Interesting history

[MoCarp]

In the spirit of Halloween fast approaching, I came across this…thought I’d share…

among all of the grim history of battles and death that hangs over the Civil War like a dark specter, there are scattered throughout curious tales of the strange, and it seems that there was more than just the enemy lurking about the battlefields of the era. Out of the war come stories of bizarre beasts that prowled through the wilderness to evoke curiosity, bafflement, and indeed fear in the bedraggled troops of both sides. Mostly lost to the mists of time, these perplexing accounts are a bizarre look into another, stranger facet of America’s bloodiest war.

THE WHITE RIVER MONSTER

Another strange creature that reared its head during the Civil War was an alleged enormous amphibious monster that inhabited the White River near Newport in northeastern Arkansas. The thing that has come to be known as the White River Monster was first brought to public attention in July of 1915, when a plantation owner spotted a huge monster with rough, grey skin basking on the shore of the river. The report generated a good deal of excitement, and there were even plans to make a large rope net to capture the beast. 

Although the creature could not be captured, its trademark three-toed footprints were often seen along the river’s muddy shores, as well as trees that had been bent out of shape and brush that had been plowed down flat by something very large and heavy.

A river-monster further sighting would be made in 1937, when another plantation owner named Bramlett Bateman saw a creature which was reported as being 12 feet long, with skin like that of an elephant and with a face that looked like a catfish. Bateman was so upset by the presence of the creature in the river that he had had plans to blow it up with explosives until authorities put an end to such ideas by denying permission to do so. 

The monstrous creature would be sighted nearly a hundred times after that, and in 1971 there was a series of other high-profile sightings which described the monster as being up to 20 feet long and having smooth flesh and some sort of bone protruding from its forehead. 

It was also said to produce vocalizations that sounded like the mooing of a cow or the neighing of a horse. 

Oddly, some of the reports described the creature to be apparently molting, with patches of skin sloughing off of it; an interesting detail to mention that seems to somehow give it some weight as to being a real creature since how many witnesses would think to add on such an odd observation? 

Sightings got to be so prolific that there was even legislation passed to create a refuge for the monster in 1973, which states that it cannot be harmed within the area’s borders, which stretch from an area known as “Old Grand Glaize” and a point on White River known as “Rosie.” It is an interesting case of an unknown animal being protected even in the absence of proof of its existence.

Although the White River Monster was brought to the public consciousness in 1915, there are supposedly reports from even earlier, during the Civil War, when the mystery monster was said to occasionally overturn boats used for shipping supplies and for transportation of troops. Some boats at this time were reported to have been smashed from underwater by some sort of large, aggressive creature, which would cause damage or even sink them. 

There is even a report of Civil War soldiers firing upon a large “elephant-like” monster on the shores of the river, which seemed to be unfazed before submerging and swimming off. It is unclear if these accounts really happened, or if they were fabricated later to match the growing number of sightings of the purported beast in the early 1900s. 

Although it is unknown just what sort of creature was prowling the White River, one popular theory is that it was wayward elephant seals far out of their normal range.

[jdmidwest]

Or a well groomed Sasquatch taking a bath.

[Al Agnew]

Cryptozoology is an interesting subject (it's the study of unknown to science and seemingly scientifically impossible or improbable critters).  I wonder what the explanation really is for animals like sasquatch, black panthers, the Loch Ness monster, or the White River monster.  Is it all just delusion and bad observations?  Are a lot of sightings hoaxes?  Or is there really an element of truth there somewhere?

I am a skeptic about all of it, but I never completely dismiss it.  If you want to be imaginative about it all, maybe all these critters actually reside in a different universe but occasionally push through the veil and temporarily reach our own universe, but they are not completely here, so if by some chance one gets killed in this universe, it fades back into its own.

[fishinwrench]

16 minutes ago, Al Agnew said:

Are a lot of sightings hoaxes?  Or is there really an element of truth there somewhere?

The first 2 quarts pulled off of a fresh run of moonshine can put LSD to shame......from what I understand. 

I have very little doubt that those ol'timers saw exactly what they said they did.   And IMO those legends should be celebrated every Sunday, just like the biggest of all legends is.  👍

[dan hufferd]

On 10/29/2022 at 9:31 PM, Al Agnew said:

Cryptozoology is an interesting subject

Maybe someone could make a rendering of the white river monster, based on it's various descriptions...hint😁