New Monsters Everywhere: Montauk Monster, the Honey Island Swamp Monster, Chupacabra

Bigfoot. Loch Ness Monster. Yeti. Common lore abounds with tales of strange beasts and creatures that roam our deep woods or live in the misted swamps or swim in dark lakes. Stuff of legend, most of these creatures are seen from afar and/or photographed, videotaped, or drawn by various unreliable sources. In the end, they become just another weird tale in the pantheon of strangeness that persists in exciting believability in such things. But recently there have been a rash of strange sightings and photographs (and videos) taken of creatures apparently still roaming about.

The Montauk Monster

The most recent addition to the mysterious creature fold is the Montauk Monster, or the Monster of Montauk as some refer to it. A couple of pictures taken by beachgoers have taken the internet by storm, causing one site to crash (Newsday.com) and generating thousands of stories and speculative queries. The creature itself looks somewhat canine with a hooked or missing facial snout and some vicious-looking teeth. The first picture of the Montauk Monster appeared on July 29 on Gawker.com.

As to what it is, the answers are varied. The offerings range from dog to whale fetus to alien invader. And the origins of the 'monster' is also pondered. With the Plum Island Animal Disease Center nearby, speculation runs high on whether or not they might be missing an experimental hybrid animal (denied by the Center, of course). But the government (the Department of Homeland Security and the United States Department of Agriculture jointly run the facility) is suspect, as per usual, so anything they say, of course, cannot be taken at face value.

Or that is the way that these stories generally go, that is...

Chupacabra

The legend of the chupacabra, a Spanish term that literally means "goat sucker," began in 1992 in Puerto Rico when newspapers began reporting the mysterious deaths of livestock and birds, all with two puncture wounds in their necks. In New Orleans, their local version of the chupacabra (which dates back hundreds of years) is the "grunch," which is the name of a road where the creature was first reportedly sighted. The legend has grown, especially within the hispanic world, and there are now sightings in the United States on a continuing basis.

A rash of chupacabra sightings in Texas led to the Associated Press publishing pictures of what was supposed to be a dead chupacabra in 2007. Phylis Canion killed a small, strange-looking creature that she believes may be the legendary animal after it had killed some of her chickens. Some who have looked at the small beast believe it to be just an ugly dog.

The Honey Island Swamp Monster

Harlan Ford and Billy Mills let the world know that there was a man-like creature killing animals in the swamps around Honey Island, Louisiana in 1974. With plaster casts of something that looked four-toed, the two hunters told of finding the tracks near a wild boar that had had its throat slashed. They also told the tale of actually seeing the beast, somwhat of a Bigfoot-ish, gray-furred biped that stood seven feet tall, in 1963.

The legend has grown over the years but really received a new breath of life from the granddaugter of Harlan Ford, Dana Holyfield, and Fox News' Sean Hannity. Holyfield and her husband have produced a documentary entitled "Legend of the Honey Island Swamp Monster" which relates her grandfather's story, interviews others who have 'sighted' the swamp creature, and offers the 'evidence' that the Honey Island Swamp Monster exists. Fox News' "Sean Hannity's America" aired an interview with Holyfield in July 2008, bringing the legend back into the public eye.

Where Are They Coming From?

These stories abound in local lore and legend throughout the world. They are by no means indigenous to nor exclusive to the areas where they prevail. The details may differ, but the mysterious, haunting, somewhat dangerous mystique are all contained in each. And regardless of how many government officials, agencies, studies, and tests prove or show convincing evidence that these 'monsters' or 'beasts' are either not real or are actually something we are quire familiar with (like an ugly dog), the legends prevail, prosper, and become the stuff of popular myth.

Although they persist, most tend to look at such legends as mere fanciful tales, the product of overindulgence in chemical substances or an overactive imagination. Most put no stock in the validity of these creatures actually existing. But some do. Yet, the true believers and the skeptics are both lured by the tantalyzing need to witness the unexplained or the truly mysterious.

According to G. Fraser, writing at the University of West Georgia, Bigfoot -- and other legends of similar nature -- is the epitome of the individualistic, independent man, proof that science has not taken over, proof that humanity has not totally destroyed the ecology. In short, Bigfoot is a psychological salve for the modern guilt of civilization, technology, and seemingly ever-restrictive social systems.

Earlier this year, there was even speculation about a bigfoot-like "walking man" creature in pictures sent back from Mars. An example of one of mankind's most triumphant technologicial successes gets somehow confused with a regressive ape-man story...

So where are all these monsters actually coming from? Wishful thinking? The psychological need to push back the encroachment of modern day living? Perhaps.

But somewhere in the atavistic dark regions of the mind, there still plays the idea that the Mothman roams the hills of West Virginia and the Boggy Creek Monster hides in the woods of Arkansas. They feed our fears and our curiousity and our need to explore possibilities. They lurk there to let us know that, no matter how educated we become or how advanced our civilization may get, there will always exist something of mystery...

Sources:

Fox News

Newsday.com

"El Chupacabra," HauntedAmericaTours.com

Associated Press, "Texas Woman Claims to Have Found Mythical 'Chupacabra''" FoxNews.com

Joe Nickel, "Tracking the Swamp Monsters," CSIcop.org

Greg Fraser, "Bigfoot As a Cultural Phenomenon," Westga.edu