Fouke is a small town in the southwest section of Arkansas. In the 1940’s a young boy named Jim is sent by his mother to report the sighting of a creature in the woods near their home. When their neighbor, Willie Smith, checks things out, nothing is found. Sometime later the beast haunts Willie’s house. The creature is seen several times by various residents of Fouke.
In the 60’s and 70’s sightings of the creature brought it to the attention of news reporters. Smokey Crabtree is a hunter and farmer living near Boggy Creek. Various members of his family have seen what they describe as a hairy wild creature, approximately 7 or 8 feet tall and smelling foul. Occasionally tracks of a three toed creature are found. Sightings continue. Dead animals are sometimes found where the creature had been seen. One person described finding her kitten dead. They believe it was scared to death. Another resident of the area described a situation where he found his dogs ripped apart. John Oates had two pigs killed by the beast.
Hunters have gone out into the woods and swamp looking for what is now being called the “Fouke Monster”. Posses would go out looking for it but when they try to use dogs to find it, the dogs refuse to track the monster. Some report having shot at it and even wounded it. Screams were heard in the night whenever it came around. In another instance the creature ran across the road in front of the police constable’s car.
Sightings of the creature continued to increase. Newspaper reports tell stories of how the creature would walk around people’s houses during the night. Eventually it tried to get into homes, and there are records and newspaper stories of how it attacked people. It seems that the creature was losing some of its fear of man.
“The Legend of Boggy Creek” was released in 1972 and was directed by Charles B. Pierce. It is an American horror folklore film done in the documentary style. The movie had at least two sequels and several other retellings from other filmmakers.
Whether or not there is a Fouke Monster is debatable. The film uses reports from residents and newspaper stories to examine the legend, but no creature was ever actually found. Director Pierce, who went to Fouke to interview people, uses narration and recreations of their encounters to illustrate some of the stories surrounding the creature. Many of the actors in the film are residents of Fouke and were part of their own reenactments. The movie was completed on a budget of about $160,000. It was a hit, but the actors were never paid so they sued. The case was eventually settled, and the actors did receive some money for their work.
The movie was pretty scary when it was first released. Unfortunately, it didn’t age very well. The acting is what you would expect from small town simple folks who were never in front of a camera before. Most of it is little stories strung together with some sappy music in the background and a lot of nature scenes as filler. The "monster" in the film is a guy in a suit. Visuals of the creature are purposely vague or from a distance, but you can still see that it is someone in a gorilla suit.
The movie has its own website where you can get information on the film as well as purchase a copy of the movie and other “boggy creek” merchandise.