The Beast of Boggy Creek

I admit that I am an “Armchair” Cryptozoologist and Ghost Hunter. You are probably asking what do you mean by “Armchair”. That means that I do all of my research in the library or on the net and not in the field. Not that I have a problem with being out in the field but to be honest opportunity has not had the chance of presenting itself to me to go out and look.  Not to mention the fact that the cameraman almost always is the first one to get killed in this instance.

The search for the elusive beast known as Bigfoot has been an interest of mine since childhood watching In Search of as well as other documentaries on the subject.

Then when I was 10 years old I was in Video Works scouring the horror section for PG rated Horror flicks and I found a copy of the Legend of Boggy Creek.

Let’s just say that I did not get any sleep that night.

To make matters much worse my parents were from Arkansas and my father loved to go camping in a wooded area of the state that it turns out was on the opposite side of Arkansas but for all that mattered to me was the fact that I was in a wooded area where “The Creature could be lurking”.

I still remember sitting in a big green tent looking outside watching the tree line seeing if the Creature could be there looking back at me.

Now I don’t know if  I have encountered any Sasquatch because I have seen some shadows and shapes in the woods that could not be trees or they could be the over active imagination of a future storyteller that wants to see something out there  and to be honest I would not mind keeping it that way.

As a matter of fact If I had ever encountered the creature I would probably keep it to myself because there are too many naysayers that simply refuse to believe in a creature of such mythology and won’t believe in it until it is standing right in front of them.

Well I knew that it wasn’t just me because in 1997 I recorded an episode of Monstervision with Joe Bob Briggs which he hosted the flick and I showed it to my horror club in school and They were all interested in the beast an it intrigued me how many people had heard of the Beast and some had even driven through Fouke and asked around about it there.

Now what was it about Boggy Creek that terrified and intrigued me so?

I honestly think that it was the flick.

Released in 1973 The Legend of Boggy Creek takes a documentary approach telling the story of The Fouke Monster and the sightings and encounters of the creature as well as introducing us to citizens of the town which some of them even get their own Theme songs. I honestly think that some of the citizens of Fouke are more frightening than the beast. For example in the scene in the flick there is a woman screaming at the young Mary Beth to put something over the window to keep a draft off of the baby, when the thought never occurred to get up off of the bed and put it there herself and I have always wondered to this day why she could not get up off the bed at that time. That’s just one example.

Not that I have any problems with the people of Fouke I’m sure that it is a nice place and I may go there someday soon.

I think that what had my attention the most about Boggy creek was not just the subject matter of the film it was both shot and edited with this creepy atmosphere. Unlike most flicks of this sort The creature is shown in fleeting glimpses and no direct shot of the creature is used in the flick. Also the creature is never seen in close up he is almost always shot in longshot mostly emerging from the shadows and then the film cuts to the reaction of the person seeing the beast.

Most films like this would show the beast in fleeting glimpses but there is almost always a big reveal where the audience sees the creature in full. However that was not in the budget for this movie. The movie was directed by Charles B. Pierce who would go on to direct another creepy classic about Texarkana titled The Town that Dreaded Sundown and also be one of the writers on the Dirty Harry sequel Sudden Impact giving Clint Eastwood one of his most infamous lines “Go Ahead Make My Day”.

What really got me about the flick was the fact that in almost all “Bigfoot Documentaries” around that time the Sasquatch was never shown to be an aggressor usually the beast is shown fleeing from the cameraman or in the cases where it does attack it is because it was provoked by someone.

In The Legend of Boggy Creek the creature ventures out of hiding because of “Lonely Frustration because he is the only one of his kind”. As a result the creature is shown attacking and killing Dogs stepping out of the woods scaring a mother and her children and terrorizing a group of girls having a slumber party. Also in the climax the creature raids a family constantly trying to gain access to the house and even attacking someone scaring him through a door.

This movie would go on to make Millions in the box offices of Drive-Ins across the country and inspire two sequels which both failed to live up to the Original’s standards. One of them was even given the MST3K Treatment in the 1990s What they both lacked in was the dark and creepy atmosphere brought on by the shaky camerawork that would go in to inspire the Blair Witch Project. It was these Images combined with footage of the beast with his haunting cry instilled a feeling of fear and anxiety in me to this day whenever I see dark woods in particular. However that since of fear is not enough to deter me from seeking further information on the Legendary Beast of Boggy Creek.

In 2010 I attended a screening of the Legend of Boggy Creek in a club in Deep Ellum hosted by Lyle Blackburn. The event began with a Power Point presentation from Lyle where he spoke about the legends and the aftermath of the filming of the movie.  After the screening Lyle and I enjoyed a piece of Bigfoot shaped cake together and we spoke about some of the other theories of the Beast of Boggy Creek as well as we discussed Charles B. Pierce’s other flick filmed in Arkansas The Town that Dreaded Sundown. It was not too long after this that he told me that he was working on a Book about the Beast.

 Lyle as it turns out is quite the Renaissance man He is an accomplished musician with his band Ghoultown, Elvira fans would know him from the music video Mistress of the Dark.

He is also a contributor for Rue Morgue Magazine with his column Monster Bizzaro where he covers Cryptozoology.

This past year The Beast of Boggy Creek was published and I picked up a copy at the Lucky Lizard Museum of the Weird  on 6^th Street in Austin on April 28^th Where Lyle was there signing copies of the book as well as introducing a screening of the flick upstairs. Needless to say I could not wait to get home so that I could read the book.

Lyle Blackburn definitely did his research here. The Beast of Boggy Creek follows as many sightings of the creature even away from Fouke as well as the sightings before the town of Fouke was founded not to mention what happened in Fouke after the movie was filmed and the hype of the flick died down.

The Beast of Boggy Creek also makes a point to educate the readers on the town of Fouke’s history from it’s founding all the way to the present day.  Lyle also makes a point to discuss the many theories of the monster.

 The telling of the mysterious skeleton found in the woods near Fouke is what I found to be the most interesting part of the book. I would tell you more about it but you would have to buy the book.

Fans of The Legend of Boggy Creek will not be disappointed as the book covers the story of the making of the film from it’s inception by Pierce to the distribution and the hype behind the release. The book even covers the sequels as well as the movies that it inspired.

The Beast of Boggy Creek also features outstanding illustrations by Dan Brereton that are well worth the price of the hard copy of the book as well as some rare pictures of locations and behind the scenes pictures of the Making of Legend of Boggy Creek.

I would definitely recommend The Beast of Boggy Creek to all of you Bigfoot fanatics out there as well as all of you that are fans of the Legend of Boggy Creek definitely buy this book.

The Beast of Boggy Creek is available on the website www.foukemonster.net as well as Amazon.com

You can also purchase it at the Lucky Lizard Museum of the Weird on 6^th Street in Austin.

And while you are there please check out the Museum tour. $5 and well worth the price of admission.