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

mountain lion or puma,’ Don Ford said Monday while sitting on his porch watching people wander through his fields looking for a trace of the ‘Fouke Monster.’”
    Rumors also circulated that the perpetrator had actually been a horse. Several sources agreed that an old horse had been seen lumbering around the area of Highway 71 where the Ford house was located. It often trampled through gardens and approached houses at night. Some claim that the old horse was found dead a short distance from the Ford house the following day, having been killed by a shotgun blast. However, other sources deny that such a horse was ever found. Either way, it does seem odd that no hoofprints were noted around the Ford house, nor was a blood trail ever found.
    Despite the new theories, the original Ford tale had ignited a sense of public curiosity that could not be easily doused. The story had already gone viral, and it would become clear that no efforts to debunk or calm the situation would be entertained. After all, how could a four-legged cat or rickety old horse be mistaken for a seven-foot upright monster? A legend had been born and nothing would stop it from growing.
     
    It Walks Among Us
    Two days after the Woods saw a strange creature lope across the highway, the Texarkana Gazette printed another small article, indicative of the burgeoning interest in the Fouke Monster. The short report, featuring the rather academic headline of “State Funds Sought for ‘Monster’ Hunt,” put forth one citizen’s suggestion that state officials should take interest:
     
Dean Combs, a history instructor at Dial Junior High School in Pine Bluff, Ark., is taking the Fouke “monster” seriously.
Tuesday Combs said he believes the “monster” is a symbol of Arkansas’ wild heritage and that the state should appropriate money for the capture and preservation of the beast.
     
    State officials were probably either scratching their heads at such a notion, outright laughing, or just hoping it would go away as quickly as it started. But as the reports continued to roll in, it was becoming apparent to everyone that something unique and exciting was happening down in Miller County. Folks didn’t have to wait long for another titillating report to hit the pages of the Texarkana Gazette .
    It was June 2, only a month since the first incident sparked the creature to life in the minds of the locals. Officials responded to a call from three individuals claiming that they had seen a “tall hairy creature with red eyes” during the evening hours in a wooded area near Texarkana. According to one of the witnesses, Gloria Dean Richey, they spotted the creature “squatting” on an embankment across the street from her Oats Street residence after hearing something walk through a weeded area near the road. “We shined a flashlight on the spot and saw the creature,” Richey told reporters. “He was real tall and hairy and had real red eyes.” When the light hit the creature, the dogs began to bark wildly. At that point the thing started running through the heavy brush “leaping high over the weeds and running faster than a man could.”
    Mrs. Richey glimpsed the animal once more, approximately 25 yards from where it first entered the heavy brush, before it finally disappeared for good. At that point, the two other witnesses, Junior Goodman and Jerry Smallwood, went to retrieve their guns and call police. When they returned, they followed a trail of trampled weeds and bushes, but could not find any further trace of the creature. Mrs. Richey waited in the house for the men to return. Her fright was evident: “I have never seen anything like it. I know it wasn’t a cat or a man. I could still hear the dogs acting up and the brush breaking and rattling. I didn’t go out again until [Goodman and Smallwood] got back."
     

    June 2, 1971: The creature is seen in the vicinity of Oats Street
north of Fouke.
     
    The police searched the wooded area around the