The Beast of Boggy Creek: The True Story of the Fouke Monster

One night in early May 1971 brought attention, a lot unwanted, to a 500-person town that eventually became apart of the cultural zeitgeist thanks to surprise blockbuster. The Beast of Boggy Creek: The True Story of the Fouke Monster by Lyle Blackburn examines the events of 1971 and the surprising aftermath as well as the events long before and up to the present-day to give context to those of early 70s.Before his examination of the string of incidents, Blackburn gives a physical and cultural background of the Fouke, Arkansas region before incidents that brough the little town to the national monster zeitgeist. Then Blackburn goes right into the 1971 incidents using newspaper accounts and interviews of those directly involved or who investigated them in the aftermath including local law enforcement officers to examine all of them. Blackburn then goes back to previous sightings in time over the course of the previous half-century that occurred in the nearby but equally small Jonesville, including those that involved the family of Smokey Crabtree. Blackburn then examines the events leading up to, during, and aftermath of the filming of The Legend of Boggy Creek including its surprise box office performance—leading to horrible sequels—and cult classic status even today. Blackburn then transitions after the “heyday” of the 1970s to explore if there had been anymore sightings and relating many of them through to and past 2000. The last fifth of the book is dedicated to examining theories of what, if anything, the monster could have been from misidentification to an unknown bipedal ape as well as any incidents of hoaxes, particular with the three-toe foot tracks.Aside from Florida’s Skunk Ape, Fouke Monster is the essential Southern Bigfoot within the cryptozoological community. Blackburn keeps his focus on events directly in Fouke or connected with it from sightings and interactions to the guerilla-style filmmaking of the surprise smash hit that is based off events within the community. As stated above, Blackburn only really goes into analysis and speculation at the end of the book as the primary focus is on those events in 1971 that created the phenomenon and then if there were any similar events before and after the 70s heyday. The most important thing I found in the book is that Blackburn took years researching this book and traveling to the area so often that it appears those in the community that were suspicious of his motives realized he was not there for a hatch job on the community and were willing to be interviewed, some of them relating events for the first time to an ‘outsider’.The Beast of Boggy Creek is a thorough look into the early 1970s cryptozoological and box office phenomenon as well the history before and after those defining events. Lyle Blackburn writes in an engaging style the clearly brings the events and facts to the reader so they can come to a informed conclusion of their own.

If you were a kid in the early 1970s and went to the drive-in theater, then you probably had the be-jeebus scared out of you watching "The Legend of Boggy Creek". Maybe you thought, "Thank, God, that's over!" when the movie came to an end and maybe, as you rode home in the backseat, peering out the car window, you watched the roadside and surrounding woods just a little bit closer, wondering if there was a similar creature out there, waiting and watching.Lyle Blackburn takes us back to those days, when the Fouke Monster was all the rage and scaring children and adults alike. Ah, yes, THOSE good old days. Only this time Lyle trudges ever deeper into the dark and mysterious Sulpher River Bottoms and swamps of Arkansas. Here he digs up even more stories and more evidence that not only was there a 'ape-like man' wandering around long before the movie came out, but it still makes that area its home.A great read! I loved learning more!This book will become part of my ever-growing research library!

As a compendium to Smokey Crabtree's book "Smokey and the Fouke Monster," this book really helps fill in the gaps with information on the who, what, when, and where of the famous 1971-1973 flurry of interest in the beast of Boggy Creek. Interesting details, like the fact that the bogus-looking, but still interesting, 3-toes tracks famously "discovered" in a soybean field, were on property owned by Smokey's brother-in-law. The same guy that then sold plaster casts of said tracks as well as other trinkets in his service station and diner. The tracks were "found" as Crabtree was giving up-and-coming film producer Charles Pierce tours of the region and telling him all sorts of Tories about the monster. Motive? While Blackburn is careful to not outright dismiss the entire Fouke episode as a hoax, it's pretty clear that there is zero evidence that a throng other than tall tales from Crabtree and some locals who enjoyed messing with reporters and movie producers were involved. But the narrative is clear, interesting, and well presented. The drawings, by a noted comic book artist portray the monster as a muscle-bound '80's metal head-looking manimal. They're unique, but not especially close to what people claimed the monster actually looked like (mostly just a stooped over, hairy mass with no visible facial festers except a flat nose). That aside, the book definitely warrants a place on the shelf if you're a fan of monsters, Bigfoot, and '70's monster mania.

I am one of those who saw the movie - The Legend of Boggy Creek - when it came out and have loved it ever since. That movie left an impression that remains to this day. A few weeks ago I happened across my DVD of the movie and watched it again and then looked up the Boggy offerings here on Amazon. Due to the strong ratings I purchased this book and enjoyed it very much. Lyle Blackburn lays out the story in a clear and easy to follow manner. There is a natural cadence to the writing that keeps the reader focused on the content without becoming fatigued, much like listening to a fascinating tale told by a gifted storyteller. Even skeptics can weigh the facts as laid out by the author without undue bias by the author in either direction. The book covers more than just the incidents concerning the monster, putting them in context with the people and history of the area so that one may better grasp the culture and thinking of those at the core of these stories. These considerations bear significantly in understanding the incidents and how they were or were not reported. Although I am a skeptic I have a long loved to read about these kinds of things. After all, what is wrong with a little mystery and the possibility that there may be more to this world than what we see and understand?

For many, the 1972 cult film of The Legend of Boggy Creek by Charles B. Pierce was their first introduction to the topic of Bigfoot and wider world of strange things in the woods. It is a film that stays with many who see it, from the haunting cry of the creature to the suspenseful drama that plays out in the small community of Fouke Arkansas where the creature allegedly made its home.Lyle Blackburn lays out his dedicated research centring on the beast of Boggy Creek, cataloguing witness encounters, exploring the folklore and documenting the phenomenon as a whole with clear passion and knowledge for his subject. The book is packed with excellent drawings and many colour photographs that show how the legend still lives on. It also brings things right up to date with sightings as recent as 2010 included.Blackburn helps dispel some of the myths, exposes the known hoaxes and strives to tell the story of both beast and town folks at the heart of the legend. One of the best researched and set out books on the subject there is.There are a few spelling and typo issues, but they do not take away from the drama and excitement of the writing.

Lyle Blackburn has certainly captured a centre flavour with his book about the Best of Boggy Creek. A monster that has been part of my psche ever since I saw the infamous docu-drama "The legend of Boggy Creek" as a child, it was interesting to see that this wasn't just a series of urban myths and PR for the film masquerading as evidence. Blackburn has a well known reputation in the circles of Cryptozoology and having read several of his articles and seen him interviewed several times, I hoped the book would match the persona.What I found was a well written, investigative book that gives an excellent overview of the whole scenario, the continued sightings and where the monster goes from here. A really, really interesting book.

After watching the film 'The Boggy Creek Monster' years ago as a kid the history of the monster has me caught in its mystery and this is an excellent read to answer those questions and add others. A very enlightening read as to the history and background to the monster, the people, the town and dotted within each chapter are histories of sightings from early to later accounts. Just don't read this when your a passenger in a car on a lonely forested road at night ;-)

Received quickly, no issues, look forward to reading it. Have read his previous book about Bishoptown Lizard Man and really enjoyed the style and pace of the book

very good addition to the canon of bigfoot books. It is very well written and well researched by Mr Blackburn and I would recommend it to all not just bigfoot enthusists