Momo On Travel Channel
Posted by: Loren Coleman on January 16th, 2012
Momo, the Missouri Monster, has become an iconic image of the Midwestern-type of Bigfoot during the early 1970s.
The first eyewitness’s sketch and investigator Walt Andrus’ enhanced drawing of Momo (both above) served as the model for several later versions, such as Harry Trumbore’s drawing of Momo in my own The Field Guide to Bigfoot and Other Mystery Primates.
The program Legend of the Ozarks, January 21, 2012, 6:00 PM ET, Travel Channel, will feature Randy “Driveroperator” Harrington and D.W. “Darkwing” Lee as they recreate Randy’s encounter and conduct research into the Missouri version of Bigfoot called “Momo.”
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.
Having been part of the Bigfoot research community in Missouri for years, and desiring to defend and preserve the purity of the Bigfoot cultural history here in Missouri, I’m compelled to point out that the Missouri version of Bigfoot is rarely called “Momo” (and never in the Ozarks region) unless it is by a detached member of the media who’s abandoned journalistic due diligence or by a native of the Northern Missouri river towns from which the name “Momo” originated in the 70’s (i.e. Louisiana, Missouri). In the numerous witness interviews I’ve conducted, I recall just one Missourian mentioning the name “Momo” and it was not in connection with any local lure but in reference to a media news story.
I have a personal dislike for the moniker “Momo” (short for “Missouri Monster”) because it unscientifically connotes the concept of a mythical monster rather than a living breathing North American primate. I also dislike when the name is used (inaccurately) as a catch-all for any Missouri Bigfoot type creature rather than the geographic and era specific creature form which it received its birth. I suppose the same criticism could be lodged against the use of the word “Bigfoot” too. Like so much of Bigfoot reality television programing, producers are eager to promote the sensational at the expense of accuracy and “Legend of the Ozarks” appears to have also fallen into that common production trap.
I would tend to see this as a media attempt to generalize and expand the use of Momo. The more specific use, yes, is for the River Road and Louisiana, MO, cases of 1971-1972, only.