Fouke Monster

The Fouke Monster first made local headlines in 1971, when it was reported to have attacked the home of Bobby and Elizabeth Ford on May 2, 1971.[8][15][16]

According to Elizabeth Ford, the creature, which she initially thought was a bear, reached through a screen window that night while she was sleeping on a couch. It was chased away by her husband and his brother Don.[17] During the alleged encounter, the Fords fired several gun shots at the creature and believed that they had hit it, though no traces of blood were found. An extensive search of the area failed to locate the creature, but three-toed footprints were found close to the house, as well as scratch marks on the porch and damage to a window and the house's siding.[18] According to the Fords, they had heard something moving around outside late at night several nights prior but, having lived in the house for less than a week, had never encountered the creature before.[18]

The creature was allegedly sighted again on May 23, 1971, when three people, D. C. Woods, Jr., Wilma Woods, and Mrs. R. H. Sedgass, reported seeing an ape-like creature crossing U.S. Highway 71.[19] More sightings reports were made over the following months by local residents and tourists, who found additional footprints.[20] The best known footprints were found in a soybean field belonging to local filling station owner Scott Keith. They were scrutinized by game warden Carl Galyon, who was unable to confirm their authenticity.[6] Like the Ford prints, they appeared to indicate that the creature had only three toes.[21]

The incident began to attract substantial interest after news spread about the Ford sighting. The Little Rock, Arkansas, radio station KAAY posted a $1,090 bounty on the creature.[6] Several attempts were made to track the creature with dogs, but they were unable to follow its scent.[18] When hunters began to take interest in the Fouke Monster, Miller County Sheriff Leslie Greer was forced to put a temporary "no guns" policy in place in order to preserve public safety.[6] In 1971, three people were fined $59 each "for filing a fraudulent monster report."[6]

After an initial surge of attention, public interest in the creature decreased until it gained national recognition in 1973 when Charles B. Pierce released a docudrama horror film about the creature in 1972, The Legend of Boggy Creek.

By late 1974, interest had waned again and sightings all but stopped; only to begin again in March 1978 when tracks were reportedly found by two brothers prospecting in Russellville, Arkansas. There were also sightings in Center Ridge, Arkansas. On June 26 of that same year, a sighting was reported in Crossett, Arkansas. During this period the creature was blamed for missing livestock and attacks on several dogs.

Since the initial clusters of sightings during the 1970s, there have been sporadic reports of the creature. In 1991 the creature was reportedly seen jumping from a bridge.[22] There were forty reported sightings in 1997 and, in 1998, the creature was reportedly sighted in a dry creek bed 5 miles (8 km) south of Fouke.

The story of Bobby Ford's encounter with the Fouke Monster was the subject of a 1972, docudrama horror film, The Legend of Boggy Creek[11] (initially titled Tracking the Fouke Monster),[26] which played in movie and drive-in theaters around the country.[27] It was written by Earl E. Smith and directed by Charles B. Pierce. The part of Bobby Ford was played by Glenn Carruth and the part of Elizabeth Ford was played by Bunny Dees. Fouke Garage owner Willie E. Smith, on whose land three-toed footprints were found, starred as himself. Many characters were named after the people who played them. Much of the film was shot on location in Fouke and nearby Texarkana, though some scenes also were filmed in Shreveport, Louisiana. Most of the cast were local people or Texarkana college students.[28] The film is believed to have cost $160,000 to make.[29] It grossed $20 million at the box office.[30]

A second Fouke Monster film, Return to Boggy Creek, was filmed and released in 1977. The movie had an entirely fictional plot and was not intended to be a sequel. It was directed by Tom Moore, written by John David Woody, and starred Dawn Wells as the mother of three children who become lost in the swamp.[31] Some of the film's scenes were shot on location in Dallas, Texas, and Loreauville and Iberia Parish, Louisiana.[31]

Originally titled The Barbaric Beast of Boggy Creek, Part II, the third Fouke Monster film was written as a sequel to the original film. Charles B. Pierce wrote, directed, and played the role of Brian Lockart, a University of Arkansas professor who leads a group of students into the swamps around Fouke.[32] The film was shot on location in Fouke[32] but included some scenes shot at the University of Arkansas.

In 1999, Boggy Creek II: And The Legend Continues was lampooned in an episode of Mystery Science Theater 3000.[33]

Boggy Creek: The Legend Is True was released to home video in 2011. Early buzz suggested that the film, directed by Brian T. Jaynes, was to be a remake of Charles B. Pierce's original 1972 film. However, it is an unrelated story set in the fictional town of Boggy Creek, Texas. Even so, the film obviously draws influence from Pierce's film with its small-town setting and use of spooky swampscapes for this Southern Sasquatch horror slasher.[34][35]

This low-budget indie film was originally released in 2009 under the title The Skunkape Story,[36][37] but was later re-edited and released to home video in 2011 as The Legacy of Boggy Creek. The docudrama chronicles the events that began after the original attacks in Fouke. It was written and directed by Dustin Ferguson.[38]

In 2016, a documentary film about the Fouke Monster entitled Boggy Creek Monster was released. Directed by Seth Breedlove, who co-produced the film with Lyle Blackburn under the banner of Breedlove's production company Small Town Monsters, it was filmed in Fouke and features accounts from claimed eyewitnesses of the purported creature.[39][40]