One night in early May 1971 brought attention, a lot unwanted, to a 500-person town that eventually became apart of the cultural zeitgeist thanks to surprise blockbuster. The Beast of Boggy Creek: The True Story of the Fouke Monster by Lyle Blackburn examines the events of 1971 and the surprising aftermath as well as the events long before and up to the present-day to give context to those of early 70s.

Before his examination of the string of incidents, Blackburn gives a physical and cultural background of the Fouke, Arkansas region before incidents that brought the little town to the national monster zeitgeist. Then Blackburn goes right into the 1971 incidents using newspaper accounts and interviews of those directly involved or who investigated them in the aftermath including local law enforcement officers to examine all of them. Blackburn then goes back to previous sightings in time over the course of the previous half-century that occurred in the nearby but equally small Jonesville, including those that involved the family of Smokey Crabtree. Blackburn then examines the events leading up to, during, and aftermath of the filming of The Legend of Boggy Creek including its surprise box office performance—leading to horrible sequels—and cult classic status even today. Blackburn then transitions after the “heyday” of the 1970s to explore if there had been anymore sightings and relating many of them through to and past 2000. The last fifth of the book is dedicated to examining theories of what, if anything, the monster could have been from misidentification to an unknown bipedal ape as well as any incidents of hoaxes, particular with the three-toe foot tracks.

Aside from Florida’s Skunk Ape, Fouke Monster is the essential Southern Bigfoot within the cryptozoological community. Blackburn keeps his focus on events directly in Fouke or connected with it from sightings and interactions to the guerilla-style filmmaking of the surprise smash hit that is based off events within the community. As stated above, Blackburn only really goes into analysis and speculation at the end of the book as the primary focus is on those events in 1971 that created the phenomenon and then if there were any similar events before and after the 70s heyday. The most important thing I found in the book is that Blackburn took years researching this book and traveling to the area so often that it appears those in the community that were suspicious of his motives realized he was not there for a hatch job on the community and were willing to be interviewed, some of them relating events for the first time to an ‘outsider’.

The Beast of Boggy Creek is a thorough look into the early 1970s cryptozoological and box office phenomenon as well the history before and after those defining events. Lyle Blackburn writes in an engaging style the clearly brings the events and facts to the reader so they can come to a informed conclusion of their own. ( )

For more than a century, tales of a mysterious ape-like creature lurking in the woods of southern Arkansas have circulated among believers and skeptics alike. The Fouke Monster, as it is called, has become one of those enduring artifacts of backwoods legend, fueled by news reports, movies, internet, and cryptozoological studies until it has earned a solid foothold within American lore. To those who believe to have seen it, it is real; to the skeptical, it is simply a campfire story; to Hollywood, a bankroll,; and to those with a love for monsters or local lore, it is subject worthy of continued research.

This book makes an excellent companion piece to the classic film, The Legend of Boggy Creek. Lyle's style of writing is easy to follow and very engaging. He presents the journey of the Fouke Monster from before his claim to fame. Additionally, Lyle covers both the time period of the film and the event that followed after the movie all the way until 2010. The book is presented in a manner that leaves the existence of the beast undetermined, which is the case with cryptids. That said there's far too much that has occurred for the creature to just be written off. All in all Lyle Blackburn's The Beast of Boggy Creek: The True Story of the Fouke Monster is a fantastic addition to the cryptid lore that is out there. Well worth the read for both the historical and cryptid content. ( )