Howdy everyone!  I have set my mind to share with all of you the results of all of our investigations, in handy-dandy menu-clickable form no less.  But its worth it...nothing too good for our great fans.  ;D

We shall start at the beginning, as is usually the best place to start.  Hmmm...I'm starting to sound like Charles Fort.  I must refrain.  With no Further Adieu...

Fouke Monster
Investigated February 2009

Why did we start with the 'Fouke Monster'?  A few reasons.  Most notably, we were(and still are) on a shoe-string budget.  Fouke is 9 miles south of Texarkana.  Texarkana is 150 miles south of OTF home-base.  It was close to home.  Other reasons that fell amicably together were:

1.  It was a cryptid.  Fit right into what we're trying to do.

2.  Along with making the trip on a tank of gas, being close to home also meant we were very intrigued.  Monsters in OUR neck of the woods.

3.  It took us through another town where we needed to hunt down an un-named gentleman for another episode.(we'll keep you posted on that.)

Anyway, onto the investigation.

Click here to get the background on Fouke Monster.

First off, the trip down to Texarkana was nice.  It was unusually warm for an Arklahoma February and was very spring-like.  Highway 71 south on the western Arkansas border is actually a very pretty drive.  This was our very first road trip investigation, and we didn't know what to expect.  We went with high hopes however, and at theforemost of those hopes were two major goals:

#1-  An interview with 'Mr. Boggy Creek" himself, Smokey Crabtree.

#2-  Find somebody to take us out on Boggy Creek and show us where the tracks were found or where he was seen...hopefully hunt for the monster on his own turf.

Day 1 was drawing to a close as we arrived at our accomodations(more on that in Life on the road).  Everybody was hungry, so we checked into the hotel and sauntered across the parking lot to a little mexican restaurant for dinner.   Usually our 'night before the investigation starts' is pretty ritualistic.  We have dinner, do final preps(such as research, phonecalls, print maps, check gear, check batteries, etc.), shoot those preperations for the show, and then we'll finally kick back and watch some movies, or Mystery Science Theatre 3000.  If you're familiar with MST3K, you can probably guess what we watched on this particular trip...yup, MST3K "Boggy Creek II: The legend continues".

One of the more interesting apects of this investigation was peoples unwillingness to cooperate.  Only a very small handful would even talk to us.  Thus we begin the telling of our Experience in Fouke.

We rolled into Fouke around 11am, not having been able to contact ANYONE about talking with us.  At this point the goal was to just head to the local convenience store know as the 'Monster Mart'.  Their big sign out front had Fouke Monster himself riding a Razorback(University of Arkansas mascot), and waving happily to us as we pulled in.  We went inside, and just started asking the folks in the store what they knew.  The biggest part of them wouldnt talk to us.  The two ladies working the counter, however, and one patron did obilige us.  This was maybe the most telling part of the entire trip...one was adamant he existed, the other, thought it was just a big hoax.  This turned out to be the feeling throughout the town.  We're talking pretty much a 50/50 split.

We were told by a half-dozen people that they THEMSELVES had been eye-witnesses of the infamous Fouke Monster.  As soon as we turned the camera on, that all changed.

"NO....nononono...I didnt see anything.  I dont want to be on camera."  This was a common occurence.

There was one person who did agree to be interviewed, for which we are very grateful.  He was the overseer of the Miller County Family and Historical Museum.  He told us a lot of stories.  Some of them we cant repeat.  I can tell you this:  He wouldnt really answer either way when questioned whether or not he believed in the monsters existence. This was his take:  "I think something like this is a part of a societys culture.  A part of who they are.  People need something like this to en-liven their lives".  We couldnt agree more.

By the time we had finished with the nice ladies down at the Monster Mart and our interview with the overseer, we were stretching late into the afternoon.  So we headed back to Texarkana for showers and dinner, and to re-group and strategize for the next day, which would be our last in town.  The now more poignant objective:  Get Smokey Crabtree, and get somebody to take us out in the woods looking for this critter. 
This night was spent in the room, attempting to make a contact with ANYONE who would take us out onto Mr. Monster's home turf.  It was also spent making countless un-answered phone calls to Mr. Crabtree.  We had Dominoes delivered that night.  Sometimes after 12 hours of poundin' ground on an investigation...theres nothing better.

We filmed more in the war-room(our term for our hotel room base camp) that night, and documented in detail our experiences from earlier in the day.  Afterward we tried the phones some more, and then hit the sack.

We were up and at'em first thing the next morning, knowing it was the final day.  We headed down to Fouke, and attempted to find folks in town who might be up for an interview or an expedition to Boggy Creek.  We had no such luck.

We were informed, however, that there were a great many 'No Trespassing' signs, and just as many GUNS to back them up.
We also came up empty handed on Smokey Crabtree.
Apparently we weren't welcome out on Boggy Creek.

We did however, reach some good conclusions about the Fouke Monster and his possible existence.  Which we explained in the conclusion to our episode.  Sometimes the proof is in the puddin'...so to speak.

Get OTF's 'Fouke Monster DVD HERE!

How to Get There

Fouke is about 9 miles south of Texarkana on Hwy 71S or HWY 549S

Justin
OTF