Fouke Monster

The city of Fouke, Arkansas, is a sleepy farming community that gained its popularity in the 1970's as the home of a Bigfoot-like beast known as "The Fouke Monster". To find Fouke, simply take US-71 southwest out of Texarkana for approximately 15 miles.

The beast was first sighted in 1971 on the edge of a soybean field. After that, sightings seemed to explode throughout the small town. A carload of Texarkana residents witnessed the monster dashing in front of their car on U.S. 71. A deer hunter encountered the creature in heavy brush. Still another man reported that the monster was banging on the door of their house, trying to get in.

The latest sighting of the monster was on July 17 in 1998, when a family saw the monster walking along a dry creek bed about five miles south of town. Sightings of the monster have occurred since the 1940's according to newspaper articles. A member of the band "Brave Combo" said, “I think I saw a Bigfoot once. It was on a small lonely highway between Texarkana and Shreveport. In that area they call it the Fouke Monster, named after Fouke, a swampy little town in southwest Arkansas. I was with my cousin, driving her Volkswagen Beetle. We were wide awake and there it was, walking swiftly along the road."

Today there are only a few remnants of the monster in Fouke. The Monster Mart sells several items such as photos and other souvenirs. It's worth a stop inside to fill up with gas, grab a snack and a postcard, and talk to the people about the latest sightings.

Just down the road from the Monster Mart is a large metal replica of the Fouke Monster that is set up for tourists. You climb a set of steps, put your head through the opening, and viola'! You have just become the latest Fouke Monster sighting! 

Back in 1975, a 'B' movie was made about the Fouke Monster, named "The Legend of Boggy Creek". To quote the film's press kit, "The feature-length documentary motion picture, produced by P&L Productions, is an unusually exciting family film. A film that accurately chronicles the experiences of the people who live in and around Fouke, Arkansas (pop. 350) involving a "huge, hairy monster." Over the past decade this monster has periodically terrorized people in this small farming and ranching community in Southwest Arkansas near Texarkana."

Real or not, you decide.