THE BEAST OF BOGGY CREEK: The True Story of the Fouke Monster (25 page)

After a few minutes I heard this sound of someone or something walking in the water again. So I stopped and turned around and standing right behind me was a creature of immense size. Talk about the hair on the back of your neck standing up, I was scared. I don’t ever remember being that scared. He made a hissing sound and reached down and took his hand and started scooping water and throwing it up at me and making a deep throaty noise. My dogs started chomping at the leash and growling trying to get at it, having regained their bravery. I grabbed the leash and tore out across that swamp so scared that, for awhile, I went in the wrong direction. I got to a big Cypress knee and caught my breath. I could hear the thing behind me, it sounded like it was about a 100 yards or so back. It followed me for a ways, then after a while I could hear it across the bayou making a moaning sound and moving away slowly.

I got my breath and my compass and my bearings and started back to the truck. When I got there I didn’t say a word to my friends about what I saw and heard for fear they would laugh me down. Needless to say I never returned to Thornton Wells nor do I plan to. For a long time I kept this to myself. I even had nightmares about it.

A follow-up to the report was made by Daryl Colyer, a long-time TBRC investigator with a background in military intelligence. After interviewing the witness, his assessment was that the man seemed very credible and would have no reason to lie about what he had seen. Colyer’s report also brings out additional details:

Something of note that struck me about the incident was the splashing of the water by the subject as the witness and his dogs attempted to assess what they were seeing. Apparently, in an attempt to chase away the witness and his Walker coon dogs, the unknown subject splashed water with its hand toward them. The witness said he could clearly see its hand, which he described as looking like a “huge monkey hand.” The witness added that the skin was visible on the hand and that it was “gray and leathery.”

The face was also a “grayish color” with no or very little hair on it. The hair on the head appeared “slicked back” and the subject in general appeared “wet.” The overall coloration was “dark, rusty brown” or a “similar but a little darker than pine needles” after they have fallen on the ground and turned color. The witness said he did see a “flash of teeth” and they appeared human but much larger. The witness apparently was haunted because the face, as he described it, was “like that of a person.”

I found the reaction of the coon dogs of interest as well. Initially, before the witness established eye contact with the subject, the dogs were “nervous” and “whiney,” and stayed behind the witness. Upon seeing the subject, the dogs became emboldened and it was all the witness could do to keep the dogs from breaking free from their leashes to attack. The witness felt that the dogs may have saved his life.

Given the length of the sighting, it is hard to believe that an experienced hunter such as this would mistake any sort of common animal for that of a large, human-like primate. If the story is true, it firmly establishes that something fitting the description of the Fouke Monster was still roaming the swampy bottomlands of southwest Arkansas in the 21st century.

The next report from 2000 was also submitted to the Texas Bigfoot Research Conservancy and thoroughly investigated by a lead TBRC investigator who found it credible. The witness this time was an avid bowhunter by the name of Stacy Hudson, who participated in a recreation of the event for the
MonsterQuest
“Swamp Stalker” episode.

It was a cool, crisp morning in October 2000. Hudson had set up a deer stand in the vast Sulphur River Wildlife Management area less than ten miles from Fouke. He was settling in to wait for deer as the full moon played out its last few minutes of life. In his own words:

I was up the tree and had my bow in my lap with my arrow pointing away from me with it resting on my stand’s gun rest. I pulled my earth scent wafers out and attached them to the outside of my back pack.

I was facing south with two big oak trees about 25 yards away. The clouds were moving fast and with the full moon, I could somewhat see in the dark.

I was very still and had everything camouflaged except my muzzy broadhead, on the end of my arrow. It was about 5:30 a.m. when I heard something walk up from behind me.

I turned slowly to see if I could see it. It was big and black and at first thought it was a couple [of] hogs. They were too big to be hogs and I wondered whose cows were loose in the refuge. I was wanting them to hurry up and leave so they wouldn’t scare the deer when something brushed up against my leg. I didn’t hear anything climb up the tree with me so I kept still. I was looking forward when I saw a big black hand reach up and grab my muzzy broadhead. The hand was a shiny black and the fingers were huge! The palms were also black like a gorilla. When it grabbed my broadhead the razor blades cut him and it yelled like a bull! It was louder than a car horn and it was at my feet. It scared the crap out of me so I started yelling back.

It ran off breaking trees and tearing down everything in its path. I sat there 15 minutes until it got daylight and left. I believe that I scared him/her as much as it scared me.

2000: A coonhunter has a frightening experience in Mercer Bayou near Thornton Wells.

The report was investigated by TBRC member Jerry Hestand. According to Hestand:

I had the opportunity to interview this witness, an extremely experienced outdoorsman and bowhunter, several times over a period of a few months. His statement never altered and I believe he was truthful at all times.

The incident was an event that changed his way of thinking for sure, even though he had already experienced some incidents that were highly unusual.

Another incident worth noting occurred sometime between 2000 and 2001. At the time, Denny Roberts (brother of Rick Roberts) was at the Monster Mart convenience store on Fouke’s Main Street. One afternoon he spoke to a man who was doing survey work for the Army Corps of Engineers as they prepared the site for the new Highway 549 construction project. According to the man, he had been working in a wooded area somewhere south of Fouke when he came upon the remains of a large hairy animal. The carcass was already starting to decay, giving off a foul odor, but still he could tell that it had been roughly the size of a large human and covered with a layer of dark, matted fur. It did not appear to be a bear or any familiar animal, but there was nothing he could really do at the time to further determine what it might be. According to Denny, the man claimed that when he returned to the site the following day to continue his work, the carcass was gone. Apparently the man was not familiar with the stories of the Fouke Monster, as the subject only came up while discussing strange things he had seen while working in the area.

Another sighting in the same area was reported in town by a visiting hunter. In this case, he claimed to have come face-to-face with a large ape-like creature while hunting near Mercer Lake. He was so frightened by the encounter that he dropped his expensive rifle and ran. He refused to return to the area, even to look for his gun. The incident occurred near the old train trestle that spans across the Sulphur River just west of Highway 71. Remnants of the old structure still remain today, although the railway has long since been removed.

While showing some out-of-town visitors around one day, Rick Roberts brought them to the location, pointing out that it had been the site of several eyewitness reports. As they approached the area by car, exiting off of the highway, they noticed a dark figure standing in the trees just east of the trestle columns. Its movements did not seem consistent with that of a bear, so they tried to get a better look. But by the time they got closer to investigate, the figure was gone.

Remnants of the old train trestles spanning across the Sulphur River.
(Photo by the author)

Speaking again to Sheriff H.L. Phillips, I learned of another incident that involved people not previously acquainted with the legendary beast. According to Phillips, he took a report in 2003 from a family in Jonesville who said their two children had been out riding bikes when they came up on what they described as a “hairy monster” during the evening hours. The kids were quite shaken and quickly peddled away on their bikes. When they returned home and frantically told their mother, she decided to contact the authorities. The Sheriff’s office took the report seriously, as they always did, and asked if she thought the children had seen the Fouke Monster. The woman was puzzled. They were new to the area, having only lived there a short time.

Neither she nor the kids had ever heard of the Fouke Monster.

2003: Still haunting Jonesville—the creature is seen by two children.

7. A Question of Theories

Man-Made Man-Apes

The culture surrounding the alleged creature is interesting in and of itself—the excitement of the sightings, the entertaining movies, the dramatic documentaries—but still it leaves one wondering if there is any truth or reality to this whole business. Could the Fouke Monster be real?

Over the years, various explanations have been offered up by locals and outsiders alike in an attempt to explain away the mystery. Stories involving derailed circus trains, moonshiner conspiracies, rogue panthers, or a person in a suit have been spread around like urban legends—or in this case
rural
legends—until no one is really sure how most of them got started. While some of these theories may have merit, most don’t come close to offering a suitable explanation for the entire phenomenon.

Beyond these mundane explanations, there is the glaring question of whether or not a large animal, such as the one described in these events, could even survive in the immediate area of Fouke. Could a large, man-like ape really remain hidden in the Sulphur River Bottoms without being captured? Short of capturing one or finding an actual body, we may never know, but at least by addressing some of the long-standing myths, we can come closer to a satisfactory conclusion.