Alleged Ozark Howler photos taken in Arkansas
Now, in all honesty, I can't say if these images are real, faked or plain out photo shopped as I wasn't there when they were taken or created. But, I can give you my opinion on them. But first,
Let's get some background on this cryptid.
The Ozark Howler, also known as the Ozark Black Howler, is a legendary creature that is purported to live in remote areas in Arkansas, Missouri, Oklahoma, and Texas.
The Ozark Howler is typically described as being bear sized, with a thick body, stocky legs, black shaggy hair, and as having prominent horns. Its cry is often described as being a combination of a wolf's howl and an elk's bugle.
Cryptozoologists have speculated that the creature might be a misidentified or unrecognized big cat. Anthropologists have speculated that the creature might be a branching off of the dark dogs of death found in British folklore.
Chad Arment asserts in his book Cryptozoology that the Ozark Howler myth is a hoax. According to Arment, he and many other cryptozoologists received email messages that made wild claims about Ozark Howler evidence. These messages were tracked down to a university student who had made a bet that he could fool the cryptozoological research community.However, many witnesses to seeing it in person in the region, prior to this hoax, show that Chad Arment's assertion was only correct in the one case, but not in the many cases of those who either haven't a computer, have seen the Howler prior to the hoax or have seen it without hearing of the legend.
Most recently a sighting of the Ozark Howler was reported in Newton County, Arkansas in 2011.
The Ozark Howler is the name residents and hunters have applied to a strange creature
some say roams the remote forests of the Ozark Mountains. The reports originate from
a vast area that includes parts of Arkansas, Missouri, and Oklahoma.
Some attribute the sightings to the presence of an escaped big cat in the mountains, but
others say something more is behind them. Eyewitnesses have come forward claiming to
have seen a mysterious cat-like monster in the Ozarks, a creature, unlike anything they
had ever seen before.
The mysteries of the Ozarks are part of their charm. Folktales of ghosts, monsters and
strange creatures in the region date back hundreds of years. Unlike the well-known
Arkansas Wild Man of the 19th century and the Boggy Creek and White River monsters
of the 20th, the Ozark Howler mystery is complicated because eyewitnesses vary
widely in their descriptions of what they have seen.
Some who claim to have seen the creature describe it as a gigantic cat, bigger even than
a cougar. Others describe something far more monstrous: a massive cat-like beast
with glowing eyes and horns protruding from its head. Most agree that it is black or dark in
color.Between 2005 and 2010, the Howler (also called the Black Howler or the Devil Cat) was spotted several times. A family living north of Van Buren in the Boston Mountains of Crawford County set out trail cams after spotting what they believed was a cougar. The images they supplied to a Fort Smith
television station appeared to show a big cat similar to a cougar (mountain lion).
The problem is that wildlife officials maintain there is not a breeding population of cougars
left in Arkansas. They do concede that it is possible there might be individual big cats
living in the mountains, pointing out they likely were once held as pets but escaped or
were turned loose by their owners.At roughly the same time as the Crawford
County sightings, similar reports originated from across the border in eastern Oklahoma.
Those sightings revolved around large dark cats seen moving through the mountains.
Other reports from near Dardanelle in the Arkansas River Valley described strange
sounds in the night similar to the laugh or bark of a hyena. From higher elevations,
witnesses reported seeing what they described as a large "stocky" cat.
OK, we can see that the top photos plainly don't match up with the stories on the Howler. And I am leaning toward a photoshop job on them. I can't prove that it is just my opinion. Now, I can tell you what I know...
I know beyond any shadow of a doubt that Bigfoot is real. With that being the case, what else is out there? I have stood in front of a creature that I was told didn't exist. ( This creature is not cute and cuddly, and he didn't send me any mental messages of peace on earth and go green.) It looked down at me as if to say I am the Apex here. And I could not have agreed more. My point is, once you have seen a true monster with your own eyes, where do you stop? How can you say anything doesn't exist? I feel that there are many many things out there that only move under the cover of darkness, and it's up to us to expose these creatures.So does the Ozark Howler exist? Some people claim to have seen it, so that is good enough for me. Maybe one day I will be fortunate enough to see it for myself.
The Ozark Howler is typically described as being bear sized, with a thick body, stocky legs, black shaggy hair, and as having prominent horns. Its cry is often described as being a combination of a wolf's howl and an elk's bugle.
Cryptozoologists have speculated that the creature might be a misidentified or unrecognized big cat. Anthropologists have speculated that the creature might be a branching off of the dark dogs of death found in British folklore.
Chad Arment asserts in his book Cryptozoology that the Ozark Howler myth is a hoax. According to Arment, he and many other cryptozoologists received email messages that made wild claims about Ozark Howler evidence. These messages were tracked down to a university student who had made a bet that he could fool the cryptozoological research community.However, many witnesses to seeing it in person in the region, prior to this hoax, show that Chad Arment's assertion was only correct in the one case, but not in the many cases of those who either haven't a computer, have seen the Howler prior to the hoax or have seen it without hearing of the legend.
Most recently a sighting of the Ozark Howler was reported in Newton County, Arkansas in 2011.
some say roams the remote forests of the Ozark Mountains. The reports originate from
a vast area that includes parts of Arkansas, Missouri, and Oklahoma.
Some attribute the sightings to the presence of an escaped big cat in the mountains, but
others say something more is behind them. Eyewitnesses have come forward claiming to
have seen a mysterious cat-like monster in the Ozarks, a creature, unlike anything they
had ever seen before.
The mysteries of the Ozarks are part of their charm. Folktales of ghosts, monsters and
strange creatures in the region date back hundreds of years. Unlike the well-known
Arkansas Wild Man of the 19th century and the Boggy Creek and White River monsters
of the 20th, the Ozark Howler mystery is complicated because eyewitnesses vary
widely in their descriptions of what they have seen.
Some who claim to have seen the creature describe it as a gigantic cat, bigger even than
a cougar. Others describe something far more monstrous: a massive cat-like beast
with glowing eyes and horns protruding from its head. Most agree that it is black or dark in
color.Between 2005 and 2010, the Howler (also called the Black Howler or the Devil Cat) was spotted several times. A family living north of Van Buren in the Boston Mountains of Crawford County set out trail cams after spotting what they believed was a cougar. The images they supplied to a Fort Smith
television station appeared to show a big cat similar to a cougar (mountain lion).
The problem is that wildlife officials maintain there is not a breeding population of cougars
left in Arkansas. They do concede that it is possible there might be individual big cats
living in the mountains, pointing out they likely were once held as pets but escaped or
were turned loose by their owners.At roughly the same time as the Crawford
County sightings, similar reports originated from across the border in eastern Oklahoma.
Those sightings revolved around large dark cats seen moving through the mountains.
Other reports from near Dardanelle in the Arkansas River Valley described strange
sounds in the night similar to the laugh or bark of a hyena. From higher elevations,
witnesses reported seeing what they described as a large "stocky" cat.
OK, we can see that the top photos plainly don't match up with the stories on the Howler. And I am leaning toward a photoshop job on them. I can't prove that it is just my opinion. Now, I can tell you what I know...
I know beyond any shadow of a doubt that Bigfoot is real. With that being the case, what else is out there? I have stood in front of a creature that I was told didn't exist. ( This creature is not cute and cuddly, and he didn't send me any mental messages of peace on earth and go green.) It looked down at me as if to say I am the Apex here. And I could not have agreed more. My point is, once you have seen a true monster with your own eyes, where do you stop? How can you say anything doesn't exist? I feel that there are many many things out there that only move under the cover of darkness, and it's up to us to expose these creatures.So does the Ozark Howler exist? Some people claim to have seen it, so that is good enough for me. Maybe one day I will be fortunate enough to see it for myself.
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