts perished soon after, legend has it that a troop of chimpanzees survived and even went so far as to inter-breed with alligators. The result was a bizarre colony of repto-mammalian hybrids, which became legendary as the Honey Island Swamp Monsters.
El Chupacabra
The most common description of Chupacabra is a reptile-like being, appearing to have leathery or scaly greenish-gray skin and sharp spines or quills running down its back. This form stands approximately 3 to 4 feet high, and stands and hops in a similar fashion to a kangaroo. In at least one sighting, the creature was reported to hop 20 feet. This variety is said to have a dog or panther-like nose and face, a forked tongue, and large fangs. It is said to hiss and screech when alarmed, as well as leave behind a sulfuric stench. When it screeches, some reports assert that the chupacabra's eyes glow an unusual red which gives the witnesses nausea.
Another description of Chupacabra, although not as common, describes a strange breed of wild dog. This form is mostly hairless and has a pronounced spinal ridge, unusually pronounced eye sockets, fangs, and claws. It is claimed that this breed might be an example of a dog-like reptile. Unlike conventional predators, the chupacabra is said to drain all of the animal's blood (and sometimes organs) through a single hole or two holes.
In one of these attacks eight sheep were discovered dead, each with three puncture wounds in the chest area and completely drained of blood. A few months later, in August, an eyewitness, Madelyne Tolentino, reported seeing the creature in the Puerto Rican town of Canóvanas, when as many as 150 farm animals and pets were reportedly killed. In 1975, similar killings in the small town of Moca, were attributed to El Vampiro de Moca (The Vampire of Moca). Initially it was suspected that the killings were committed by a Satanic cult; later more killings were reported around the island, and many farms reported loss of animal life. Each of the animals had their bodies bled dry through a series of small circular incisions.
Puerto Rican comedian and entrepreneur Silverio Pérez is credited with coining the term chupacabras soon after the first incidents were reported in the press. Shortly after the first reported incidents in Puerto Rico, other animal deaths were reported in other countries, such as the Dominican Republic, Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Honduras, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Panama, Peru, Brazil, United States, and Mexico.
*I make note here...
A book I own called 'Mysteries of the Unexplained' documents, in detail, similar attacks on cattle in the American West/Southwest. Clean cuts, drained blood, missing organs...very similar. In the book they are attributed to satanic cults or Aliens.
The Jersey Devil
According to the legend, Mrs. Jane Leeds came from a poor family who eked out an existence in the Pine Barrens of Jersey, a rugged place with vast forests, sandy soil and patches of swamp. In 1735, Mrs. Leeds discovered that she was pregnant with her 13th child. She complained to her friends and relatives that the “Devil can take the next one”, and he did. When the baby was born, he was monster! He immediately took on a grotesque appearance and grew to more than 20 feet long, with a reptilian body, a horse’s head, bat wings and a long, forked tail. He thrashed about the Leeds home for a bit and then vanished up the chimney. The creature, or the “Jersey Devil” as he was dubbed, began haunting the Pine Barrens.
As the story spread, even grown men declined to venture out at night. It was said that the beast carried off large dogs, geese, cats, small livestock and even occasional children. The children were never seen again, but the animal remains were often found. The Devil was also said to dry up the milk of cows by breathing on them and to kill off the fish in the streams, threatening the livelihood of the entire region.
In 1740, the frightened residents begged a local minister to exorcize the creature and the stories stated that the exorcism would last 100 years, however the Devil returned to the Pine Barrens on at least two occasions before the century was over. Legend has it that naval hero Commodore Stephen Decatur visited the Hanover Iron Works in the Barrens in 1800 to test the plant’s cannonballs. One day on the firing range, he noticed a strange creature winging overhead. Taking aim, he fired at the monster and while some say that his shot struck it, the Devil continued on its path.
The stories continued to be told and the lore of the Devil was recalled throughout the 1800’s, although actual sightings of the creature were few. Then, in 1909, the Jersey Devil returned again and literally thousands of people spotted the monster or saw his footprints. It became so bad that schools closed and people refused to go outside.
The most recent sighting of the creature was said to have been in 1993 when a forest ranger named John Irwin was driving along the Mullica River in southern New Jersey. He was startled to find the road ahead of him blocked by the Jersey Devil. He described it as being about six-feet tall with horns and matted black fur. Could this have been the reported Jersey Devil - or some other creature altogether? Irwin stated that he and the creature stared at one another for several minutes before the monster finally turned and ran into the forest.
Skunk Ape
The Skunk Ape is another large 'Bigfoot' type creature, that has been reported in isolated swamps in Florida. They have been seen from the Everglades to Delray Beach.
The Seminole Native Americans call them the "Mangrove People" or "Sand People"
The sightings were reported in Florida in 1971. An engineer and four friends saw it in Big Cypress Swamp and later they found its 17-inch-long footprints.
He is 7-8 feet tall, smells terrible(hence the name), and by all accounts fits the description of Bigfoot. There were two pictures of very good quality taken by a woman convinced it was orangutan in her back yard. Proponents believe it to be the skunk ape.
Mothman
We're all familiar with the movie version of Mothman, so lets look at the actual legend.
The first Mothman reports seem to date from the mid 1960s. Mothman has been sighted many places in Virginia and West Virginia, but the largest number of sightings happened in or near a place known as "the TNT Area," an abandoned ammunitions dump dating from World War II that is near Point Pleasant, West Virginia. The TNT Area is mostly forest, dotted with numerous grassy clearings and concrete domes. It is also riddled with abandoned tunnels, most of which have collapsed, been sealed off, or became flooded with water. A wildlife sanctuary adjoins the TNT Area, and the whole region in and near the TNT Area is sparsely populated, with a great deal of nearly impenetrable wilderness. The system of dirt roads in the TNT Area form a popular hang out for hunters, lovers and naughty teenagers.
Mothman is described as being gray (or possibly brown) in color. He does not wear clothing. He looks like his body is generally human in shape, with two notable exceptions. He has huge wings instead of arms, and he has gigantic red eyes that glow. The details of his face and his feet have never been adequately described. Only one witness ever saw the face clearly, and she could only say that the details were horrible and monstrous. She had terrible nightmares and nearly suffered a nervous breakdown. In particular, people say that a sense of pure evil overcomes them when they see Mothman's eyes.
Mothman is four or five feet tall when standing. He can fold his wings and walk with a weird shuffle that many witnesses compare to a penguin. When he flies, he unfolds his wings and shoots straight up with great speed, then levels out to go wherever he wants to go. He has never been observed flapping his wings, not even on take-off.
Thunderbird
The thunderbirds of North American legend were almost exact equivalents to the old world rocs, giant predatory eagle-like or vulture-like birds with supernatural powers. Thunderbirds inhabit the folklore of many regions, but are more closely associated with certain locales such as Pennsylvania, the Mississippi River valley, and "The Enchanted Valley" in Olympic National Park, located in the Pacific Northwest. The thunderbird of folklore and the thunderbird of cryptozoology are two different things, though.
Cryptozoologists use the word "thunderbird" as a convenient term for any abnormally large flying bird sighted in the New World. Giant flightless birds are treated separately. Most cryptozoological thunderbirds look at least somewhat like the thunderbirds of legend, but not all of them do. Some are giant owls, for example, even though "big owl" is a separate creature from the thunderbird in Native American legend.
Most thunderbird reports that are taken seriously by scientists working in the field of cryptozoology describe a bird that generally resembles a huge condor, sometimes with eagle features. This bird is sighted regularly in the same areas, at the same times of year and leading cryptozoologists to conclude that it might be an incredibly rare and highly migratory bird.
The classic type of thunderbird sounds much like an extinct variety of giant bird, called teratorns. Some thunderbird reports involve flying bird-like creatures that do not have obvious feathers or that seem to have bat-like wings. These tend to get classified as giant bats or pterosaurs.
This page is under construction. More info added periodically.
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