The Womble = Arkansas’ Bigfoot?
Posted by: Craig Woolheater on May 10th, 2006
An article (now unavailable online) posted on Dirt Rag Magazine‘s (a mountain bike magazine) website makes reference to a regional name for Bigfoot in Arkansas, the Womble. I have never heard this term used. The only reference I can find with the use of Bigfoot and Womble together is a children’s book The Wombles: Bigfoot Womble and the resulting children’s cartoon series.
The article was about a popular mountain biking trail in Arkansas, the Womble Trail.
Nobody can say for sure where the trail’s name comes from, but the explanation I like best is that "Womble" is the regional word for a Yeti-like critter—the Arkansas equivalent of the abominable snowman, or the northwest’s Sasquatch—and that this is his home territory. So fill your hydration pack, sharpen your focus, climb on a quick-handling bike, and hit the Womble to learn what it feels like to be that hairy old man of the forest.
Do any of the Cryptomundo readers have any knowledge of this term being used for a Bigfoot creature in Arkansas?
Co-founder of Cryptomundo in 2005.
I have appeared in or contributed to the following TV programs, documentaries and films:
OLN's Mysterious Encounters: "Caddo Critter", Southern Fried Bigfoot, Travel Channel's Weird Travels: "Bigfoot", History Channel's MonsterQuest: "Swamp Stalker", The Wild Man of the Navidad, Destination America's Monsters and Mysteries in America: Texas Terror - Lake Worth Monster, Animal Planet's Finding Bigfoot: Return to Boggy Creek and Beast of the Bayou.
I just checked my list of Native American terms and that name does not appear on it. “W” names, in general, aren’t not very common, so I would think this name is not Native in origin.
Hello.
Here in UK a Womble is a childrens’ character created by Elizabeth Beresford. They are furry, bipedal and have long pointed snouts. They live underground on Wimbledon Common ( a real location near to the famous tennis courts) and are never seen by humans. They live by collecting litter, and otehr people’s refuse – sort of little Rauschenbergs!
I can imagine ‘Womble’ being used in a perjorative sense for a bigfoot if the user thought people were either seeing things, making them up or being plain childish. However, the Wombles are VERY English, why the term should have reached Arkansas is hard to understand. Altogether now….
“Overground, underground, wombling free,
the Wombles of Wimbledon Common
are we… (etc) “
Could it just be a local family name? That seems the most likely to me. A quick google search will reveal plenty of Wombles.
Sausage1
I think I can continue…
making the best use of the things that we find…….arrgh, I can’t remember ……….oh no wait, Things that the everyday folks leave behind
🙂
The Wombles
…Uncle Bulgaria!
I live in Arkansas. I have never heard any one specific term for the alledged creature here, although I have heard it referred to “Fouke Monster” more than any other. Others include (not suprisingly) bigfoot, wooly booger, and swamp ape. Womble is a new one on me.
i remember my old scout leader telling me about a bigfoot encounter he had. i think it was in arkansas but its been so long.
he never used the term womble, something else i’ll ask him when i see him again
I have never heard the term womble myself. Might just be a very local term someone came up.
Sorry Craig…never heard the term Womble before…I’ve heard Cajun’s refer to them as “bay-tei” or something similar….in the Jonesville, La. area and near Largo lake in Concordia Parish.
Why are Oklahoma Bigfoot more aggressive…because we have more idiots in the woods with guns….JMHO
My Oklahoma sighting was carrying a calf or deer over it’s shoulder…FWIW
seeing is believing…
ole bub and the dawgs
hey everyone interesting posts, im sure craig woolheater & the tbrc team are getting possible arkansas sasquatch encounters etc reported to them . with all the wicked weather in arkansas it force the creatures etc to move around more to look for safe place to hide from danger. only time will tell. thanks bill 🙂
ADDENDUM
The head Womble was Uncle Bulgaria and the naughty one was Orinoco. Don’t recall one called Patty, though.
The Womble Bike Trail is named after the Township of Womble in Montgomery County, Arkansas. The Township contains the town of Norman. The town of Mt. Ida is about 8 miles north of Norman, and is the County seat. A sedimentary rock layer widespread across the Ouachita Mountains is also named after the Township; the Womble Shale. The Ouachita National Forest District in that part of western Arkansas is called the Womble Ranger District.
The areas discribed have a very long and very colorful history of cryptic animal sightings. Descriptions of some of these animals match the typical Bigfoot descriptions. Descriptions of others are similar to those of large felids that are officially long extinct. Very vivid and detailed descriptions from “old-timers” of another enigmatic animal in the area do not remotely match any publicly reported cryptic from anywhere else in the country.
After recording numerous stories from the residents of this area concerning enigmatic animals I have never heard anyone refer to any of the animals as “Wombles”.
My maiden name is Womble- I always thought it was used by Indians that meant Poor Horse?