The Legend of Boggy Creek
Thanks for the all the well wishes on my (not so) mysterious illness. I'm just glad it wasn't something more serious, like Space Herpes.
As I said before, we spent my birthday in Fouke, Arkansas -- the home of the Boggy Creek Monster. Believe it or not, The Legend of Boggy Creek was one of the highest grossing movies in 1973. I wasn't alive then, but it certainly made an impression on me as a child when it played on some old UHF station on Saturday afternoons. So, I was kind of excited to learn that our new house was under an hour from the monster's stomping grounds.
Not familiar with the Boggy Creek Monster? It's a Bigfoot-type creature that has been spotted in the Texarkana area for decades. I think most of the sightings took place in the 60's and 70's. After the movie was made, the tiny town of Fouke gained a lot of attention and sight-seeing nerds like us still make their way over there for pictures.
There isn't a lot to this rural town. The population is under 1,000 and much of it is still undeveloped. We actually got lost a few times, but this sign was a shining beacon when the kids were nearing meltdown:
That is one of the few gas stations in town and they sell monster souvenirs. The owners were very nice and answered our silly questions. Here are a few more shots of the Monster Mart:
Yes, that is a cast of an alleged BigFoot track. They don't have any copies or we would have bought one. Instead, we bought a DVD copy of Boggy Creek, a few t-shirts for the kids and a sketch of the monster. The nice lady at the Monster Mart then gave us directions to Smokey Crabtree's house. His personal experiences with the creature were the main inspiration for the movie. Smokey is over 80 years young and still operating a souvenir shop next to his house.
So, we bid the Monster Mart farewell and headed out to Smokey's place. Of course, we had to stop off at the local post office first and have our picture taken here:
And then we were off... and quickly became lost in the deep woods of rural Arkansas. Luckily, we had just filled up the tank at the Monster Mart. Along the way, I spotted this sign. Seriously, this is an ominous sight when you are lost in the middle of nowhere. Chainsaw massacre, anyone?
We stopped and asked this guy for directions, but he just shrugged:
And I didn't want to ask this lady where we were. She's clearly too classy to be bothered with the likes of us.
Finally, we found some unmarked road between a cemetery and a small church (lots of those in the area) that led us to our destination!
Smokey Crabtree operates this bookstore / souvenir shop / museum next to his house. He was home and came out to meet us when we arrived. The man could not have been nicer and I felt bad bothering him when the temperature was in triple digits. I only kept him for a few minutes, as the museum was not air conditioned. I managed to snap a few shots of his collection before I left.
He used to be a boxer and a trapper, so the place was filled with cool stuffed trophies and newspaper clippings. His life story is very interesting, so I highly recommend you visit his site here.
Smokey was a real gentleman and signed one of his autobiographies for me, Smokey and the Fouke Monster. I also bought his audio CD to listen to on the way home and a jar of his homemade BigFoot jelly!
On the way home, we listened to Smokey's stories about seeing the creature, finding a possible BigFoot skeleton and growing up around the local swamps. It was a fun, geeky birthday!
Sounds like a great day! Much like our trip to see the Loch Ness Monster.
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What a fun trip!!
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Yeah, this looks like a lot of fun. Nerds.
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Those pics are hilarious! You guys are so fun.
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I loved that movie when I was a kid. Scared the sh*t outta me!
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wow, I've never heard of this, and I've heard most monster stories around the country! Looks like it's time for a field trip!1!
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Thanks for the nice comments and photos of our little town. While most of the residents of Fouke grew up here, my husband and I are city slickers who moved here three years ago. Now we go fishing and blackberry picking with our children and we go to the local "Cowboy Church". Still haven't seen the Monster, but our youngest makes us bring in our dogs at night. Just in case.
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I am 38 and that movie scared the crap out of me when I was young.I lost alot of sleep because of that movie and Jaws.i wish my parents would have pointed out we do not live near a beach or live in a double wide so our chances of attack were greatly reduced.Trips like hre great to do with the kids.
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LOL! That's pretty good, Eric. Sounds like you were well-protected against alien abductions, too.
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All the latest hype about them finding a bigfoot body in GA reminded me of this movie. It scared the you know what out of me when I was a kid. I am now in my 30's and am a huge believer in bogfoot. But I still can't bring myself to watch this movie. I want to know what people think about them finding a body in GA. Does anyone believe? Also, have you heard that creepy 911 call from Washington State?!?!?
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This movie has scarred me for life. It was the scariest movie for it's kind and time. Whenever someone was late getting home I just knew Bigfoot got them. I would imagine him walking on the little dirt road that I could see from my grandmother kitchen window. I still scare myself thinking about that movie....I get goosebumps and my eyes get teary LOLOLOLOL
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Ha! I love that you guys do these nerdy things all the time.
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Hey! Smokey Crabtree is my uncle. He is my mom's brother! I remember going to the old Palace Theater in Corsicana TX and watching The Legend of Boggy Creek! It scared the crap outta me! I'm 43 now and haven't seen it since then!!!! Fouke is a neat place and I spent a lot of time there when I was growing up!! I was just surfing the net and found my uncle and hit some links! This is pretty COOL!! LOL!!!
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That's so cool, Lori. Thanks for leaving a comment!
Your uncle was so sweet and I felt bad that we showed up on such a hot day. He reminded me of my grandpa and I would have bought everything in there if I had the money on me.
We still have our signed autobiography displayed in our living room! It was a fun little trip for the family.
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My fiance and his friends want to go camping to "find the Boggy Creek Monster" for his bachelor party. Does anyone know of any good campsites in Fouke?
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