Investigated report Logged and followed up by an investigating group.On the record In a newspaper, police, government or court record, or from a named public witness.Told story Folklore, oral tradition or a story passed along.Proven hoax Proven or confessed hoax.
Ape-like · Louisiana, Pike County · first reported July 11, 1972 · also called Mo-Mo
Momo, the hairy, foul-smelling giant reported around Louisiana, Missouri, in July 1972, is one of the Midwest's most famous monster scares. A teenage girl said she saw it holding what looked like a dead dog, and a local fire chief reported a large upright figure in his headlights. See the main Momo dossier for the full story.
Full story: Momo, the Missouri Monster →
Beast · Ozark Mountains, southern Missouri and northern Arkansas · first reported 20th century (older frontier claims) · also called Devil Cat, Ozark Black Howler
The Ozark Howler is said to prowl the hills and hollows on both sides of the Missouri-Arkansas line. Descriptions vary widely. Some make it a big black cat, others a shaggy, bear-sized animal, and some tellers add red eyes and horns. Everyone agrees on the sound: a chilling cry often compared to a mix of a wolf's howl and an elk's bugle or a human scream. A frontier tale even credits Daniel Boone with killing a large hairy beast in the region. Most reports are 20th century or later. In 2015, Arkansas wildlife officials dismissed photos sent to a TV station as a hoax. Skeptics suggest bobcats, cougars, bears and owls.
Visiting: Mark Twain National Forest covers much of the Missouri Ozarks.
Ape-like · Spring Creek and the North Fork area, Douglas County · first reported late 1800s · also called Blue Man
Deep in the Ozarks of Douglas County, along Spring Creek near the North Fork River, settlers told of a tall, thin wild man with bluish skin. He was said to wade silently through the creek at night, with dripping hair and pale, empty-looking eyes. Stories date to the late 1800s, and the folk bestiary notes coverage in early 1900s newspapers. Some later writers fold the Blue Man into Bigfoot lore, while others see a story about a hermit or outcast living rough in the hills. It is one of the more obscure and eerie Ozark legends, and little firm documentation survives.
Lights · E 50 Road west of Hornet, Newton County, at the Oklahoma line · first reported 1880s (traditional) · also called Joplin Spook Light, Tri-State Spook Light, Devil's Promenade
On a dark gravel road west of the hamlet of Hornet, near where Missouri, Oklahoma and Kansas meet, people have long gathered at night to watch a glowing ball of light bob and hover in the distance. Folklore traces it back to the 1880s, and over the years it has gathered many ghost stories about whose lantern it might be. It has become one of the best-known ghost lights in the country, drawing carloads of curious visitors on weekend nights. Researchers who have studied it say it is most likely the headlights of distant cars on a highway, bent by the air, the same explanation given for Michigan's Paulding Light.
Visiting: E 50 Road (Spooklight Road) west of Hornet; it is a public road, so stay on it and respect neighbors.
Water monster · Ozark rivers and Lake of the Ozarks · first reported Indigenous tradition (ancient) · also called Water panther
Like the Great Lakes, the Ozarks and the middle Mississippi valley carry traditions of a powerful water being shaped like a great cat, with a long tail and sometimes horns or a saw-toothed back. Related imagery appears on the Piasa bluff painting in nearby Illinois. These beings belong to Indigenous spiritual traditions that are still alive today, and many people prefer the deeper teachings be shared by their own communities. In modern times, fishermen and visitors to big Ozark reservoirs such as Lake of the Ozarks sometimes trade monster stories, but those are separate from the older belief. This entry is here to flag the tradition, not to treat it as a cryptid sighting.
Beast · Missouri Ozarks · first reported early 1900s dialect records; Randolph 1951 · also called Whistling Wampus, Wampus Cat
The wampus cat stalks the folklore of the Appalachians and the Ozarks under several names. In Missouri it is the gallywampus, and in the Ozarks the whistling wampus. Early dialect collectors described a creature heard whining around camps at night, or a green-eyed spirit cat with uncanny powers. Folklorist Vance Randolph, who collected Ozark tall tales, described it in 1951 as a kind of amphibious panther that dives into the water and swims like a giant mink. Most tellings make it a big dark cat with glowing eyes and a scream like a cougar. It lives today mostly in campfire stories and school mascots.
Other · Missouri Ozarks · first reported collected by 1951 · also called Hoop snake, Joint snake, Gally Nipper
Ozark storytellers loved to spin yarns about impossible animals, often to fool visitors. Folklorist Vance Randolph collected many in his 1951 book We Always Lie to Strangers. They include the hoop snake, which grabs its tail and rolls downhill like a wheel before striking with a venomous tail, and the joint snake, which breaks into pieces when struck and then puts itself back together. A Missouri cryptid list adds the gally nipper, a giant fish with razor teeth. Naturalist Raymond Ditmars once offered a large reward for proof of a hoop snake and never had to pay. These are tall tales, told with a wink, and part of the region's storytelling heritage.
Ape-like · Statewide; most reports in Jackson, Crawford and Taney counties · first reported 20th century
The Bigfoot Field Researchers Organization lists well over 150 Missouri reports, with the most in Jackson, Crawford and Taney counties and recent ones in the Bootheel and Ozarks. See the main Bigfoot dossier and the Momo entry.
Full story: Bigfoot →