The forests, sparsely populated regions and the Ozark Hills of Arkansas have long made for many mysteries and the strange creatures of the state are no exception. There have been a number of anomalous creatures who have appeared throughout the state over the years.

The Fouke Monster of Fouke, Arkansas is certainly one of the strangest. This six-feet-tall, hairy, humanoid monster gained notoriety in the late 1960's when it harassed two families living outside this town in the southwest part of the state. The monster is reported to have smelled awful and made a habit of killing chickens and livestock and mauling a number of dogs. The story became so popular that a low-budget horror movie called The Legend of Boggy Creek was made about it in 1973.

The other most famous creature of Arkansas is the White River Monster, a mystery so widely accepted that it has it's own game preserve! From about 1915 to the 1970's, residents of the small town of Newport reported seeing a monster in the nearby river. The sightings were not constant but seemed to occur many at a time.

The monster was described as being sea-serpent-like and at least thirty feet long. Witnesses reported that it made a loud bellowing noise and had a spiny backbone. The reports varied the creature's size over the years and it was often encountered by fisherman and campers along the river. Two men reported in 1971 that they saw three-toed tracks along the muddy river banks and a place where the monster had crushed some of the vegetation.

The creature was even photographed that same year by Cloyce Warren of the White River Lumber Company.

In 1973 a resolution was passed in the Arkansas State Legislature creating the White River Monster Refuge along all of the White River that runs adjacent to the Jacksonport State Park. This resolution made it illegal to "molest, kill, trample, or harm the White River Monster while he is in the retreat."

Newport, Arkansas is located about ninety miles northeast of Little Rock on Highway 67. The White River Monster has been sighted along the river and from the Jacksonport State Park.

The Fouke Monster was seen near this town in southwest Arkansas at the junction of the Sulphur and Red Rivers. The sightings occurred between 1955 and 1975 along Boggy Creek. The film, based on the events, The Legend of Boggy Creek, is described as a low-budget docudrama about sightings of a horrifying swamp monster. It became a huge success and, believe it or not, inspired two sequels. It is supposed to be still available on videocassette, but I have not yet found a copy.

So have you tried looking for the two sequels? And the game park. Whats the exact name of it?

i have not looked them up yet! so i dont know!

Where can I find these pictures..?

do you have a link to this story i would like to see the picture's of this creature

White River Monster

The White River runs through a town in Arkansas called Newport. From 1915 to present day the residents have reports seeing a mysterious creature in the river. The creature has been seen thrashing about in the river and is described as being 12 to 30 ft long and about 5 ft wide. Three toed tracks have also been found on the river banks. The prints measure 14 in. long and 8 in. wide. Theories on the identity of the creature range from an out of place elephant seal to a giant penguin.

New Comments from Jan Hoover who is a ichthyologist (fish biologist)
"I believe that the White River Monster is a series of sightings of groups of paddlefish, combined with an occasional sighting of a large (possibly ill) sturgeon. The Monster is described as a surface dwelling, oceanic looking animal with smooth gray skin, a large mouth, and a long bone projecting from its head. Only the size is inconsistent with a paddlefish (Polyodon spathula), but paddlefish frequently occur in large groups near the surface of the water and this could be responsible for the exaggerated size. Anyway, its a much more credible candidate than a lost seal, etc., since paddlefish occur naturally in the White River."

From: http://www.theshadowlands.net/serpent.htm

I've heard of the Fouke Monster, but not the other one. Pretty good stuff, though

I traveled to Fouke about 15 years ago and poked around for several days, back then the swamp areas came within a mile of the town itself, now, they have a four lane highway built within several hundred feet of Boggy Creek (I just got back today from another trip there) and the nearest swamp area I could find down backroads was at the Sulpher River Game Management Area. If the Fouke Monster is still around, he would more than likely be back up in the Game Management Area.

As for the sequels to the Legend of Boggy Creek, both were created in the writer's mind, and is based on imagination. The second sequel shows a Professor from the University of Arkansas going to Fouke in search of the creature and was made to be like a documentary of his search. The third one, starred Dawn Welles (Mary Ann from Gilligan's Island) and Dana Plato (From Different Strokes) and was so unbelievably bad, I actually don't consider it a sequel. Hearing southern accents on Dawn and Dana was like trying to get Jackie Chan to talk with one. Anyway, don't waste your money on the third one, unless you just want to punish yourself for being stupid enough to buy it.

Most likely, with the build-up of Texarkana slowly encroaching on Fouke and the Game Management Area, and the time span between the events in the original movie and today, I don't believe we will hear about any more contact with the Fouke Monster. If we do have reports, it will be far back into the Game Management Area, if the creature is even still alive. After all, the movie reports events back about 35 to 40 years ago now.

Boggy Creek?! C'mon! I can take ghosts, aliens, government conspiracies, bases under Antarctica, Bigfoot, Demons, damn near anything, but I can't believe anyone would swallow the Boggy Creek story. And here's why.
I moved to Texarkana, the closest thing resembling civilization to Fouke, in 2000. In the fall of that year, I began getting my basics in at the local community college and had a World and Regional Geography class with a guy who told me a very interesting and believable Boggy Creek story. Back in the early part of the century, in the 30s or 40s, the elders, or whatever you call them, in the town of Fouke had a meeting about 'The Negro Problem'. Now in a part of the country where racism is as casual as picking one's underwear out of their buttcrack, Fouke is renowned as being the worst of the lot. I have had black folks in Texarkana tell me that they won't even slow down going through Fouke, one guy told me he would rather run out of gas on the other side of Fouke than stop to fill up in the town. A local legend says the last lynching was in 1942 and the town has a tree in its center referred to as 'The Hanging Tree'.
But back to the earlier times. At this meeting, the solution to 'The Negro Problem' was to play upon the African-Americans superstitions, fear of 'the boogies' by creating a local legend. If the blacks believed the town had a monster roaming around it, they would stay away, so a local lady was drafted to make a suit. She did and her male relatives, -- who were huge, the guy in my class was a portable wall, and the family pictures he showed me made him look like a runt -- began stomping around the swamp in the suit.
At first I didn't believe my classmate, so he brought pictures to class one day. That was proof enough for me. Sadly, I didn't get his phone number or e-mail, since I took an early final in the class (he brought the pics the last class before finals) but he was believable. He was training to become a youth minister and would never so much as curse. I do know his name, but I do not want to name him without his consent.
My conclusion to the whole thing was that while I give the paranormal, even the just plain odd, credit, I would sooner believe in human evil than in a giant apeman wandering around the swamps of Arkansas.

I have a great uncle down there. Doubt he knows anything, ot in 2 tht stuff. Anyway, that sound pretty cool.

I would like to see the picture...

Look at the date this is a very old thread.. I wonder is GC even still on here....

I just looked nope he's not been on sense Feb 26......