Missouri Mystery Kangaroos
Posted by: Loren Coleman on April 14th, 2012
Reports of cryptid or mystery kangaroos in the Midwest, especially during the classic flap of the 1970s, are chronicled, in depth, in my Mysterious America.
Of course, other Mystery Kangaroo reports from past years on Cryptomundo can be found from Austria, Wisconsin, and Minnesota. Or who can forget the “Killer Kangaroos” of Tennessee from 1934?
There’s been a new report, and the local law enforcement authorities are trying to bury it quickly.
“On Tuesday [April 10, 2012], Palmyra [Missouri] police received a call from someone claiming to have spotted what appeared to be kangaroos hopping around a street a few blocks from U.S. 61. Two city officers and two Marion County deputies searched the area, but found no trace of any exotic animals – especially those native to Australia. Police Chief Eddie Bogue has a working theory regarding what might have been mistaken as kangaroos.
“‘There were four deer that were seen by a city employee close to the same area. They were apparently pretty scared from being out of their element with all the traffic and commotion of town, and they were trying to find a way out of town,’ he said. ‘I think what probably happened is some young person saw that and, I don’t know, maybe it looked like a kangaroo for a moment. If you see a picture of a deer’s head from the bust up, you could maybe liken it to a kangaroo.'” Source.
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.
Yeah, we get kangaroos in Australia also…..
One thing I learned is if it’s a wet, stormy night, you’re in your hiking tent in a public campground where there are semi-habituated kangaroos around (as there invariably is) on the scrounge for food, and you need to pee, don’t be lazy and do so under the fly of your tent as you will have several of them poking their noses underneath to get at and lick the salty taste – several whacks on the snout do not seem to deter them permanently. Probably also explains why I have sometimes seen them bounding along an ocean beach and plunging briefly into the surf.
People want to laugh and joke about sightings, but I’ve seen a kangaroo in Missouri.
I was stationed at Scott AFB from ’86-92 and used to visit my aunt’s farm near Owensville, MO on the weekends. One day heading back to St Louis in the eastbound lane of I-64 I swear I saw a kangaroo on the side of the highway, not quite in the trees. Probably 3-4 feet tall and tannish in color. Yeah, I’m a city boy, but I spent a lot of time on my aunt’s farm and hunting and fishing. I know what deer look like. And cows. And pigs. etc. And it was a roo. I told my story and everyone had a good laugh, but it turns out there really was a kangaroo on the loose. It had escaped from its pen at some guy’s farm/ranch/game park/museum/tourist trap.
Why is it that when something unusual is seen, skeptics try to explain it away half-rear? Saying that people mistook everyday Deer for kangaroos is almost as bad as saying that the people of Point Pleasant, West Virginia, mistook a common Barn Owl (repeat: COMMON) for a man-sized sinister Mothman.
What’s next? All Nessie witnesses mistook a TROUT for a PLESIOSAUR?
Has every bigfoot witness mistook SQUIRRELS for Giant Bipedal apes?
What about Sea Urchins for Sea Serpents?
I’m surprised no one has figured-out the real culprits, here. Kangaroos? Bah! Please, people, let’s not go around tossing-out crazy speculations when a perfectly logical candidate exists – and I’m not talking about “deer” either – everyone knows THEY don’t exist! Clearly it was the Easter Bunny taking some well-deserved R&R with a couple friends. End of story. 😉
The 1934 Tennessee “kangaroos” were in Marion County, Tennessee (South Pittsburg area).
These Missouri ‘roos were in Marion County, Missouri.
There’s some potential twilight language for you, Loren.
Thank you, Travis, for beginning this to everyone’s attention, regarding the kangaroo “name game” linkages for “Marion.”
I suggest anyone who knows of any ‘roo, or for that matter, any cryptid reports for any of the many places named after, humm, the Swamp Fox, should forward them. If you all thought there was a lot of Fayettes, Lafayettes, and Fayettevilles, well, take a look at this.
List of places named for Francis Marion
This is a list of places named after Francis Marion, a Brigadier General from South Carolina in the American Revolutionary War. He had more places named after him than any other Revolutionary War soldier, with the exception of George Washington.
Francis Marion National Forest, South Carolina
Fort Marion (Modern Day Castillo de San Marcos Castillo de San Marcos in St. Augustine, FL)
Francis Marion Military Academy, Ocala, Florida
Francis Marion University, Florence, South Carolina
Francis Marion Intermediate School, Marion, Iowa
Francis Marion High School, Marion, Alabama
Marion, Alabama
Marion, Arkansas
Marion, Connecticut
Marion, Idaho
Marion, Illinois
Marion, Indiana
Marion, Iowa
Marion, Louisiana
Marion, Kentucky
Marion, Maine
Marion Station, Maryland
Marion, Massachusetts
Marion, Michigan
Marion, Minnesota
Marion, Mississippi
Marionville, Missouri
Marion, Montana
Marion, Nebraska
Marion, New Jersey
East Marion, New York
Marion, New York
Mount Marion, New York
Marion, North Carolina
Marion, North Dakota
Marion, Ohio
Marion, Oregon
Marion Center, Pennsylvania
Marion, Pennsylvania
Marion Heights, Pennsylvania
Point Marion, Pennsylvania
Marion, South Carolina
Marion, South Dakota
Marion, Virginia
Marion, Wisconsin
Marion County, Alabama
Marion County, Arkansas
Marion County, Florida
Marion County, Georgia
Marion County, Illinois
Marion County, Indiana
Marion County, Iowa
Marion County, Kentucky
Marion County, Mississippi
Marion County, Missouri
Marion County, Ohio
Marion County, Oregon
Marion County, South Carolina
Marion County, Tennessee
Marion County, Texas
Marion County, West Virginia
Marion Park, Washington, DC
Marion Square, Charleston, South Carolina
Marion Township, Arkansas
Marion Township, Michigan (5 different counties have a Marion Township)
Marion Township, Pennsylvania (4 different counties have a Marion Township)
Francis Marion Hotel, Charleston, South Carolina
Swamp Fox Roller Coaster, Myrtle Beach, South Carolina
Swamp Fox Hotel, now called Compass Cove, Myrtle Beach, South Carolina
Swamp Fox HWY, running from Tabor City, NC to Pireway, NC
Lake Marion, South Carolina
Marion Lake, Minnesota
Marion Lake, Oregon
(Note that Marion County, Kansas was not named directly after General Francis Marion, but from Marion County, Ohio, and therefore indirectly named after him.
AreWeThereYeti
Are you saying that escaped exotic animals are as likely as the Easter Bunny?
@ Hapa:
Just havin’ a little fun. But, if you insist in pinning me down, then I’m saying, “Happy Easter!”
No more, no less. 😉
Ah, okay. Just do’t be dissing the Easter Bunny now: I love them Cadbury eggs!
It is not farfetched to accept that there could be a small breeding population of roos running around in the Midwest. I bet if you look at the climate and food sources they are very similar to the climate and food sources found in their native Australia. I find it hard to believe that someone would confuse another animal for a roo. I live in Indiana and there have been sightings here as well. The population probably started the same way ferrell pigs did. Some escaped and took the wild. When I hear about these sightings I don’t dismiss them due the likely hood that they could very well live in the wild here. What is odd about the alleged roos is that they tend to prefer the word Marion in the name of the places like to hang out. I cannot explain that one. I can say that the Indianapolis zoo in located in Marion county Indiana, whatever that’s worth.