Boggy Creek Book Arrives
Posted by: Loren Coleman on March 28th, 2012
The Beast of Boggy Creek: The True Story of the Fouke Monster by Lyle Blackburn, Foreword by Loren Coleman (New York: Anomalist Books, 2012).
My copy arrived. I am delighted to see this book has been published, and to put it in context, it joins books like The Yowie: In Search of Australia’s Bigfoot by Tony Healy and Paul Cropper, True Giants: Is Gigantopithecus Still Alive? by Mark A. Hall and Loren Coleman, and Orang Pendek: Sumatra’s Forgotten Ape by Richard Freeman, on specific unknown hominoids and pongids.
As Lyle Blackburn notes, the legend, lurkings, and legacy of the Fouke Monsters, the real creatures of the area, are so strong they continue into modern times via popular culture. I’ll say more about the new book later, but thought you might like to see the trailer to the “new” movie that is in wide online release now.
The latest movie in the genre is Boggy Creek, a 2009 horror film. See the trailer here and below.
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.
I just finsihed reading my copy last night and thoroughly enjoyed every page. I found the book very well researched and detailed. It tells you everything you ever wanted to know about the creature and the movie it spawned. Lots of photos of the original locations shown in the film add to the story as well as some history of the town of Fouke itself. For anyone who remembers the Pierce film or has an interest in Bigfoot or mystery monsters this book is a must read.
My only critizism is I found the illustrations too comic book like and all the footnotes are located at the very back of the book forcing you to leave your place and search for that page whenever one pops up. Otherwise I felt the book was outstanding.
I’ll have to check this book out; however, Boggy Creek II will always have a special place in my heart thanks to the MST crew.
I remember back in 1974, my parents took me and my brother to the drive-in. They were playing a double feature. The first movie was “The Legend of Boggy Creek”. Now, I had heard of this movie and wanted to see it. Well, the lights went out and the movie started. The first thing that came on was a single sentence “This is a True Story”. I thought is this some kind of a warning? I sat there in our station wagon with just my eyes gazing over from the back seat, scared out of my pants, watching this movie. When the movies were over, we headed home and I was so scared and didn’t even remember the second movie. All I could think of was this large hairy bipedal monster walking through the woods. We got home and as usual, I had to take the dogs outside to do their business. As I looked out at our dark back yard. I thought of the Fouke Monster. I wondered if he had left Fouke and was now in Hattiesburg, Mississippi. Was it waiting for me, knowing that I just saw movie about it? I went and got my little brother to go out with me. I figured I could run faster than him and if it was there, it would get him, instead of me. It turned out it was out there, but that didn’t stop me from always looking over my shoulder when I went into the woods. As you can see the movie left a lasting impression on me. Later I got into monster hunting and I owe all of it to “The Legend of Boggy Creek. This movie is considered the quinessential Bigfoot movie, among cryptozoology fans. After reading Lyle Blackburn’s book on the Fouke Monster, I have come to release that I am not the only one. Lyle has done what nobody else has. He has done the most complete and thorough research on the legend of the Fouke monster. The book is, to put it in one word “Awesome”. This is not a book that Lyle took a couple of stories and slapped a cover on it. He has done his homework,that I suspect, involved a lot of road trips to Fouke and Jonesville and to local newspapers. Not only is it well researched, but the whole format keeps you glued to the pages. It really is hard to put down once you start reading it. The illustrations are excellent. This is a must for anybody who is a fan of “The Legend of Boggy Creek”. It has a lot of information about the movie that you probably didn’t know. The book not only goes over the movie but the legend as well and you will come to find out that the sightings of the Fouke monster are continuing, to this very day. I highly recommend it to anybody who loves reading about cryptozoology. After you read it, you’ll want jump right and go on a monster hunt. Just make sure you take a flashlight.
I picked up a copy…am in the middle of reading it. It is really good…lots of history and I’ve already learned a lot of things I never knew.
Definitely worth the money! Great work Mr. Blackburn!
They say never judge a book by its cover — but DAYUUM! that’s some mighty fine illustration inviting you to pick it up 😉
Legend of Boggy Creek (the first and best of the series) is a personal favorite here too, as soon as my disposable income allows, I’ll definitely be scooping this one up!
Just finished reading my copy yesterday and I must say, Lyle did an excellent job detailing the history of the Boggy Creek creature.
As the title states, it is the “True Story of the Fouke Monster”, from sightings in the early part of the 20th century, the movie – THE LEGEND OF BOGGY CREEK, its effect on the people and the small town of Fouke, and its legacy today.
If you’re looking for a detailed analysis of footprints, stride length, theories of what the creature may be; that is not the main focus of the book. Although Lyle does devote time and pages to these subjects, his main focus is detailing the history of the sightings, the movie and its effect on the town and people of Fouke and the surrounding area. While doing that, he perfectly captures the time and mood of an era; the mid-sixties and early 70s; and a town turned upside down by a phenomena and a movie.
I saw THE LEGEND OF BOGGY CREEK in a drive-in and was thoroughly spooked, along with I’m sure many Cryptomundo readers who also saw it, and around the same time, another Bigfoot film that featured the Patterson-Gimlin film. They ignited my interest in Bigfoot that continues to this day.
Lyle’s book is a must for anyone intersted in the Boggy Creek sightings, the movie, or the Southern Bigfoot phenomena.