THE BEAST OF BOGGY CREEK: The True Story of the Fouke Monster Read Online Free PDF

they spotted the creature in back of the house with the aid of a flashlight. “We shot several times at it then and then called Ernest Walraven, constable of Fouke. He brought us another shotgun and a stronger light. We waited on the porch and then saw the thing closer to the house. We shot again and thought we saw it fall. Bobby, Charles and myself started walking to where we saw it fall,” he said.
About that time, according to Don Ford, they heard the women in the house screaming and Bobby went back.
“I was walking the rungs of a ladder to get up on the porch when the thing grabbed me. I felt a hairy arm come over my shoulder and the next thing I knew we were on the ground. The only thing I could think about was to get out of there. The thing was breathing real hard and his eyes were about the size of a half dollar and real red.
“I finally broke away and ran around the house and through the front door. I don’t know where he went,” Bobby Ford said.
     
    At that point, everyone in the house saw it move rapidly into the field next to the house and then it was gone. Constable Walraven was called back to the scene at 12:35 a.m. where he promptly searched the area. He did not find any trace of the strange creature. It had simply vanished into the dark woods behind the house.
    With the coming of daylight, the men could investigate more thoroughly. They found pieces of metal around the bottom of the house that had been “ripped away.” They also noted window damage and scratches on the front porch. In the soil around the house, they discovered curious tracks, which may have been left by the creature. Whatever it was appeared to have only three toes, which was puzzling since this is not characteristic of any known bipedal creatures.
    The following day, May 4, a reprise of the story was printed in the Arkansas Gazette . The article read, in part:
     
Bobby Ford, 25, who said he was attacked by a “large, hairy creature” at his home was treated at a hospital here early Sunday for scratches and shock.
Ford, of Fouke, a small Miller County community 15 miles southeast of here told county officials and Fouke Constable Ernest Walraven that about midnight Saturday a creature poked its paw through a hole in a window.
Ford said he and three other adults chased what they described as a large, hairy animal into a wooded area behind the house.
Later, Ford said something kicked in the back door and they again saw the creature behind the house. As he was returning to his house after chasing the creature, he said the animal knocked him down. Ford said he escaped and ran into the house.
Walraven and county officials searched the area Sunday and said they found several large tracks.
     
    It is important to include the complete text of these articles rather than merely summarize the story, since it more accurately conveys the flat, matter-of-fact tone in which it was reported at the time. Devoid of modern-day cynicism that usually accompanies such “creature feature news” today—whether in actual newsprint or on television or internet—it is easy to imagine how this struck a chord of fear within the quiet melody of Fouke and the surrounding areas. Not only did Mr. Ford believe he saw a monster, he ended up in the hospital to be treated for injuries and shock!
    And this was only the first of such horrifying reports.
    The second incident was made public in the May 24, 1971, edition of the Texarkana Daily News . This time “a large hairy creature” was seen crossing a road several miles south of Fouke near Boggy Creek, as witnessed by Mr. and Mrs. D.C. Woods Jr., and Mrs. R.H. Sedgass, all citizens of nearby Texarkana. As the group was traveling north on U.S. Highway 71, just seven miles from the Ford house, they saw a thing with “dark long hair” run upright across the road in front of the car and disappear into the darkness beyond. Mr. Woods first thought they were going to collide with the animal, but due to its unusually