Joplin Bigfoot Report
Posted by: Loren Coleman on May 23rd, 2011
On Sunday, May 22, 2011, at 6:45 am, a tornado a mile-wide destroyed Joplin, Missouri, killing many people. A total of 116 people are confirmed dead as a result of Sunday’s tornado in Joplin, Missouri, city manager Mark Rohr says. That means the death toll from the Joplin twister is tied for the second highest in the United States since the National Weather Service began keeping such tornado records in 1950. Our heartfelt concern goes out to the folks there.
Some of us recall the area for its 1975 sighting of a Bigfoot near Joplin:
Bigfoot Seen South of Joplin
High school student Steve McFall told Sheriff Joe Abramovitz that he saw an ape-like creature, big and hairy that jumped in front of his car forcing him in the ditch. Described the creature as 7 feet tall, walked like man, had light colored spots on its face, red eyes and smelled like rotting eggs. The area is wooded. A search on Friday night found nothing but there have been other reports by residents of such a monster in the same area. UPI wire report.
Sunday, September 28, 1975 — JOPLIN, Missouri. (UPI) – Sheriff’s deputies and volunteers searched a wooded area near Joplin Friday night [September 26, 1975] for a large, hairy creature with an odor of rotten eggs.
“I’m skeptical, but we’ll keep investigating,” said sheriff Joe Abramovitz. Steve McFall, 17, reported an ape-like creature loomed in front of the car he was driving Thursday [September 25, 1975], forcing him into a ditch.
Other residents of the area claim they have seen the “ape,” but Abramovitz said his deputies have been unable to find “any physical evidence to support the stories.”
McFall described the creature as “about seven feet tall, hairy and walking like a man and with light colored spots on the face and red glowing eyes.” He said it had an odor “like rotten eggs.”
Cincinnati Enquirer, September 28, 1975
Thanks to Ron Schaffner.
Joplin, in the Ozarks, is a city in southern Jasper County and northern Newton County in the southwestern corner of the U.S. state of Missouri. Joplin is the largest city in Jasper County, though it is not the county seat. As of the 2010 census, the city population was 50,150. Joplin is located just to the north of Highway I-44, its passage to the west into Oklahoma. In recent years the settlements of Joplin have spread north to about Webb City. U.S. Route 66 passes through Joplin. Joplin is also mentioned in the song Route 66 when sung by Chuck Berry. The city is drained by Joplin Creek, Turkey Creek, Silver Creek and Shoal Creek. Joplin is the center of what is regionally known as the Four State Area: Oklahoma, Arkansas, Missouri, and Kansas.
The Missouri Monster, “Momo,” was well-known from northeast of here, during 1971-1972, along the River Road area south of St. Louis. Joplin is due north of the Fouke, Arkansas sighting region of the “Fouke Monster,” a swamp ape also reported mostly during the 1970s. Details about the Momo sightings can be found on pages 50-51 of The Field Guide to Bigfoot and Other Mystery Primates.
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.
My thoughts and prayers go out to all those people affected by the disaster.
Just to clarify, the tornado hit at 5:41PM not 6:45am and it was the deadliest single tornado in the u.s., top 10 deadliest storms in u.s., and top 25 deadliest tornado in world and 161 dead, but it is believed that more were killed