Monster Mart’s Karen Crabtree Killed
Posted by: Loren Coleman on September 10th, 2010
This Fouke Monster replica is from the Monster Mart in Fouke, Arkansas. The “dolls” were sold locally there a few years ago. This one can be seen in the International Cryptozoology Museum collection.
Lyle Blackburn from Texas, who recently visited the Portland, Maine museum, has informed the ICM that these were handmade by Karen Crabtree and sold at the Monster Mart for only a short time. Rick Roberts (former owner of the Monster Mart) told Lyle that less than 50 of the “dolls” were sewn by hand by Crabtree, and they were only sold between 2002-2007, exclusively at the Monster Mart. It is indeed rare to find any today.
I obtained one of Karen Crabtree’s handmade Fouke Monsters from the Monster Mart in 2002. I am shown at the time with Scott Norman (left), who would die mysteriously in February 2008.
Blackburn said that Karen Crabtree was the sister-in-law of Keith Crabtree, the man who played the monster in The Legend of Boggy Creek.
As it turns out, Blackburn continued, Karen Crabtree died in an automobile wreck.
In doing a little research, the details are as follows.
According to the Texarkana Gazette, Karen Sue Crabtree, 50, of Fouke, Arkansas, died Sunday, January 18, 2009, in a Shreveport, Louisana, hospital of injuries from an automobile accident.
Mrs. Crabtree was born Feb. 6, 1958, in Texarkana, Texas. She was a convenience store clerk (specifically, of course, at the Monster Mart).
Survivors include her husband, Harold Crabtree of Fouke; two sons, Jonathan Crabtree of Texarkana and Brandon Crabtree of Fouke; one sister and brother-in-law, Lisa and Doel Harvin of Fouke; her mother-in-law, Lillian Crabtree of Fouke; one special aunt, Doris Sanders of Fouke; and a number of other relatives.
The Arkansas State Police reports says that the accident occurred at 2:03 pm on January 17, 2009, when Karen Crabtree (d.o.b. February 6, 1958) was traveling north on U.S. 71, in her 1989 Ford pickup truck. She lost control and the truck overturned several times. Not wearing a seat belt, she was ejected from the vehicle and died the next day in the hospital. The weather was clear and the road was dry.
In November 2007, the media had interviewed Karen Crabtree about Bigfoot because of the national interest in the Pennsylvania “Jacobs” creature reports. She first talked about the 1972 Bigfoot film The Legend of Boggy Creek from the Monster Mart.
The media noted that “travelers still stop at the store to talk about Bigfoot, clerk Karen Crabtree said. Do townspeople really believe in Bigfoot? ‘Some do, some don’t,’ Crabtree said. But, she added, ‘A lot of people who do won’t say they do.’’’
Crabtree is gone now. But it is good to, at least, have her Fouke Monster original in the ICM, as a tribute to the friendly chatter she shared with many of us that visited the Monster Mart down through the years.
One last bit of trivia: Karen Crabtree was the individual who painted the mural on the Monster Mart wall (shown below). Her painting of the creature reflects the appearance she also gave to the Fouke Monster in the handmade replicas.
Credit for initial K. Crabtree info from Lyle Blackburn.
About Loren Coleman
Loren Coleman is one of the world’s leading cryptozoologists, some say “the” leading living cryptozoologist. Certainly, he is acknowledged as the current living American researcher and writer who has most popularized cryptozoology in the late 20th and early 21st centuries.
Starting his fieldwork and investigations in 1960, after traveling and trekking extensively in pursuit of cryptozoological mysteries, Coleman began writing to share his experiences in 1969. An honorary member of Ivan T. Sanderson’s Society for the Investigation of the Unexplained in the 1970s, Coleman has been bestowed with similar honorary memberships of the North Idaho College Cryptozoology Club in 1983, and in subsequent years, that of the British Columbia Scientific Cryptozoology Club, CryptoSafari International, and other international organizations. He was also a Life Member and Benefactor of the International Society of Cryptozoology (now-defunct).
Loren Coleman’s daily blog, as a member of the Cryptomundo Team, served as an ongoing avenue of communication for the ever-growing body of cryptozoo news from 2005 through 2013. He returned as an infrequent contributor beginning Halloween week of 2015.
Coleman is the founder in 2003, and current director of the International Cryptozoology Museum in Portland, Maine.
Very sad. Love to the Crabtree family.
This is sad news indeed. I had spoken to Karen on many of my visits to Fouke.
She was always eager to talk about the Fouke Monster and any recent sightings.
I too own one of the limited edition Fouke Monster “dolls.”
Great article, although certainly tragic. It’s a fitting tribute to Karen’s lasting contribution to the Fouke Monster history. Glad I could contribute.
Oh dear, what sad news. My condolences to her family and friends. It’s always terrible when people are taken before their time and a car crash is such a…………..waste.
RIP Karen.
“The weather was clear and the road was dry.”
Am I the only one thinking the Fouke Monster crossed in front of her truck?
My deepest sympathies to her family and friends for their loss.