INVESTIGATIVE FILES JOE NICKELL

Tracking the Swamp Monsters

o mysterious and presumab- told his story on an episode of the 1970s happened—with gun and camera. He ly endangered manlike crea- television series In Search of... . did supposedly find several, different- Dtures inhabit swamplands of According to his granddaughter, Dana sized tracks on one hunting trip. He also the southern United States? If not, Holyfield (1999a, 11): claimed to have seen the monster on one how do we explain the sightings and other occasion, during a fishing trip When the documentary was first tele- even track impressions of creatures vised, it was monster mania around with Mills and some of their friends that thus far have eluded mainstream here. People called from everywhere. from work. One of the men reportedly science? Do they represent additional . .. The legend of the Honey Island then went searching for the creature Swamp Monster escalated across evidence of the legendary Bigfoot or witfr a rifle and fired two shots at it be- Southern Louisiana and quickly made something else entirely? What would its way out of state after the docu- fore returning to tell his story to the oth- an investigation reveal? mentary aired nationwide. ers around the campfire (Holyfield 1999a, 10-15). Monster Mania Harlan Ford continued to search for Searching for Evidence The outside world learned about the monster until his death in 1980. Louisiana's Honey Island Swamp Dana recalls how he once took a goat Intrigued by the monster reports, which Monster in 1974 when two hunters into the swamp to use as bait, hop- I pursued on a trip to New Orleans emerged from a remote area of backwa- ing to lure the creature to a tree blind (speaking to local skeptics at the plane- ter sloughs with plaster casts of "unusual where Ford waited—uneventfully, as it tarium in Kenner), I determined to visit tracks." The men claimed they discov- ered the footprints near a wild boar that lay with its tiiroat gashed. They also stated dial over a decade earlier, in 1963, they had seen similar tracks after encountering an awesome creature. They described it as standing seven feet tall, being covered with grayish hair, and having large amber-colored eyes. However, the monster had promptly run away and an afternoon rainstorm had obliterated its tracks, the men said. The hunters were Harlan E. Ford and his friend Billy Mills, both of whom worked as air-traffic controllers. Ford

Joe Nickel! is CSICOP's Senior Research Fellow and author of numerous investiga- tive books. Figure 1. Louisiana's pristine Honey Island Swamp is the alleged habitat of a manlike monster.

SKEPTICAL INQUIRER July/August 2001 15 the alleged creature's habitat. The claims is naturalist John V. Dennis. In 2). It is clearly not the track of a stereo- Honey Island Swamp (figure 1) com- his comprehensive book The Great typical Bigfoot (or sasquatch) whose prises nearly 70,000 acres between the Cypress Swamps (1988), he writes: footprints are "roughly human in de- East Pearl and West Pearl rivers. I signed "Honey Island has achieved fame of sign," according to anthropologist and on with Honey Island Swamp Tours, sorts because of the real or imagined pro-Bigfoot theorist Grover Krantz which is operated out of Slidell, presence of a creature that fits the (1992, 17). Instead, Ford's monster Louisiana, by wetlands ecologist Paul description of the Big Foot of movie tracks are webbed-toe imprints that Wagner and his wife, Sue. Their "small, renown. Known as the Thing, the crea- appear to be "a cross between a primate personalized nature tours" live up to ture is sometimes seen by fishermen." and a large alligator" (Holyfield 1999a, their billing as explorations of "the However, he says, "For my part, let me 9). The track is also surprisingly small: deeper, harder-to-reach small bayous say that in my many years of visiting only about nine and three-fourths and sloughs" of "one of the wildest and swamps, many of them as wild or wilder inches long compared to Bigfoot tracks most pristine river swamps in America" than Honey Island, I have never which average about fourteen to sixteen ("Dr. Wagner's" n.d.). obtained a glimpse of anything vaguely inches (Coleman and Clark 1999, 14), The Wagners are ambivalent about resembling Big Foot, nor have I ever with tracks of twenty inches and more the supposed swamp monster's exis- seen suspicious-looking footprints." He reported (Coleman and Huyghe 1999).' tence. They have seen alliga- tors, deer, otters, bobcats, and Monsterlands numerous other species but Clearly, the Honey Island not a trace of the legendary Swamp Monster is not a Big- creature (Wagner 2000). The foot, a fact that robs Ford's and same is true of the Wagners' Mills's story of any credibility Cajun guide, Captain Robbie it might have had from that Charbonnet. Beginning at age association. Monster popular- eight, he has had forty-five izes instead equate the Honey years' experience, eighteen as a Island reports with other guide, in the Honey Island "North American 'Creatures of Swamp. He told me he had the Black Lagoon' cases," pur- "never seen or heard" some- ported evidence of cryptozoo- thing he could not identify, Figure 2. This plaster cast preserves an alleged Honey Island logical entities dubbed "fresh- certainly nothing that could Swamp Monster track. (Photos by Joe Nickel!) water Merbeings" (Coleman be attributed to a monster and Huyghe 1999, 39, 62). (Charbonnet 2000). concludes, "Honey Island, in my experi- These are supposedly linked by tracks Suiting action to words throughout ence, does not live up to its reputation as with three toes, although Ford's casts ac- our tour, Charbonnet repeatedly iden- a scary place." tually exhibit four (again see figure 2). tified species after species in the remote In contrast to the lack of monster In short, the alleged monster is unique, swampland as he skillfully threaded his experiences from swamp experts are rare even among creatures whose exis- boat through the cypresses and tupelos die encounters reported by Harlan Ford tence is unproven and unlikely. hung with Spanish moss. Although the and Billy Mills. Those alleged eyewit- Footprints and other specific details cool weather had pushed 'gators to the nesses are, in investigators' parlance, "re- aside, the Honey Island Swamp Monster depths, he heralded turtles, great blue peaters"—people who claim unusu- seems part of a genre of mythic swamp- herons, and other wildlife. From only a al experiences on multiple occasions. dwelling "beastmen" or "manimals." glimpse of its silhouetted form he spot- (Take Bigfoot hunter Roger Patterson They include the smelly Skunk Ape and ted a barred owl, then carefully maneu- for example. Before shooting his contro- the hybrid Gatorman of die Florida vered for a closer view. He called atten- versial film sequence of a hairy man- Everglades and other southern swamps; tion to the singing of robins, who were beast in 1967, Patterson was a longtime the Scape Ore Swamp Lizardman of gathering there for the winter, and Bigfoot buff who had "discovered" the South Carolina; Momo, the Missouri pointed to signs of other creatures, alleged creature's tracks on several occa- Monster; and, among odiers, the Fouke including freshly cut branches pro- sions [Bord and Bord 1982, 80].) Ford's Monster, which peeked in the window duced by beavers and, in the mud, and Mills's multiple sightings and dis- of a home in Fouke, Arkansas, one night tracks left by a wild boar. But there was coveries seem suspiciously lucky, and in 1971 and set off a rash of monster not a trace of the swamp monster. (The suspicions are increased by other evi- sightings (Blackman 1998, 23-25, closest I came was passing an idle boat dence, including die tracks. 30-33, 166-168; Bord and Bord 1982, at Indian Village Landing emblazoned From Dana Holyfield I obtained a 104-105; Coleman and Clark 1999, "Swamp Monster Tours.") plaster copy of one of the several track 224-226; Coleman and Huyghe 1999, Another who is skeptical of monster casts made by her grandfather (figure 39, 56).

1 6 July/AugusI 2001 SKEPTICAL INQUIRER Considering this genre, we must ask: Monster and similar entities. He O'Lantcrn, a malevolent spirit who lures Why swamps and why monsters? thought that frightening stories might humans into dangerous swampland with Swamps represent remote, unexplored have been concocted on occasion to his mesmerizing lantern, as well as the regions, which have traditionally been keep outsiders away—perhaps to pro- Loup Garou (a werewolf) and the zom- the domain of legendary creatures. As tect prime hunting areas or even help bies (not the relatively harmless "Voodoo the noted Smithsonian Institution biol- safeguard moonshine stills. He also Zombies" but the horrific "Flesh Eaters") ogist John Napier (1973, 23) sagely ob- theorized that such tales might have (Blackman 1998, 171-209). served, monsters "hail from uncharted served in a sort of bogeyman fashion By extension, swamp creatures are territory: inaccessible mountains, im- to frighten children from wandering also ideal subjects for horror fiction. penetrable forests, remote Pacific is- into remote, dangerous areas. (Indeed The Fouke monster sightings, for exam- lands, the depths of loch or ocean. . .. The essential element of the monster myth is remoteness." Many alleged paranormal entities appear to stem Echoing Napier in discussing one reported Honey Island Swamp either from mankind's hopes or fears—thus are encounter, John V. Dennis (1988) envisioned angels and demons—and some entities states: "In many cases, sightings such as this one are inspired by traditions that may evoke a range of responses. go back as far as Indian days. If a region is wild and inaccessible and has a history of encounters with strange forms of life, he mentioned how when he was a ple, inspired the horror movie The chances are that similar encounters will youngster in the 1950s an uncle Legend of Boggy Creek. That 1972 occur again—or at least be reported." would tell him about a frightening fig- thriller became a box-office hit, spawn- And while the major purported domain ure—a sort of horror-movie type with ing a sequel and many imitations. of Bigfoot is the Pacific northwest, one leg, a mutilated face, etc.—that About the same time (1972) there Krantz (1992, 199) observes: "Many of would "get" him if he strayed into the emerged a popular comic book series the more persistent eastern reports come swampy wilderness.) titled Swamp Thing, featuring a meta- from low-lying and/or swampy lands of Like any such bogeyman, the Honey morphosing man-monster from a Loui- the lower Mississippi and other major Island Swamp Monster is also good for siana swamp. Interestingly, these popu- river basins." gratuitous campfire chills. "A group of larized monsters predated the 1974 claims of Ford and Mills. (Recall that But why does belief in monsters per- men were sitting around the campfire their alleged earlier encounter of 1963 sist? According to one source, monsters along the edge of the Pearl River," had not been reported.) appear in every culture and are "born ins one narrative, "telling stories out of the unknown and nurtured by about that thing in the swamp . , ." the unexplained" (Guenette and (Holyfield 1999b). A song, "The Honey The Track Makers Guenette 1975). Many alleged paranor- Island Swamp Monster" (written by While swamp monsters and other man- mal entities appear to stem either from Perry Ford, n.d.), is in a similar vein: beasts are not proven to exist, hoaxers mankind's hopes or fears—thus are en- "Late at night by a dim fire light, / You certainly are. Take, for example, Bigfoot visioned angels and demons—and some people best beware. / He's standing in tracks reported by berry pickers near entities may evoke a range of responses. the shadows, / Lurking around out Mount St. Helens, Washington, in 1930. Monsters, for example, may intrigue us there. . . ." The monster has even been Nearly half a century later, a retired log- with their unknown aspect as well as referred to specifically as "The boogie ger came forward to pose with a set of provoke terror. We may be especially man" and "that booger" (Holyfield "bigfeet" that he had carved and that a interested in man-beasts, given what 1992a, 14). "Booger" is a dialect form of friend had worn to produce the fake psychologist Robert A. Baker (1995) monster tracks (Dennett 1982). Among observes is our strong tendency to bogey, and deliberately scary stories are many similar hoaxes were at least seven endow tilings with human characteris- sometimes known as "'booger' tales" tics. Hence, angels are basically our bet- (Cassidy 1985). perpetrated in the early 1970s by one ter selves with wings; extraterrestrials are Suitable subjects for booger tales are Ray Pickens of Chehalis, Washington. humanoids from futuristic worlds; and numerous Louisiana swamp and bayou He carved primitive seven-by-eighteen- Bigfoot and his ilk seem linked to our terrors, many of diem die products of inch feet and attached them to hiking evolutionary past. Cajun folklore. One is the Letiche, a boots. Pickens (1975) said he was moti- ghoulish creature that was supposedly an vated "not to fool the scientists, but to Monsters may play various roles in abandoned, illegitimate child who was fool the monster-hunters" who he felt re- our lives. My Cajun guide, Robbie reared by alligators, and now has scaly garded people like him as "hicks." Other Charbonnet, offered some interesting skin, webbed hands and feet, and lumi- motivation, according to monster hunter ideas about the Honey Island Swamp nous green eyes. Then there is Jack Peter Byrne (1975), stems from the

SKEPTICAL INQUIRER July/August 2001 17 "extraordinary psychology of people and Carl Dubois, reported sighting a from the Center for Inquiry, Director of wanting to get their names in the paper, hairy man-beast in a cypress swamp Libraries Tim Binga, SKEPTICAL INQUIRER people wanting a little publicity, wanting called Boggy Bayou in the central part Managing Editor Ben Radford, and—for conceiving of and arranging the multi-state to be noticed." of die state. Giant four-toed tracks and "southern tour" lecture series that took me to Were Harlan Ford's and Billy Mills's hair samples were discovered at the site, Louisiana—CSICOP Executive Director monster claims similarly motivated? and soon others came forward to say Barry Karr. Thanks again also to Ranjit Dana Holyfield (1999a, 5-6) says of her they too had seen a similar creature. Sandhu for manuscript assistance. Note 1. Ahhough Harlan Ford obtained tracks of various sizes, a photo of his mounted casts (Holyfield 1999a, 10) makes it possible to com- Giant four-toed tracks and hair samples pare them with his open hand which touches the display and thus gives an approximate scale, rhis were discovered at the site, and soon shows all arc relatively small. The one I obtained from Holyfield is consistent with the larger ones. others came forward to say they too had seen a similar creature. References Baker, Robert A. 1995. Afterword to Nickell 1995. 275-285. Blackman, W. Haden. 1998. The Field Guide to North American Monsters. New York: Three Rivers Press. grandfather: "Harlan wasn't a man to However, there were grounds for suspi- Blanchard, Kevin. 2000. Bigfoot sighting in La.? make up something like that. He was cion: twenty-five years earlier (i.e., not Baton Rouge, La., The Advocate. August 29. Bord, Janet, and Colin Bord. 1982. The Bigfoot down to earth and honest and told it die long after the 1974 Honey Island Casebook. Harrisburg, Pa.: Stackpolc Books. way it was and didn't care if people be- Swamp Monster reports), Whitstines Burdeau, Cain. 2000. Many in central La. fear lieved him or not." But even a basically father and some friends had sawed giant Bigfoot. Baton Rouge, la.. The Advocate. Sep- tember 15. honest person, who would not do some- foot shapes from plywood and produced Byrne. Peter. 1975. Quoted in Guenette and thing overtly dastardly or criminal, might fake monster tracks in the woods of a Guenette 1975.81. engage in something that he considered nearby parish. Cassidy, Frederick G., cd. 1985. Dictionary of relatively harmless and that would add American Regional English. Cambridge. Mass.: On September 13, 2000, laboratory Belknap Press, 1: 333-334. zest to life. I believe the evidence strong- tests of the hair from the Boggy Bayou Charbonnet, Robbie. 2000. Interview by Joe ly indicates that Ford and Mills did just creature revealed that it was not Nickell, December 4. that. To sum up, diere are the men's sus- Coleman. Loren, and Jerome Clark. 1999. Gigantopithecus blacki (a scientific name Cryptozoology A to Z New York: Fireside piciously repeated sighting reports and for sasquatch proposed by Krantz (Simon & Schuster). alleged track discoveries, together with (1992, 1931), but much closer to Booger Coleman, Loren, and Patrick Huyghe. 1999. The the incongruent mixing of a Bigfoot-type Field Guide to Bigfoot. Yeti. and Other Mystery louisiani (my term for the legendary Primates Worldwide. New York: Avon. 14-19. creature with most un-Bigfoodike feet, swamp bogeyman). It proved actually to Dennett. Michael. 1982. Bigfoot jokester reveals plus die fact diat the proffered evidence is be from Equus caballus (a horse), where- punchline—finally. SKEPTICAL INQUIRER 7.1 not only of a type that could easily be (Fall): 8-9. upon the local sheriff's department Dennis, John V. 1988. The Great Cypress Swamps. faked but often has been. In addition, the promptly ended its investigation Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press. men's claims exist in a context of swamp- (Blanchard 2000; Burdeau 2000). 27, 108-109. manimal mythology diat has numerous "Dr. Wagner's Honey Island Swamp Tours, Inc." Reportedly, Harlan Ford believed the N.d. Advertising flier, Slidell, La. antecedent elements in folklore and fic- swamp monsters "were probably on the Ford, Perry. N.d. "The Honey Island Swamp tion. Taken together, die evidence sug- verge of extinction" (Holyfield 1999a, Monster." Song text in Holyfield 1999b. 13. gests a common hoax. Guenette, Robert, and Frances Guenette. 1975. 10). Certainly he did much to further The Mysterious Monsters. Los Angeles, Calif: Certainly, in die wake of the monster their cause. It seems likely that—as long Sun Classic Pictures. mania Ford helped inspire, much hoax- as there are suitably remote habitats and Holyfield, Dana. 1999a. Encounters with the Honey Island Swamp Monster. Pearl River. La.: ing resulted. States Holyfield (1999a, other essentials (such as campfires Honey Island Swamp Books. 11): "Then diere were the monster im- around which to tell tales, and good or . 1999b. More Swamp Cookin with the River personators who made fake bigfoot boys looking for their fifteen-minutes of People. Pearl River, La.: Honey Island Swamp Books. shoes and tromped through the swamp. fame)—the legendary creatures will Krantz. Grovcr. 1992. Big Footprints: A Scientific This went on for years. Harlan didn't continue to proliferate. Inquiry into the Reality of Sasquatch. Boulder. worry about the jokers because he Colorado: Johnson Books. Acknowledgments Nickell. Joe. 1995. Entities: Angels. Spirits. knew the difference." Be that as it may, Demons, and Other Alien Beings. Amherst, In addition to those mentioned in the text, I swamp-monster hoaxes—and apparent N.Y.: Prometheus Books. a m grateful to several people for their assis- hoaxes—con ti n u e . Pickens, Ray. 1975. Quoted in Guenette and tance: From Louisiana, William Sierichs Jr., Guenette 1975, 80. A few months before I arrived in James F. Cherry M.D., and Kenner Wagner. Sue. 2000. Interview by Joe Nickell. Louisiana, two loggers. Earl Whitstine Planetarium Director Michael Sandras; and December 4. D

I S July/August 2001 SKEPTICAL INQUIRER