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Strange Creature in Missouri?


littledipperbigcuriosity

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Last night, a friend came to me with an unsettling recollection of a childhood memory. At the time, they were living in Missouri, specifically the St. Louis area. According to this friend, they had been sleeping, and in their dream, saw a strange ape-like creature, which then leapt at him. At this point, he jolted awake, and seemed to be stuck in sleep paralysis or some kind of state that hindered his movements. He was able to move his eyes, though, and when he went to look into a doorway, the creature was there. The thing scampered down the hall and moments later, my friend could move again and began to scream. According to my friend, he always slept with the door closed, yet that night it was wide open.

A brief description from my friend describes the creature as a 3 ft. tall biped that moved on all fours, but did not move like an ape in the sense that it would do the iconic knuckle-walk. He described the creature's movements as the way that a child would move when pretending to be a dog. It was covered in grey fur everywhere save for the front and backs of its palms. The thing had sharp claws, long teeth and two red eyes.

I'm wondering if there's possibly any information or local legends that match this description or may seem relevant in any way? Unfortunately whenever I look up "ape man" or anything similar, all that pops up in the Missouri area is stuff about Momo, which looks drastically different from the description that my friend gave. If you're from Missouri and have a similar experience or at least have heard any urban legends regarding this matter, please feel free to reply to this thread, or, for a more anymous exchange, you can PM me.

My friend will provide an illustration in a day or so when their tablet comes in.

Edited by littledipperbigcuriosity
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How old was your friend at the time, cos 3ft can seem pretty tall if he was only 2 ft.

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How old was your friend at the time, cos 3ft can seem pretty tall if he was only 2 ft.

I'm about normal size male in my twenties, I own a malamute who stands close to 3feet and weighs at just about 100lbs. I'm using this as a reference point for me if I woke up and saw a creature the same size as her I would be on high alert. I know 3ft isn't very tall but on all fours depending on bulk could be very intimidating. This sounds like a classic case of waking dream and sleep paralysis.

Was this creature only seen by one person and was the open door the only evidence of it being there?

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Sounds like sleep paralysis to me.

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Sounds like a vivid dream along with sleep paralysis. Was he a child at the time? Or did anyone else live in the house? If so, that explains the door; a parent or roommate opened it.

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I agree with the previous posters. Probably just a vivid dream with sleep paralysis.

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I grew up just south of St. Louis. We lived on a fairly isolated hill covered in forest. Never heard of this before. I did however have several older brothers who loved to mess with their younger siblings.

I remember when I was 7-9 years old. I stayed up late with my brothers and watched this movie named Squirm. It was about earthworms that attacked and killed people. Pretty disturbing for a young kid. The next morning when I got up, there was a big worm outside my door. They were SO funny. :huh:

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How old was your friend at the time, cos 3ft can seem pretty tall if he was only 2 ft.

The average four year old is like 3 1/2 ft. tall. The average baby is almost 2 ft. tall.

But, yeah, sounds like classic sleep paralysis. It happens to me occasionally. Horrible stuff and very frightening. I'm a grown man and I still wake up too terrified to go back to sleep sometimes. I can't imagine something like that affecting a kid.

Edit: But to answer your question, the only other Missouri cryptid I can think of is the Ozark Howler, which is described as being a bear-sized, elk-wolf. What you've described sounds like a kid werewolf mid-transformation.

Edited by Andami
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  • 2 months later...

I was born and raised in South East Missouri. I have seen so many strange things in my life that eventually back in 2001 I formed a paranormal investigation group. Real low key nothing fancy. I could write a book or two on things we have seen, that I have seen. Things that my parents witnessed and older siblings. But for this response I believe I will tell about something that happened to me a few years ago outside of Farmington MO. It was around 11 p.m. I was driving to Farmington Correction Center to pick up my wife who was a CO at the time. I was driving down Hwy 67 South literally just outside of Farmington. Suddenly I seen what appeared to be a typical Missouri brown bat swoop down at my windshield....I brown bat the size of a grown man. I thought it was going to crash through my windshield I actually ducked down in my seat and swerved off of the road. It happened very fast but I will never forget it as long as I live. I've seen bats all of my life around my home growing up. To the best of my knowledge they don't grow to be 6 feet tall. What did I see? I don't know you tell me.

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I was born and raised in South East Missouri. I have seen so many strange things in my life that eventually back in 2001 I formed a paranormal investigation group. Real low key nothing fancy. I could write a book or two on things we have seen, that I have seen. Things that my parents witnessed and older siblings. But for this response I believe I will tell about something that happened to me a few years ago outside of Farmington MO. It was around 11 p.m. I was driving to Farmington Correction Center to pick up my wife who was a CO at the time. I was driving down Hwy 67 South literally just outside of Farmington. Suddenly I seen what appeared to be a typical Missouri brown bat swoop down at my windshield....I brown bat the size of a grown man. I thought it was going to crash through my windshield I actually ducked down in my seat and swerved off of the road. It happened very fast but I will never forget it as long as I live. I've seen bats all of my life around my home growing up. To the best of my knowledge they don't grow to be 6 feet tall. What did I see? I don't know you tell me.

Interesting.

I do, however, usually question the validity when someone claims that they have seen so many strange things in their life.

Oh, and welcome to the forum!

Edited by Myles
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I was born and raised in South East Missouri. I have seen so many strange things in my life that eventually back in 2001 I formed a paranormal investigation group. Real low key nothing fancy. I could write a book or two on things we have seen, that I have seen. Things that my parents witnessed and older siblings. But for this response I believe I will tell about something that happened to me a few years ago outside of Farmington MO. It was around 11 p.m. I was driving to Farmington Correction Center to pick up my wife who was a CO at the time. I was driving down Hwy 67 South literally just outside of Farmington. Suddenly I seen what appeared to be a typical Missouri brown bat swoop down at my windshield....I brown bat the size of a grown man. I thought it was going to crash through my windshield I actually ducked down in my seat and swerved off of the road. It happened very fast but I will never forget it as long as I live. I've seen bats all of my life around my home growing up. To the best of my knowledge they don't grow to be 6 feet tall. What did I see? I don't know you tell me.

Wow, can you provide us with some material to prove your experiences, so much that you can write a book or two about it? This is really interesting.

You probably just saw a normal bat (or owl, more likely) that only appeared to be as large as you think it is because you were startled by the near-collision. Having a large bird-of-prey fly in front of my car at night has made me jump before as well, and they do appear bigger--thankfully so, so I can actually see them--right before the collision. Good thing you didn't actually hit it; poor guy, probably just chasing his next meal.

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When I was 6 years old. My Grandma passed away. At the time she lived in St. Louis proper while we (My parents and I) had moved about 90 miles south to a place called Fredericktown. My parents had not told me that my Grandma had passed. Now according to my parents, I started coming into their bedroom at night wanting to sleep with them all of a sudden because they say I told them something kept tickling my feet. After about a week my Dad said he went into my room and asked his mother's spirit to stop tickling my feet that she was waking me up everynight. After that it stopped. My Grandma would always tickle my feet when she saw me. I am not saying that it was without a doubt my Grandma's spirit, I believe that it probably was. What I can tell you is that over the years I have had dreams that I have watched come true, I have seen several spirits over the years including my own Dad. The Bat Thing whatever that was. I'm not alone either, my wife has witnessed many supernatural events, as well as my best friend Randall. Which is why we formed We See Dead People. There are stories I will gladly share on here told to me over the years by family and friends of what they have experienced. Just as when I ghost hunt, I don't need to prove the supernatural exists, I already believe, but I like to document and share and let the world know that we live in an amazing world where there is more than meets the eye. Blessed Be to you all.

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Hey got another one for you. This one happened sometime in the late 1990s. From what I understand my Brother in Law Jim was hunting down by Piedmont MO. he was with a group and they split up. One of his friends, which Jim stated was a pure skeptic to the core, and so is Jim to an extent, found a little spot in a gully between two tree covered hills. He sat up against a tree in the bottom and waited for his prey. After about an hour he seen what he thought was another hunter come over the top of the hill in front of him and start down towards where he was sitting. He stated that the guy was dressed in grey had a beard, wearing an old hat and carrying what looked like an antique hunting rifle on his shoulder. It wasn't until the guy reached near the bottom of the hill that he realized the guy was walking....but had NO legs. He said the guy kept staring straight ahead and never once looked at him as he passed. Jim's friend at that point ran the mile or so back to the camper and locked himself in which is where the rest of the party found him when they returned. JIm says to this day his buddy refuses to hunt in that area. I did not witness this incident but I would have very much loved to have been there. Blessed Be

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Nice stories, and they do read like stories, not experiences. I'd ask for proof, but that sort of thing tends to make people around here angry anymore instead of actually furthering a discussion. Unless your'e one of the few with an open mind and are actually willing to show us some evidence?

Oh well, here goes...

Those things that....and yes, supposedly....happened to you are, to say the least, a bit creepy. But how did you go about trying to debunk them or prove them or whatever? The Bat Thing is still easily explained from the story you gave. The others? Imagination? Hallucination? Mis-identification? Do you or your friends/family have medical problems (not that I expect you to answer, of course, but it never hurts to ask).

Thing is, "supernatural/paranormal" events are usually and at times easily explained with a little bit of critical thinking. One does not always need to assume the most wild, illogical explanation is always the only one. And one should never leap to those conclusions first. Everything like this should be questioned, Once all mundane explanations are exhausted, then, and only then should the next leap in logic be taken.

Welcome to the forums. Keep an open mind and try to think things through clearly and logically.

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It's amazing how big an owl looks when it swoops down in front of your windshield. Had that happen a few times over the years and they sure looked man sized when it happened.

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  • 9 months later...

Sorry to get back to this literally ages after it's relevancy is nonexistent, but, I also suspected it to be sleep paralysis, but my friend had insisted I look into it for him. After a bit of talking, that does indeed seem to be the case. For anyone interested, though, I did get a peculiar skype request from someone claiming that their friend had also seen a similar creature, but I chalked this up as a coincidence. Not to mention I generally have a hard time believing accounts of things (this is just my paranoia more than anything).

Here's the chatlog in its entirety.

[4/25/2016 11:33:14 PM] *** Rocky Rose would like to add you on Skype

Hi, I'd like to connect with you on Skype. To discuss Missouri Creature. ***
[4/25/2016 11:52:30 PM] *** ★ Dipper ★ has shared contact details with Rocky Rose. ***
[4/25/2016 11:52:54 PM] ★Dipper★: Ummm?? Pretty sure this is probably a bot, but um? Hi?,, , ho w did you get my skype
[4/25/2016 11:54:07 PM] Rocky Rose: It was on the mystical creatures forum. I didn't see any way to just message you on there.
[4/25/2016 11:54:25 PM] ★Dipper★: Oh! Man, that was from forever ago! Wow
[4/25/2016 11:54:56 PM] ★Dipper★: Well, in any case, I was pretty sure it was sleep paralysis, my friend just kept pushing me to look into it. Do you have any info about it or...?
[4/25/2016 11:55:07 PM] Rocky Rose: Yeah a friend and I were talking and came across a similar story. Kinda like the one your friend shared with you.
[4/25/2016 11:55:14 PM] ★Dipper★: woah
[4/25/2016 11:55:29 PM] ★Dipper★: Would you mind telling me more about it?
[4/26/2016 12:00:10 AM] Rocky Rose: His story was that he saw the creature as a child in his bedroom. He felt paralyzed by fear or whatnot and couldn't move. Just stared at it and smelt dirt. He described it as a dog but wasn't quite sure what it was. He only saw it once.

My story on it was I saw it outside a window. Just the top of its head and it was looking up at me. I couldn't move either. I also had smelt dirt. When I had been momentary pulled away from it and looked back it was gone. I very stupidly opened the door, it was no where to be seen. I lived in a very open country field then. We both lived in Missouri.

He has asked a few people and they all have some similar story about it. I don't know theirs though. Only real difference is our creature was brown.
[4/26/2016 12:01:39 AM] ★Dipper★: Well thank you very much for sharing! Have a good evening

Once again, likely a coincidence, but who knows? Maybe more people will see this and have similar stories to share.

 

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Breed and raised Missourian here. I can tell you two one is the Spook Light/ Hornet Spooklight , one of the oldest, first recorded in 1800's also giant catfish. Don't know if that's what you're looking for.

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  • 1 month later...

I helped investigate a bat-creature case in southern MO for MUFON last year. You can go to MUFON's main web page, click on the Track UFOs button then click on Search the UFO Database. It is case # 70171 (Shannon cty.) submitted 9-5-2015. In the same area back in 1983 two persons saw a giant bird as large as a car flying in the area. Having investigated over a hundred cases privately in SE Missouri over the last ten years I've found that at least 98% of the witnesses I have interviewed have told me about real events of a surprising variety including strange animals, ghost, UFOs, Earthquake Lights and of course Sasquatch. Several witnesses have seen Fairies and Little People. A large percentage of reports can be corroborated by other witnesses. By placing myself in the same areas others have seen things I have also seen quite a few anomalous entities and activities so I take these reports and 'stories' quite seriously. The Clearwater Lake area is especially strange so I would like to converse with anyone who has stories about this area in particular. The sightings in MO often follow a particular pattern...

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Dixon, MO ..... here.  When I was younger, my dad and uncle would take my cousin and I hunting with them. They would shoot it, and gut it. and we carried it out to the car.  We hiked in and stayed at an old cabin they always used in the hills for hunting and bed down for an early morning wake up.  Sometimes during the night I woke up and saw a dull orange light on the wall across from me, figuring it was moonlight through a crack.  But the spot got bigger and soon resembled a hand moving in a circle clock wise, fairly quickly the orange glow took on a human shape and stepped away from the wall ....... next thing I know there a huge boom and a bright flash of light as my father shot at it with his .44 magnum .... then there was hollering ..... and that orange thing disappeared ..... but my father and uncle herded us out and back to the car right then.  I am not really sure what it was we saw, it irrupted into chaos and when I looked back there was nothing there. But my father and uncle never used that cabin again after that.  Not a hairy beast, I know .. but something weird none the less.

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On 2016-06-02 at 4:29 PM, littledipperbigcuriosity said:

Sorry to get back to this literally ages after it's relevancy is nonexistent, but, I also suspected it to be sleep paralysis, but my friend had insisted I look into it for him. After a bit of talking, that does indeed seem to be the case. For anyone interested, though, I did get a peculiar skype request from someone claiming that their friend had also seen a similar creature, but I chalked this up as a coincidence. Not to mention I generally have a hard time believing accounts of things (this is just my paranoia more than anything).

Here's the chatlog in its entirety.

[4/25/2016 11:33:14 PM] *** Rocky Rose would like to add you on Skype

Hi, I'd like to connect with you on Skype. To discuss Missouri Creature. ***
[4/25/2016 11:52:30 PM] *** ★ Dipper ★ has shared contact details with Rocky Rose. ***
[4/25/2016 11:52:54 PM] ★Dipper★: Ummm?? Pretty sure this is probably a bot, but um? Hi?,, , ho w did you get my skype
[4/25/2016 11:54:07 PM] Rocky Rose: It was on the mystical creatures forum. I didn't see any way to just message you on there.
[4/25/2016 11:54:25 PM] ★Dipper★: Oh! Man, that was from forever ago! Wow
[4/25/2016 11:54:56 PM] ★Dipper★: Well, in any case, I was pretty sure it was sleep paralysis, my friend just kept pushing me to look into it. Do you have any info about it or...?
[4/25/2016 11:55:07 PM] Rocky Rose: Yeah a friend and I were talking and came across a similar story. Kinda like the one your friend shared with you.
[4/25/2016 11:55:14 PM] ★Dipper★: woah
[4/25/2016 11:55:29 PM] ★Dipper★: Would you mind telling me more about it?
[4/26/2016 12:00:10 AM] Rocky Rose: His story was that he saw the creature as a child in his bedroom. He felt paralyzed by fear or whatnot and couldn't move. Just stared at it and smelt dirt. He described it as a dog but wasn't quite sure what it was. He only saw it once.

My story on it was I saw it outside a window. Just the top of its head and it was looking up at me. I couldn't move either. I also had smelt dirt. When I had been momentary pulled away from it and looked back it was gone. I very stupidly opened the door, it was no where to be seen. I lived in a very open country field then. We both lived in Missouri.

He has asked a few people and they all have some similar story about it. I don't know theirs though. Only real difference is our creature was brown.
[4/26/2016 12:01:39 AM] ★Dipper★: Well thank you very much for sharing! Have a good evening

Once again, likely a coincidence, but who knows? Maybe more people will see this and have similar stories to share.

 

Sleep paralysis. Anything where you couldn't move at night, and sleep paralysis is a safe bet.

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  • 3 months later...
On 7/11/2016 at 4:02 PM, anomaly tracker said:

I helped investigate a bat-creature case in southern MO for MUFON last year. You can go to MUFON's main web page, click on the Track UFOs button then click on Search the UFO Database. It is case # 70171 (Shannon cty.) submitted 9-5-2015. In the same area back in 1983 two persons saw a giant bird as large as a car flying in the area. Having investigated over a hundred cases privately in SE Missouri over the last ten years I've found that at least 98% of the witnesses I have interviewed have told me about real events of a surprising variety including strange animals, ghost, UFOs, Earthquake Lights and of course Sasquatch. Several witnesses have seen Fairies and Little People. A large percentage of reports can be corroborated by other witnesses. By placing myself in the same areas others have seen things I have also seen quite a few anomalous entities and activities so I take these reports and 'stories' quite seriously. The Clearwater Lake area is especially strange so I would like to converse with anyone who has stories about this area in particular. The sightings in MO often follow a particular pattern...

Hey dude I hope you see this post. I'm trying to find info about creatures with big wings in southwest MO. I'm not sure if it's a bat creature exactly, but my brother and his friends were driving and saw huge wings coming down out of a tree. It was dark out, but they could tell that the wings were many feet long and they both saw the exact same thing. My friends dad said he saw a "jeepers creepers" (like the movie) on broadway in joplin. These two sightings were very close to each other (in distance) and were both within the last year I think. If you've got any helpful info i'd like to hear it

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On ‎6‎/‎1‎/‎2015 at 0:40 PM, littledipperbigcuriosity said:

Last night, a friend came to me with an unsettling recollection of a childhood memory. At the time, they were living in Missouri, specifically the St. Louis area. According to this friend, they had been sleeping, and in their dream, saw a strange ape-like creature, which then leapt at him. At this point, he jolted awake, and seemed to be stuck in sleep paralysis or some kind of state that hindered his movements. He was able to move his eyes, though, and when he went to look into a doorway, the creature was there. The thing scampered down the hall and moments later, my friend could move again and began to scream. According to my friend, he always slept with the door closed, yet that night it was wide open.

A brief description from my friend describes the creature as a 3 ft. tall biped that moved on all fours, but did not move like an ape in the sense that it would do the iconic knuckle-walk. He described the creature's movements as the way that a child would move when pretending to be a dog. It was covered in grey fur everywhere save for the front and backs of its palms. The thing had sharp claws, long teeth and two red eyes.

I'm wondering if there's possibly any information or local legends that match this description or may seem relevant in any way? Unfortunately whenever I look up "ape man" or anything similar, all that pops up in the Missouri area is stuff about Momo, which looks drastically different from the description that my friend gave. If you're from Missouri and have a similar experience or at least have heard any urban legends regarding this matter, please feel free to reply to this thread, or, for a more anymous exchange, you can PM me.

My friend will provide an illustration in a day or so when their tablet comes in.

Sounds like a perfect description of what happens during sleep paralysis

http://science.howstuffworks.com/life/inside-the-mind/human-brain/why-are-demons-blamed-for-sleep-paralysis1.htm

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