Monster Mart

As we were driving through Arkansas, my wife and I kept noticing metal cutouts and lawn statues depicting Bigfoot. I had always associated Bigfoot with the Pacific Northwest, not Arkansas! As I drove, my wife did some research online. It turns out that Arkansas is, in fact, one of the country's most prolific Bigfoot hotspots, and that we were - by happy circumstance - going to be spending the night just miles from the Arkansas Bigfoot Mecca!

Just outside of Texarkana, is the small town of Fouke, a place shrouded in mystery and home to an elusive creature known as the Boggy Creek Monster. The legend of this fascinating cryptid has been part of the town's folklore since the early 1900s, attracting curious visitors from far and wide.

The Boggy Creek Monster, also known as the Fouke Monster, is an alleged cryptid that has been reported to inhabit the dense woods and swampy areas surrounding the small town of Fouke. Described as a large, hairy, bipedal humanoid creature, it has been theorized as a cousin of the infamous Bigfoot. Over the years, eyewitness accounts have claimed that the creature stands anywhere between seven and ten feet tall, with a muscular build and reddish-brown fur.

The legend of the Boggy Creek Monster gained national attention in 1972 when the film "The Legend of Boggy Creek" was released. This docudrama-style movie chronicled the various sightings and encounters with the creature, further cementing its status as a local legend. Since then, the town of Fouke has embraced the mystique of the Boggy Creek Monster, with numerous documentaries, books, and even music dedicated to its lore.

Monster Mart, located in the heart of Fouke, serves as both a local convenience store and a private museum of Boggy Creek Monster memorabilia. As you walk through the doors, you'll be greeted by an eclectic mix of monster-themed merchandise, ranging from t-shirts and hats to keychains, posters, and even life-sized replicas of the creature itself.

But the Monster Mart is more than just a kitschy souvenir shop. It also serves as a gathering place for monster enthusiasts, where people share their own stories and experiences, and learn about the history of the Fouke Monster. The store's walls are adorned with newspaper clippings, photos, and artwork that document the history of the creature and its impact on the town. In addition, visitors can pick up a map that outlines the various sites of reported sightings and encounters.

Excited to visit such a place, especially so spontaneously, we made the 20-minute drive out to Fouke to check out the legendary Monster Mart.

I've never seen the film, and to be honest, I had never heard of the Boggy Creek Monster, but I thoroughly enjoyed this cheesy roadside attraction. It reminded me a lot of the visits my family made to Roswell, New Mexico when I was a kid... it had that kind of vibe.

The "evidence" consisted of movie posters, newspaper clippings, and plaster casts of supposed Bigfoot footprints. It was a ton of fun to peruse.

I love this kind of thing. It's such a purely American type of attraction!

Wanting to support the shop, we decided to buy a pair of coffee mugs depicting the monster. As we were checking out, the lady working the register chatted with us for a few minutes.

"The two questions I'm asked the most are: 'have you ever seen the monster?' and 'do you believe in the monster?'", she told us. The answer to the first question was "no" (with a hopeful but unsaid "not yet"), but the answer to the second was a resounding "yes". Her cousin, she told us, was one of the people featured in the film, and she had never known her cousin to lie or embellish a story.

I admit that there are plenty of things in this world that we can't understand, and plenty more that we've never seen nor discovered. Having driven through those dense woods, I also don't find it hard to believe that people may have seen - or may have thought they had seen - something spooky moving around. The dense forests of Arkansas have a creepy feel, and, while I don't believe in Bigfoot necessarily, if I ever were to encounter one in Arkansas, I wouldn't be overly surprised.