Visiting Mima,Granddaddy and the Boggy Creek Monster
When I am afraid, I put my trust in you.
- Psalms 56:3
Our youngest child just returned from a week visiting grandparents. He excitedly told us of the events of the visit which were typical stories that many kids experience when visiting grandparents. I laughed to myself as he told these stories because there was one big difference between my visits to my grandparents and his - The Boggy Creek Monster.
My dad's parents lived in rural Arkansas between Fouke and Texarkana on acreage near Days Creek. For my brother and I this was a wonderful place to visit. We had fields and forests to explore and a pond that never seemed to run out of fish. We had fences to climb, barns to play in and we could make things in my granddaddy's workshop. Occasionally we would go to town with my mima when she was getting her hair done at the beauty shop. These trips to town usually involved a stop at the Piggly Wiggly and lunch at either a cafeteria or Dairy Queen. These were great days that I remember fondly but the nights were a different story.
Mima and Granddaddy's Place in Texarkana
When I was five or six years old a movie titled The Legend of Boggy Creek was released. This was the only movie that I ever went to with my granddaddy. Not only did I go to it with my granddaddy but my entire family went. The movie opens with this statement:
“THIS IS A TRUE STORY - Some of the people in this motion picture portray themselves - in many cases on actual locations.”
The screen then goes dark and you hear sounds that could only come from a swamp. As the screen brightens the swamp scene of animals, insects and vegetation that the sounds have painted in your mind are revealed. Then you hear it for the first time in the movie. The sound you hear gives way to a scene of a young boy running through a field and climbing fences to get to a neighbor’s house. A group of men are talking when the boy bursts through the door and says that his mom has seen it again. The men chuckle as they assure the boy that it doesn't exist and send him on his way back home. The sun is setting as the boy climbs fences and runs through the fields and woods to his house. Just as the boy reaches his porch you hear it again and the narrator says,
“I was seven years old when I first heard him scream. It scared me then and it scares me now.”
Boggy Creek Bridge
The movie continues with what I now understand is a somewhat predictable sequence of stories about close encounters and near misses that seem to define the docudrama genre. All I knew then is that it was written by Earl Smith and Willie Smith was one of the characters and everyone in the movie looked like someone who had come to one of our family reunions. I have never confirmed if I actually had relatives in the movie but there is no doubt that the movie scared me and from that point the Boggy Creek Monster was real. I didn't need the reinforcement of the drive home as my dad and granddaddy drove to the places where scenes from the movie were filmed. The narrow dark roads with trees growing over them and the rickety bridges had been scary before going to that movie. They were terrifying now.
I don't remember if anyone noticed that I was scared when visiting my grandparents but I do remember not wanting people to know. I am sure that it came up occasionally and people would notice my reluctance to do things or go places especially at night. My granddaddy had a fairly set evening routine that usually concluded with walking up the driveway and closing the gates to the driveway, pasture and yard. That walk was only about 25 yards but it was dark and filled with the night sounds of an Arkansas pine forest. He must have noticed that I started carrying my Red Ryder with me on these walks and when he asked if he should take his shotgun I told him no that my Red Ryder would be enough. Even during the day I would often find myself planning escape routes and I always knew the fastest way back to my grandparents house.
The Road to Mima and Granddaddy's
One night my fear was no longer hidden. I was about nine or ten years old and my younger brother and I were staying with my grandparents. My younger brother likely did go with us to see The Legend of Boggy Creek but would have been very young since he is four and half years younger. He and I slept in one of the back bedrooms and my grandparents slept in bedrooms that were just down a hallway. At that time my grandparents house was not air conditioned and so we slept with the windows open and a central attic fan pulled air into the house which kept us very cool. The attic fan was not extremely loud but it was loud enough that combined with the air coming through the screened windows the outside sounds of the night were muffled. I was usually able to sleep well there then one night I heard it.
It was loud. It was close. Then it was screaming at the bedroom window and scratching at the screen. As I glanced at the window I saw a shape on the screen and I quickly realized that it was the furry hand of it. In that moment I felt the fear that can only be caused by the Boggy Creek Monster. My memory of the next seconds is vivid and I can still recall the next moments in slow motion. I wish that I could say that I stood between the monster and the rest of my family to defended them. I did not. I ran screaming to my mima, got in her bed and buried myself as far in her covers as I could. And yes, I did leave my younger brother to fend for himself.
Boggy Creek
My family enjoys this story and my kids love to tease me about it. The Legend of Boggy Creek and subsequent sequels are readily available on DVD or online and my kids have watched the original movie a few times. It seems to be more of a comedy to them. Occasionally there will be a big foot or sasqatch show on tv that will feature Fouke, Arkansas and the Boggy Creek Monster and they will always save it to the DVR for mine or possibly their enjoyment later on.
The prevailing theory of what happened that night is that the tom cat that would come around then jumped on the screen while chasing bugs or lizards. It is plausible and that cat was large and furry and silhouetted against the night sky could have been what I saw. Then again the tom cat could have been trying to get in the house to hide from the Boggy Creek Monster.